Sometimes you feel like a nut! I guess that’s most of the time for me! I’m definitely a nut….and a nut lover. I found myself grabbing a few different kinds of nuts at a farmers market and when I got home, I realized I had more than I knew what to do with!
I make my own nut butters and I do like to grab a handful to munch on when I’m on my way to the gym but still, I looked into the pantry and thought, ‘I’ve got to think of something else to do with this overload of nuts!’ That’s when this “granola” happened.
I’ve never been much of a cereal person. If and when I did eat cereal, it was granola, Grape Nuts or oatmeal. I believe there was a Health Valley brand that was my go-to granola but when I gave up grains/sugar, my days of granola (and other store bought cereals, for that matter) were long gone. I eventually started seeing paleo granola recipes passing through on my instagram feed and had to give them a try! And since then, there’s been a handful of granola type cereals that have been marketed and truly are delicious! One of my favorite packaged “no grain-ola” is Paleonola but it’s in select stores and/or you can order online — so what if you want that taste now???? Well, that’s when you just get those nuts and food processor out and make your own! It’s super easy and quick, so why not?
I just started tossing nuts’n’things into my food processor and this happened. This recipe is pretty basic and though we liked it as is, there are many things you can do to it to change up flavor etc. We served with almond milk & added raisins but I’m sure it would be great with coconut milk and other add ins. It’s always great to follow a recipe but I feel that recipes are templates and you can always tweak to your own liking so if you make this and change it up a bit, let me know so I can share with others and try it myself 🙂
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 cup almonds
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 8 figs
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
- 1/4 cup raw honey (melted)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
- pinch of salt
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees
- In a food processor, add pecans, walnuts, almonds & figs. Pulse 8 times or blend for 20 seconds.
- Add in honey, coconut oil, vanilla & salt and pulse again a few more times - combining and breaking up nuts.
- Stir sunflower seeds in by hand.
- On a parchment lined baking sheet, spread the mixture out to about 1/4 inch thickness.
- Bake at 250 for 25-30 minutes, breaking up/turning every 10 minutes or so, while in oven.
- *Add ons: raisins, fresh berries, banana slices, coconut flakes or dark chocolate chips. Omit cinnamon and add in unsweetened cocoa powder. Use as a yogurt, frozen treat or pancake topping 🙂
