Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Cocoa granola

October 12-13, 2014


With tea and toast and boxed supermarket cereal, I worked myself back into a breakfast rut these last couple of months. I was just about ready to bake up a batch of my favourite granola recipe when Heidi posted this one on Apples Under My Bed

Now it's been years since I've read about chocolate granola on Orangette, and I've even sampled some out and about, but I was wary of extending my well-established chocolate habit to breakfast. But Heidi's recipe is different - it's got the deep roasted flavour of cocoa without the richness of cocoa butter, and offers the freedom to tinker with the sweetness as needed. I appreciated Heidi's recipe notes - it's tempting to over-bake this mixture, but it crisps up while cooling and doesn't need more than 25 minutes in the oven.

I think this granola is at its best with berries and coconut yoghurt, while Heidi recommends teaming it with banana and milk. I might have some other serving suggestions soon, as I've found myself baking two further double batches for friends (and for me too, sure) since the first trial I photographed above.



Cocoa granola
(slightly adapted from Apples Under My Bed)

3 tablespoons coconut oil
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup almonds, roughly chopped
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
generous shake of salt
3 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons ground coffee
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat an oven to 160°C. Line a large baking tray with paper.

Gently melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan and set it aside to cool a little.

In a medium-large bowl, stir together the rolled oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, salt, cocoa and coffee.

Whisk the maple syrup and vanilla into the coconut oil. Pour the oil mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Pour the granola onto the baking tray, spreading it out evenly. Bake the granola for 20-25 minutes, stirring it at the 10 minute mark. Be careful no to burn it.

Allow the granola to cool before storing it in an airtight container. Serve it with yoghurt and fruit.

14 comments:

  1. Sounds great - I had yoghurt and rhubarb with toasted oats for breakfast this morn - but I think your granola would do very well on it - and it would be a nice christmas gift (sorry I know it is early to think of such things)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Johanna - I think you're right on both counts! I should get some rhubarb going.

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Ha! Apparently Carla of easy as vegan pie gave that a go the other night, hopefully she'll report back on the outcome.

      Delete
  3. gahhh right when I'm all out of maple syrup!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Veganopoulous - other liquid sweeteners might work too!

      Delete
  4. Love the look of this granola with the coffee in it- yum! An extra morning boost :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kate! It's subtle but good - I'm sure you could increase the dose in an adults-only batch. :-)

      Delete
  5. That looks delicious and I want it for breakfast right now! ;)

    xox Sarah

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Sarah! It won't do your avocado quota any good unfortunately. :-P

      Delete
  6. I love your tahini granola recipe (seriously one of my all time favs) and Heidi's was pretty good as well. I'm going to try a fusion of both (tahini+cocoa) and let you know. I only have instant coffee so I don't add it, how important is it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Lyf! I don't think the coffee is too important, it's just a subtle boost to the cocoa flavour I think. Yes, please do come back and tell us how your hybrid batch goes. :-)

      Delete
    2. Hi Cindy I made a hybrid batch a long time ago, nearly forgot to report back. Tahini mellows out the Cocoa, sticking it to the original.

      Delete
    3. Better late than never - thanks, Lyf!

      Delete