How to Make Spiced Chocolate Granola

 I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who doesn’t love a good bowl of granola. There are some pretty good versions that you can pick up from your local supermarket. But I love nothing more than getting creative with the flavours. And this one is a celebration of chocolate… for special treats…. or for back to work January mornings. Because work mornings are better when they start with chocolate granola.

A few reasons to make your own granola:

• You’re in control of the flavours. Make it chocolate, make it spiced (or both like this recipe), keep it simple with a delicious cinnamon hint. The choice is yours.

• You can control how sweet you’d like it. Most store bought granola are jammed packed with sugars and not so cool ingredients.

• Add whatever nuts, seeds or in this case puffed cereals you hand on hand.

Spiced Chocolate Granola

Ingredients

• 1 cup hazelnuts

• 2 cups oats

• 1 cup pepitas

• 2 cups puffed quinoa

• 1/2 cup coconut oil

• 1/2 cup maple syrup (or honey/rice malt syrup)

• 1/3 cup cacao powder

• 1 tbsp cinnamon

• 1-2 tsp ginger powder

• Pinch of sea salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.

2. Roughly chop hazelnuts.

3. Add hazelnuts, oats, pepitas, puffed quinoa into a bowl. Mix to combine.

4. On a low heat, gently melt/combine coconut oil, maple syrup, cacao powder, cinnamon, ginger powder and sea salt.

5. Pour oil mix into bowl and mix to coat all ingredients.

6. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

7. Pour mixture onto 1-2 trays (depending on the size of your trays). The mix should be in a thin(ish) layer.

8. Bake in oven for a total of 30 minutes. Every 10 minutes remove granola and stir. This will help the granola cook evenly and also prevent any burning.

9. Leave to cool.

10. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

11. TO SERVE: scoop out half a cup of granola, top with coconut yoghurt, chopped berries and milk.

 Peace, love and chocolate granola.