Making my own granola has been on my to-do for a while. For one, a lot of the store-bought brands just have a lot of ingredients that I have zero interest on consuming. Remember, your body is your temple. 😉
So being a chocolate lover, I knew that coconut and chocolate granola was the winning flavor to experiment with. Now, you might be wondering where’s the chocolate in this recipe. Well my dear friends, believe it or not there’s a cacao substitute. It’s called carob.
Before getting into the recipe, let’s start by answering some questions.
- The issue with cacao – Cacao has amazing nutrients and antioxidants. But social awareness is what made me look for an alternative. Once you see something, you can’t unsee it. Although there’s a lot of money to be made on chocolate, cacao farmers typically get the short end of the stick. Despite all their hard work in growing cacao, they make pennies for it and many times live in poverty.
- Should I never eat chocolate again? – Don’t be silly. Chocolate is one of the wonders in life in my opinion. Just make sure to look for “Fairtrade” chocolate. You can read more about it here. And when you can’t find Fairtrade cacao powder, give carob a go.
- What on Earth is Carob? – Carob is a tree that contain these edible pods that can be used as a lovely cacao alternative.
Now that we answered some behind the scenes questions about this recipe, let’s dive into the yummy stuff. Like most recipes that I post, this coconut carob recipe is quite simple to make. It’s basically just adding all ingredients in a bowl and taking it to the oven.
One of the great things about making your own granola is that since it’s super fresh, it has that amazing crunch that we all love. You can also add, swap, or just leave out ingredients. Really make it your own.
The original recipe that I found was in the website Pick Up Limes. I swapped the seeds from sunflower to pumpkin because that’s what I had at home. I also substituted the cacao for my carob while adding some flax seeds. And last but not least, tweaked the amounts of each ingredient to add more of what I love, like the coconut shreds. And that’s how my coconut carob granola was born.
You see? That’s what I mean. Use recipes as your base and just go banana nuts with it. Enjoy and see you in the kitchen!
Coconut Carob Granola
Serves 6
Ingredients:
- 2 cups oats
- 1 cup cashews (chopped)
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut shreds
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 TBSP carob
- 2 TBSP flax seeds
- Sprinkle Himalayan salt
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, add wet ingredients (melted coconut oil and maple syrup) and mix well. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add all the dry ingredients (except coconut shreds). Combine with the wet ingredients and mix well with a spoon.
- Place granola on baking tray and into the oven.
- Bake for 25 minutes total time. In between baking time, stir granola every ten minutes for an even crunch.
- After granola is ready, mix in coconut shreds.
