Chocolate and maple granola

I love having chocolate, especially dark chocolate. Despite my innate love for chocolate,  I usually stop myself for having chocolate and anything chocolate for breakfast especially when chocolate makes up fifty sixty-five percent of the ingredients.

That’s until I discovered that I can have my cake chocolate and eat it too – happily and guilt-free too, if I may add.

That comes in the form of my chocolate granola that straddles in between naughty and nice. It is deliciously good that I’ve been eating it straight out of the box, just as you would do with a bag of chips.

And if you are feeling a little more indulgent, you can add chopped up chocolate pieces into your granola.

Who says you can’t have chocolate for breakfast!

 

 

Recipe: Homemade chocolate and maple granola
Makes about 750g of granola or fills a large tub

 

Ingredients:

3 cups of rolled oats
1/2 cup almonds, untoasted
1 cup pecans, untoasted
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup grapeseed oil or any neutral flavoured oil
1/2 cup maple syrup

Add after granola is cooled:
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries or cherries
2 tbsp chia seeds
3 tbsp cacao nibs
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips, or chopped choocolate (for that bit of indulgence)
pinch of sea salt to finish, optional

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees celcius. Line your baking tray with baking parchment

2. In a large bowl, add in the rolled oats, seeds and nuts. Then add in the salt, and cocoa powder. Give it a good mix through before adding your vanilla extract, oil and maple syrup.

3. Pour this mix and spread them onto your baking tray and bake for about 30-40 minutes. Be careful not to let your granola burn especially the nuts. Toss it twice mid-way through.

4. Bake the granola till golden brown. Let the granola cool before adding the dried fruits, chia seeds, cacao nibs, dark chocolate chips and sea salt, if using. Store the cooled granola in an air-tight container. It keeps for about 3-4 weeks.

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