Chocolate and coconut granola

Granola is one of those snack foods that can be very healthy and ‘worthy’ or very decadent…this recipe is one of the latter. As the holidays are right around the corner, I thought it’d be nice to have a recipe for an easy granola you can give to a friend as a special homemade treat…or you can have it as a little present to yourself. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup quinoa puffs or puffed rice
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (I used a combination of pine nuts, raw almonds and raw cashews)
1 cup unsweetened coconut (I used a mixture of shredded and larger “flakes”)
1/4 cup honey
2/3 cup light brown sugar
125g unsalted butter
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chips
optional: 1/2 cup dried cranberries

PREPARATION:
Preheat the oven to 160c.

Melt the butter, brown sugar and honey in a small saucepan on a low heat. Once the sugar is fully dissolved, take the pan off the heat and add the vanilla.

While the butter is melting with the sugar, mix all of the dry ingredients (excluding the chocolate chips) in a large bowl.

Slowly add the contents of the saucepan into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Spread the mixture onto a large parchment lined baking sheet in a thin layer.

Bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven, mix the ingredients with a spatula and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes.

Remove pan from oven again and give the granola one more toss (leaving some of the big clumps in tact) and return to the oven for a final 10 minutes.

Once the granola has cooled, break up the large pieces and mix in the chocolate chips (and dried cranberries, if using).

Cook’s notes:
Every oven is a little bit different…please keep an eye on the granola in the last 10 minutes and make sure it doesn’t burn.
For a healthier version of this granola, you can substitute coconut oil for the butter resulting in a slightly flakier less decadent version.