Homemade Granola with Cranberries, Almonds, and Dark Chocolate
My husband and I are the same way when it comes to rainy days. We just want to curl up; curl up to watch an old movie, curl up to discover a new book, curl up to enjoy a bowl of homemade granola. Saturday was just that sort of day and we ended up doing all three of those things. Making the granola was a lot of fun, and while it baked our home smelt heavenly – perfumed with the scent of baking oats and honey, hemmed in by fresh rain falling outside our open windows.
Sometimes life gets hectic and you need to slow it down a bit. Taking time to enjoy the beauty that is around you that you are living in. Presently, we have a long list of items that are requiring a great deal of attention from us, and also a good deal of stress. But I think there will always be the list, there will always be things demanding attention – so it’s up to us to decide when and how. Of course things need to get done, of course there are stress factors popping up all the time – however, there is also so much more to life, isn’t there? Like sipping an amazing cup of coffee first thing in the morning while the sun comes up, like catching up with old friends, like watching your Little One discover something new and seeing it through his eyes for the first time… oh this is the list that should go on and on! In this busy world that we live in, and on this busy Monday, I encourage you to pause and enjoy the simple pleasures that life is offering you.
the smell of baking / rain falling on the roof /
a piece of dark chocolate melting in your mouth / candlelight /
a walk with no destination / birds singing /
little ones laughing / perfectly seeped cup of tea
bare feet / a smile from a stranger
I hope you’ll try this recipe, because it’s absolutely scrumptious. Whether you pour a bit of milk over your golden granola clusters or sprinkle them on top of yogourt, it really is a delicious and healthy breakfast (or anytime of the day snack!) to get your day started.
Happy Monday dear friends 🙂
Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free Homemade Granola with Cranberries, Almonds, and Dark Chocolate
Makes 6 servings
2 1/2 cups gluten-free oats
1/2 cup gluten-free oat flour
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 cup firmly packed muscovado sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil (in solid form)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (sweetened with applejuice)
1/3 cup crushed almonds (you can buy or diy: put almonds in a bag and crush using a rolling pin)
Note: you can really add whatever ingredients you fancy – I’m looking forward to trying pumpkin seeds, raisins, walnuts, and dried cherries.
- In a large bowl combine oats, flour, cinnamon, crushed almonds and cranberries – set aside.
- In a medium sauce pan, on medium heat, combine coconut oil, honey, and sugar. Stir until melted and completely blended.
- Pour over dry mixture and stir gently.
- Let the wet mixture cover the dry mix until it forms little clusters.
- Grease two large baking sheets with coconut oil. Spread granola mixture evenly.
- Bake in the oven at 175 F for 1 hour.
- After the baking time is done, turn off the heat, let the granola sit for another 30 minutes in the oven.
- Pull out of the oven, it may still be warm, let cool completely before adding the dark chocolate chips (you can sprinkle them on top of spread out granola for even distribution or add into the storage container afterwards.)
- Transfer to air tight container for storing.
- Enjoy with your favorite milk (we had ours with unsweetened almond milk), over yogourt, or by itself! Yum 🙂
*This recipe is an adaptation of this one by Quinn’s baking diary
Emily Smith is the Editor of The Best of This Life who has been writing in the lifestyle niche and creating delicious recipes for over 10 years. Her work has been featured on BRIT + CO, Today's Parent, Chatelaine, Huffington Post, The Pioneer Woman, and Food Bloggers of Canada. She writes about family, food, entertaining, home decor, wellness, travel and a litany of other topics. She loves sharing her three core values - love life, live well, share the beauty - and encourages her readers to enjoy the best of their lives every day. She lives in Ottawa with her loving husband, two darling children, and dreams of one day owning a puppy.
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Oh my, the chocolate would make my boys dive right into this! 🙂
This was rock and roll; healthy and fantastic tasting. Little A and I didn’t let it last long though. Thank you so very much for this and a lovely weekend my lady.
Yum! My husband would go crazy for this granola…anything with chocolate for him. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
yum! i love all of these things so much! dark chocolate! can’t wait to make it- thanks!
follow me at embitions.blogspot.com
this looks soooooo good!!!! have a great week!
holy moly this looks amazing. thanks for sharing!
Oh – Fancy That.
Homemade granola?! I need to make this! Thanks for sharing the recipe!!
Emily this looks SO delicious!!! I’m literally drooling over this right now! Granola is one of those things I could eat ALL DAY LONG!
Hope everything is ok, I like how you never loose the scoop of those small things in life that make our lives good 😉
So I saw this post and it just totally made me smile! I love, love, love granola. Yours looks amazing.
Emily, have been wanting to try my own granola so I am thrilled to see this post:) Thank you for sharing it.
Hope you had a beautiful weekend,
Anna
Oooh, you should package and market this stuff…I would totally buy it. I’m pinning it right now!
-Kristen
The Mrs. and The Momma