Making granola has become a Sunday ritual of mine. When I am meal prepping for the following few days, laying out a few sheet trays and mixing up a batch of nuts and oats for granola has become common practice. Every batch I make is usually different. Variations on the type of nuts, seeds, spices, sweetener, and dried fruit rotate from week to week. But, after trying Amy Chaplin's Coconut Granola with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the experimentations may be over.
If you are not familiar with Amy Chaplin's book, At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen - Celebrating the Art of Eating Well, I strongly recommend picking up a copy. The book covers how to stock a pantry, meal planing, and optimizing your ingredients, along with tons of vegan and vegetarian recipes that are artfully photographed. This book and it's author are a true inspiration.
Whether you munch on granola as a snack, or eat it as part of your morning ritual, this recipe should not be missed.
Coconut Granola with Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Recipe barely adapted from At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen - Celebrating the Art of Eating Well, by Amy Chaplin
- 3/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds (Amy's recipe calls for 1/2 cup sunflower seeds and 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds)
- 1/2 cup unhulled sesame seeds
- 5 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup blanched almonds, roughly chopped (Amy calls for raw almonds, I am partial to blanched, use whatever you have on hand or swap in walnuts or hazelnuts!)
- 2 1/1 cups dried unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean powder
- 3/4 cup maple syrup (Amy's recipe calls for 1/2 cup brown rice syrup and 1/4 to 1/2 maple syrup)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 2/3 cups dried fruit of your choice (Amy calls for unsulfured dried apricots, unsulfured golden raisins, and dried cherries. I typically rotate based on what I have in my pantry, but unsweetened cherries, golden raisins, and goji berries work very well!)
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line two rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper. Place seeds into a medium bowl and fill with water. Swish seeds around, strain, rinse under running water, and set aside to drain.
- Place oats, almonds, coconut, cinnamon, and vanilla bean powder into a large bowl. Toss to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, olive oil, and salt. (If using brown rice syrup and maple syrup, Amy recommends warming the brown rice syrup, maple syrup, and salt in a small sauce pan over medium heat. After it simmers, remove from heat, and stir in the olive oil.)
- Add the drained seeds to the oats and toss to combine.
- Pour in maple olive oil mixture to the oat mixture and stir to evenly distribute.
- Divide between baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes. Stir and rotate sheets. Bake for another 15 minutes. Stir again and cook for anther 5 to 10 minutes until granola is golden and crisp.
- Add dried fruit, toss to combine, and transfer to glass jars to store. Granola can last for four to six weeks, if you can control yourself for that long :)
- When serving, I like to add wheat germ, chia seeds, and ground flax seeds and eat with nut milk or yogurt, and fruit.
Thanks Amy for the recipe and inspiration!
