Chocolate Cherry Nut Granola
This sweet and crunchy chocolate cherry granola is great as a breakfast cereal with milk (or your favorite milk alternative), layered in yogurt parfaits or sprinkled on your smoothie bowls or ice cream sundaes. Or just eat it by the handful as a snack or trail food!It keeps well for weeks in a tightly sealed jar, or vacuum seal and freeze it for longer storage.
Ingredients
- 5 cups old-fashioned oats can substitute quick cook but not instant or steel-cut oats
- 1 cup raw almonds whole, sliced, or slivered
Melt together:
- ½ cup melted butter or coconut oil (can sub MCT oil for up to half, or another light neutral oil like canola or sunflower seed)
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 large egg whites
- ¾ tsp sea salt or himalayan pink salt
- 2 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp almond extract
Add after baking:
- ¾ cup dried cherries
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300℉ (150℃ or gas mark 2) and line two half-sheet pans with parchment or silicone baking liners (you can also butter the pans lightly if you don't have those). Put the baking racks as close to the center of the oven as you can.
- In a small to medium saucepan, gently melt the butter or coconut oil along with the maple syrup and brown sugar.
- Stir as the butter melts, and add the salt and cocoa powder. Let cool slightly, then stir in the vanilla and almond extracts.
- In a large bowl, whisk the egg white lightly until frothy, and fold in the rolled oats and nuts.
- Mix well, then pour the melted butter or oil and honey mixture over the top. Keep folding and mixing this until it is uniformly distributed and all the oats and nuts are coated.
- Divide the mix between two pans and spread it out in a uniform layer so that it will bake evenly, and place in the preheated oven.
- Set a timer for 15 minutes to rotate the pans on the oven racks so that they bake evenly (you can also stir the granola in the pans if the outside is browning faster).
- Bake at 300℉ for 35-45 minutes total. The granola should be lightly toasted and relatively dry and not sticky (though it will set up more as it cools). If it hasn't set up yet, bake it a little longer, but watch to make sure it doesn't burn!
- Sprinkle the dried cherries evenly over the pans of toasted granola.
- Once the mixture has cooled completely, add the chocolate chips, mix, and transfer it to airtight containers for storage.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
