Maple Granola

I’m going to be honest with you, if breakfast REALLY is the most important meal of the day (the jury is out), I’m not doing a very good job of starting my day on the right foot.

To my mother’s chagrin, I rarely eat breakfast. I’ll get into a groove of having smoothies everyday or get into an overnight oats routine, but usually it tapers off whenever I’ve failed to meal prep accordingly on any given Sunday.

I’ve never made my own granola before but have always wanted to be the kind of person who did. There was a spell when I was absolutely obsessed with Bridgehead granola. I would pay an exorbitant sum for their biggest bag and eat it on yogurt or just with milk.

Over the weekend, I finally got around to making my own. It could not be simpler to make, get a bunch of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, throw them in a bowl, toss with maple syrup and coconut oil, bake. Boom. You’ve got 8 cups of granola that will keep for 3 weeks in an airtight container.

This granola has great mouthfeel (that’s a thing) and a rich array of flavours. The coconut chips are my personal favourite, I could eat an entire bag of those things.

I’ve been eating this every morning since I made it. I’m serving it on plain Greek yogurt and topping it with fresh berries. Your imagination is your only limit though. If you scoop a handful without the dried fruit or coconut, this might make for a nice topping on a rich soup – for a bit of texture.

For those of you wondering, my china pattern is Blue Willow. My mom was incredibly thoughtful and started collecting a full set for me when I was a just a baby. I get lots of compliments on it and it’s one of my everyday dishware sets. I’m not the kind of person that reserves the good china for special occasions, you own it, it’s beautiful, put it to work.

I encourage you to apply this approach to all aspects of your life, if you own it and it’s beautiful, use it – whether we’re talking plates or dresses or a bold eyeshadow. It’s not doing you any good sitting in a cupboard.

Maple Granola

5 from 1 vote

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Maple Granola

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

40 mins

Total Time

50 mins

 

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: Canadian

Keyword: Maple Granola

Servings: 8 cups

Ingredients

• 3 cups large-flake rolled oats
• 1 1/3 cup pecans chopped
• 3/4 cups pepitas
• 3/4 cups sunflower seeds
• 1/3 cup sesame seeds
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt or sea salt
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 2/3 cups maple syrup
• 3 tbsp melted coconut oil
• 1/2 cup coconut chips optional
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup raisins

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.

2. In large bowl, stir together oats, almonds, pepitas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, cinnamon, cardamom salt and ginger. Add maple syrup and oil, stirring to coat; spread evenly on baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, stirring every 15 minutes and rotating pan halfway through, about 40 minutes. Let cool completely in pan.

3. Sprinkle with coconut chips (if using), cranberries and raisins.
4. Test Kitchen Make-Ahead: Store in an airtight jar or a resealable plastic bag for up to three weeks.

Recipe Notes

Recipe adapted from: The Canadian Living Test Kitchen. “Maple Granola.” Canadian Living. January/February 2019.