As I write this post I find myself craving this granola all over again! It’s long gone but it’s super crunchy texture is imprinted on my brain. Here’s the thing. This is the first time I’ve ever made granola.  I’ve held off for a long time because, although granola (especially homemade granola) is pretty healthy, it’s also pretty dang high in calories!  There en-lies my problem. Making a batch of granola is like opening a fresh bag of sea salt and vinegar kettle chips.  I’m not going to want to stop at one reasonable handful! I had to give the rest of mine to someone who has a lot more self control than I do!
But, I’v been bitten by the granola bug.  I loved making it and now I want to try to make it low calorie but with amazing flavor. We’ll see! I had a really hard time titling this recipe because every ingredient seemed to play a staring role!  But, including every ingredient would have been silly. So I settled on cherry almond and maple-cinnamon granola. I know olive oil is an unlikely granola ingredient but I think the olive oil and kosher salt lent a bit of sophistication to this perfectly sweetened healthy snack. 

Print

cherry almond and maple-cinnamon granola

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup 96 g thick oats
• 2 cups 60 g crisp brown rice cereal
• 2 oz. 56 g butter toffee almonds
• 6 Tbsp. 30 g unsweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup 80 g dried cherries
• 8 Tbsp. 168 g maple cinnamon agave pancake syrup
• 1/2 tsp. 2 g maple extract
• 2 Tbsp. 20 g olive oil
• 2 tsp. 5 g ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup 30 g white chocolate chips
• 1 tsp. kosher salt

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 200° F and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl toss to combine the oats, rice cereal, almonds, and dried cherries.
3. In the jar of your blender combine the syrup, maple extract, olive oil, and cinnamon.
4. Blend for a few seconds until mixture is well combined.
5. Evenly pour the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients. Toss well to coat evenly.
6. Pour mixture out onto your lined cookie sheet and spread it out evenly.
7. Bake the granola for 75 to 90 minutes (until crisp and brown, not burnt).
8. Remove the granola from the oven and cool slightly.
9. Sprinkle the white chocolate chips and salt over the warm granola.
10. Let granola sit on the parchment paper (off of the cookie sheet) until completely cool.
11. When the granola is completely cool break it up into chunks. EAT!!!