by Niamh Burke Neff
In the winter a more solid breakfast or mid-morning snack is in order. As a child my parents used to purchase boxes of ‘Crunchy’, a breakfast cereal similar to this, and mix it in with our muesli. I was never a fan of the muesli brand they purchased – however, I always remembered picking the bits of crunchy out of the bowl and loving it.
It’s what started me off with making my own ‘Crunchy’ years later, which is otherwise known as ‘Granola’. It’s the easiest thing in the world to make, and the variations are endless. Seeing as this is the version I am devouring lately, I decided to share this one with you. The below recipe will make four large breakfast portions (if you eat it like cereal with milk), or if you eat it over yogurt as a snack, there will be 8-10 portions. Here’s how…and always buy organic if you can!
Chocolate, Coconut and Almond Crunchy
Ingredients
- 6 cups rolled steel cut oats (purchase gluten-free oats if you are gluten intolerant)
- 2 cup raw whole almonds
- 2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1/2 a cup of coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt
- 4 heaped tablespoons of coconut blossom sugar (or normal brown sugar if you wish)
- 1/2 cup of almond nut butter*
- 1 cup of red grape and lemon thyme syrup (you can find the recipe for this in my chia pudding recipe) or you could use honey, maple syrup, agave syrup etc instead if you wish
- 1 cup of your favorite raw chocolate bar, roughly chopped (I love the OMbar raw choc brand and use the coconut one in this recipe)
- raspberries to decorate
Method
- Preheat the oven to 170°c.
- Mix the oat flakes, salt, sugar and whole almonds together well in a large bowl so that all ingredients are coated in the sugar.
- Place the red grape syrup (or other sweetener), coconut oil and almond nut butter in a small pan and gently heat until the coconut oil is melting.
- Pour the liquid over the dry oat mixture, and mix well until all dry ingredients in your bowl are coated with the liquid.
- Place the mixture evenly on a baking sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes (or until golden brown in color).
- Take it out halfway to stir it around so as to prevent overcooking at the edges.
- When done, take out of the oven and leave to cool. Once it has cooled down, mix through your raw chocolate pieces.
- Store the Crunchy in an airtight container, it will keep easily for 2+ weeks.
To serve
Serve up either over your favorite yogurt or with milk as a breakfast cereal. I’ve served it here with o-gurt and sprinkled bruised raspberries over the top as I find they go well with dark chocolate.
Enjoy!
Niamh
* Nut Butter
If you fancy making your own almond nut butter, it is quite easy – all it requires is a blender with a ‘s-blade’ and a little patience. I actually used my Vitamix blender on the slowest setting and it did the trick also. Simply place two cups of raw whole almonds into the blender and switch on. You may need to tamper down the edges a few times as you will find the powder starts to build up on the walls of the container. After about 4 minutes you will notice the nuts starting to release their natural oils and the mixture begins to come together. After about 6-7 minutes you will notice the mixture has turned into a smooth ‘peanut butter’ consistency – it is then that you know your homemade nut butter is ready for use. It will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
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