Homemade Chocolate Granola, a crunchy delightful treat with 3 kinds of chocolate, almonds and oh.. did I mention chocolate covered dried cranberries? Trust me , this might be a game changer!
I make granola all the time with my easy "ratio" recipe full of all sorts of options, but recently had a store bought box of chocolate granola, and liked it, but knew homemade would be better! Feel free to play around a bit with it yourself and find what you like.
Jan's Tips:
- Feel free to swap out melted coconut oil if you prefer over a vegetable oil. it works great and my daugher and daughter in law both prefer coconut oil.
- I picked up an 8 oz. container of dark chocolate covered dried cranberries from the "bulk" section near produce at my local Krogers, but Dark Chocolate covered raisins (such as the Raisinets brand found in an 8 oz bag in the candy aisle) is what my son loves! you can't go wrong with either choice. also add in's such as shredded coconut, sunflower or my fav: pumpkin seeds (pepitas) work fantastic too.
- Maple Syrup or corn syrup or even agave instead of honey works just fine too, just don't use molasses in my opinion.
Let's get baking!
Chocolate Almond Granola
Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups (6 oz bag) slivered almonds
1 1/2 teaspoons ground flax seed
1 1/2 teaspoons wheat germ
1/4 cup vegetable oil (such as canola)
1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup honey (can cut in half if want it less sweet and a bit drier to bake it)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
8 oz. dark chocolate covered dried cranberries or raisins.
Other optional add ins: seeds (sunflower , pumpkin kernals) or substiture other chopped nuts, shredded coconut works well here too.
Directions:
- Preheat over to 350° , line a cookie sheet with silicone mat (or parchment paper) and set aside.
- in large bowl place oats, and slivered almonds, ground flax seeds, and wheat germ, mix together, set aside.
- In separate bowl, mix together : oil, cocoa powder, brown sugar and honey till well blended.
- Pour wet mixture over oat mixture and stir till oats are well blended and all ingredients are moistened.
- Spread mixture in even layer onto prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 30 minutes. stopping at 15 minutes to stir/ turn over mixture.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle chocolate chips while granola is still warm, stirring to blend. This will create little larger clumps/ clusters of granola.
- Let cool completely, break up lightly as needed.
- Sprinkle evenly the chocolate covered dried cranberries or raisins along with any additional add ins. Mix well, ,and store in air tight container or bag.
