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Sorry for the photo overload but I could not, for the life of me, choose between these photos. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss an ounce of detail in this granola (do you see those SPECKS of vanilla beans?!) because it’s my FAVORITE granola I’ve ever ever made. This made almost three mason jars full and I ate it ALL. Jason never even had a chance! I feel {slightly} bad about it but I couldn’t share this one. I think I ate it every day for breakfast with my Chobani Greek yogurt and fruit, and I would keep snacking on it in the evenings after dinner. With the holidays coming up, you can totally gift this too. Just put it in a mason jar and tie it up with a ribbon :) I guarantee you, the second the recipient opens the lid, they will be forever grateful for you!
Last night, I went and did something that I should’ve done over a year ago when we moved into this house. I finally signed up for a gym membership at the gym down the street from us. No lie, it takes less than a minute to drive there and I could walk there in 5 minutes. I can’t believe I’ve been waiting so long. I think it’s the commitment thing. I don’t like that you have to basically commit yourself to the gym contract and be bound to it. I just don’t like contracts that take money from you every month ;) I figured that this gym membership and actually going, can justify all my cupcake eating habits. I’m really excited to try out exercise classes and to finally get back in the pool. I used to be a really good swimmer and I just stopped. I hope to get back into it! Won’t you help and encourage me? Rachel and I have decided we’d keep each other accountable every morning by texting each other at 5am (uh, are we crazy?) to make sure we’re up and heading to the gym. Nothing like waking up at the buttcrack of dawn, huh?
I’m sure I’ll need a lot of this coconut vanilla granola to get me going! You seriously have to give this a try. If you loved my peanut butter granola, then you’ll flip over this coconut vanilla granola. Really, it’s amazing. Think about sitting on the beach, under a cabana, sipping on a pina colada with a pretty umbrella. Yup, that’s how I felt when smelling and eating this coconut vanilla granola. Am I exaggerating? No. You have to smell this for yourself to believe me! Smell-o-vision would be a great invention right about now..
Coconut Vanilla Granola
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups (162 g) old fashioned oats, NOT quick oats
- ¾ cup (88 g) walnuts, chopped
- ¾ shredded sweetened coconut
- ½ cup (118 g) sliced almonds
- 2 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup (161 g) pure maple syrup
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 °F (163 °C) and line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, toss together oats, walnuts, coconut, almonds, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean paste.
- Pour the liquid mixture over the oat mixture and stir until all the dry ingredients are well coated.
- Spread mixture in an even layer on the lined baking sheet and bake for 30-45 minutes, or until mixture turns a light golden brown. You’ll want to check on it every 10 minutes and stir it around to make sure it doesn’t burn.
Nutrition
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I’d like to share this recipe with a friend who can’t eat sugar. What would you suggest to replace the brown sugar in that instance or can I leave it out altogether?
you should be fine to omit it and use a little more maple syrup if you find it not sweet enough
How much is 1 serving of the granola equal to? 1/2 cup? 1 cup?
yes, about a cup!
Wow, looks awesome but over 700 calories a serving if this serves 4. That’s quite the hefty breakfast! I think I’ll cut down the nuts and syrup and add some more oats and applesauce!
Can you substitute Agave syrup for the maple syrup? I know it won’t taste the same, but I have to watch my sugar intake :)
Thanks
Yes, absolutely!
I have been looking for a recipe for some time and this fits the bill! I can’t wait to try it. I make my own vanilla and have been saving some extracted vanila bean pods for such.
P>S> Good luck at the gym!! :)
What if I don’t have vanilla beans or vanilla paste? (I’ve never heard of vanilla paste before.) What would you recommend?
You can just omit it and use more vanilla extract in its place. You just won’t get the tiny specks of vanilla that you see in my photos, though, which doesn’t affect flavor. It’s just for looks.
Made this granola today with a few small changes because I didn’t have all of the ingredients. I added cashews instead of almonds and used 6 T. of avocado oil. I just reread the recipe and realized I completely forgot to add the maple syrup! Nevertheless, it still tasted yummy and was sweet enough for me. Will try again with the correct ingredients! Thank you :)
Glad you enjoyed this with your modifications, Elle! :)
Has anyone calculated what a 200 calorie serving would be?
Hi Julie. I am going to make this granola for my Friday Foodday next week for myself and a few of my dental school classmates. In order to make it easier to share and eat during lecture, I was wondering if I could make granola bars or form into balls? Maybe with the addition of honey? Any thoughts?
Thank you.
Hi Makani! Yes, I definitely think honey would work in your situation! Try 1/4 cup of honey or agave nectar and see if it comes together enough, if not, add a bit more til you can get them to come together. What a great idea! I hope your classmates love them!
Kevin and I would LOVE this granola Julie. I make granola all the time and have to try this recipe sometime soon. I haven’t had time for the gym lately because of a huge deadline, but hoping I can get back into the habit of going once I’m finished!