I know….I know….there’s another Paleo Granola recipe on my blog so why would I add this to the collection? Well – I was craving granola one morning and I didn’t have all the ingredients listed in my original recipe – so I improvised with what I had. I came up with this!
In comparison, this recipe has more seeds than nuts …I use some macadamia nuts as well (yum!) and I believe 2 more dates and that’s partially because the dates that are used here, are smaller.
Speaking of dates – have you heard of The Date Lady? (I guess I’ll go off on a little tangent for a sec)….I used her dates in this recipe but let’s be honest, a date is a date especially when you’re grinding them up in a recipe. But let’s talk about her other products — she’s got an amazing chocolate spread that uses dates as the sweetener, a caramel sauce, as well as a balsamic vinegar AND date sugar! I use her date sugar in place of coconut sugar all the time and love the results. Go check her out if you haven’t already. It’s a great way to get an all natural sweetener into a recipe without using processed sugar and/or spiking your sugar levels. All of her products are organic, kosher, vegan, gluten free and dairy free!
On to the recipe ….if you’ve been craving a crunch cereal/granola, I think you should give this a try! I also left in a few bigger “chunks” to grab for a snack. They make a great granola bar too!
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/3 cup almond slivers
- 1/3 cup macadamia nuts
- 1/3 cup pecans
- 10 pitted small dates (I use The Date Lady)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 - 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- Sprinkle of salt
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Place seeds in a bowl along with maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice & salt -- combine.
- In a small food processor, gently process the almond slivers, macadamia nuts, pecans, coconut oil and dates. You want it to be chunky but very small pieces.
- Add the nut mixture to the seed bowl and combine.
- On a parchment lined baking sheet, lay mixture and spread out to a thin layer. Bake for 12 minutes.
- At 12 min, toss/turn/break up the granola and bake another 15 min.
- Serve with your favorite milk, some raisins or even dark chocolate chips! Or just toss into a bag and eat as a snack!
This was easy to make and tastes so yummy, especially in a bowl with chilled coconut milk. Thanks!
Awww! Thanks so much Donna! I’m with you on the bowl with chilled coconut milk. And I love the flavor the milk takes on after the granola sits in it for a bit 🙂 Thanks again!