Homemade granola is somewhat of a staple in our house… Gracen and I usually made a big batch once a month or so, jar it up, and eat it as a cereal, serve it with yogurt, sprinkle it on nut butter toast, or use it as a smoothie topper.
Though it can be full of sugar and not-good-for-you fats when purchased in stores, we jam pack ours full of nutrient-rich nuts and seeds, use a good pure maple syrup to sweeten it, and include a relatively small amount of oil, so I can feel good about giving it to Grae {and eating it myself}.
While I’ve posted about our granola making adventures in the past, we’ve tweaked our recipe just a bit and I love the effects it’s been having on finished product. Normally, the one downside to healthy homemade granola is that it’s nearly impossible to make it all clustery like its store bought counterpart… That is, until you add chia (magical little seeds that they are – just look at those clusters!) Now not all of your batch will look like this obviously, but 1/3 to 1/2 of it will, which is good enough for me. ☺
Chia Granola {with clusters!}
- 2 individual cups ‘just apples’ applesauce
- 1/4 cup of pure organic maple syrup
- 4 tablespoons of chia seeds
- 3 tablespoons of organic coconut oil, in liquid form
- 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla
- 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tablespoon of ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt (optional)
- 6 cups old-fashioned oats
- 2 cups of raw almonds, chopped
- 1/4 cup of raw pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup of raw sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup of hemp hearts
- 1/4 cup of wheat germ
- 1/4 cup of ground flax seed
- 3/4 cup of unsweetened coconut
This looks like an awesome recipe! We love making our own granola too. So much healthier than the store-bought versions. Can’t wait to try this. :)
Thanks, Jennifer! I really like it. You’ll have to let me know what you think. :)
I think it looks great too and have been looking for a recipe for a while. Any thoughts on a substitute for wheat germ Jen? More of something else perhaps?
Hey Jenn! (Whew…There’s a whole lot of Jen/Jenn/Jennifer action going on in this comment section. :) ) Yes, 100% you can substitute more of something else and still have the recipe turn out great! While I love the variety in this particular recipe, it does include a lot of ingredients, and I just sometimes don’t have everything on hand. I simply make sure I pair the 6 cups of oats with 3 cups of ‘add-ins’, and I’ve never had a bad batch. Enjoy!
What do you mean by two individual cups of applesauce? Do you mean you use a total of 2 cups of applesauce?
Hey Carmen! I mean the small cups that come in packages of 6… I guess I should have measured them for the recipe! Just googled them and apparently they’re 3.9 ounces each, so you’ll need about 8 ounces of applesauce all together. :)
This looks lovely! Can’t wait to make it once I’ve gathered all the ingredients! How long will these keep in a jar like in the photograph? Would it be better to store it in an air tight container instead? x