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