Around 7 p.m. on a Friday evening, a sweet-faced four-year-old boy looks up at me and says, “Can I please have granola with no milk?” Since our jar of granola is empty — I suspect my husband sneaked off with the last bowl after dinner — I quickly pull out the ingredients from our cabinets and, within ten minutes, the batch is in the oven.
The rich, crunchy texture and sweet taste of Our Yummiest & Healthiest Granola turn this breakfast staple into a wonderful treat. It’s also a good choice for other reasons: it’s gluten-free, doesn’t contain any refined sugars, is vegan-option and organic if you choose organic ingredients. And it’s easy to make!
My kids prefer to eat it with no milk — they fill a small cup and devour it like candy — but I like to pair it with cold rice milk. On most nights after I put my three kids to sleep, you will find me snuggled up on the couch with a book and a cup of granola. It’s especially yummy straight out of the oven when it’s still a tiny bit warm.
That’s exactly how this Friday evening ended. After my son finished his cup of warm granola — eating it with a spoon but with no milk! — I read my kids stories until they fell asleep. Then I filled my own cup, got my book and crawled under a blanket on our couch. It was the perfect way to kick off the weekend, and the house smelled like cinnamon and roasted nuts. Yum! • Ulrica Wihlborg
Ingredients:
- 4 cups oats old-fashioned rolled oats
- 3/4 cups raw walnuts
- 3/4 cups raw sunflower seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup real maple syrup
- 1/4 cup honey (if you’re a vegan you can use molasses)
- 1/2 cup coconut flakes
Instructions:
- 1) Roughly chop up the walnuts.
- 2) Measure up the dry ingredients — oats, chopped walnuts, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, ground ginger, sea salt and vanilla (save the coconut flakes for later) — in a large bowl and mix carefully using your hands or a spoon.
- 3) Add the melted coconut oil, maple syrup and honey (or molasses) and mix thoroughly with a spoon.
- 4) Layer a cookie sheet in a large pan and spread out the mixture evenly.
- 5) Bake in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius) for 20 minutes.
- 6) Take out the pan and stir the mixture, then add the coconut flakes and stir again. Bake for another 10 minutes.
- 7) Remove the pan from the oven and stir the mixture several times as it cools off to prevent it from clumping.
- 8) Store in a glass container with an air-tight lid.
- Helpful Tips:
- • This granola is gluten-free as long as you use gluten-free oats.
- • I prefer to make it with honey (molasses make it a little too sweet for my taste).
This recipe is based on vegetarian and whole foods recipe blog Cookie & Kate’s Gingerbread Granola. It was photographed exclusively for Sweden With Love by ©Em The Gem with food styling by Rachel Logan.
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