Maple, vanilla, coconut, Pecan granola
A granola worth getting out of bed for.
Ingredients
125g butter
120g maple syrup
90g liquid honey
2 tsp vanilla paste
500g rolled oats
1 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
3/4 cup brown sugar
300g pecans, broken or roughly chopped
2.5 cups coconut chips
dried fruit *see variations
Method
Preheat oven to 170c bake
Place butter, maple, honey and vanilla paste in a saucepan and cook gently over a medium heat until melted and combined.
Place oats, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and brown sugar in your largest roasting dish and mix briefly then slowly stir in the melted butter mixture ensuring that all the oats and seeds are evenly coated and spread out evenly in the roasting dish.
Bake for 15min intervals stirring every 15mins.
After about 45mins add pecans, mix well to combine and continue cooking at 10min intervals stirring at each interval until everything is golden.
Remove from the oven and transfer into your largest mixing bowl to let cool. At this stage the mixture is quite sticky as it cools and will stick together in a clump, so stir frequently with a large spoon to stop everything from sticking together as it cools. *see notes
Once cooled stir though coconut chips and store in an airtight container.
Add to order the dried fruit of your choice.
Serve with whatever milk you desire & coconut yoghurt.
Store for upto a month.
NOTES + VARIATIONS
While cooling the granola will stick together and become one big mass. If you would like the grains separate, stir regularly or as I do often stir less frequent and break up with your hands which will create little crunchy granola clusters.
Dried fruit: Think about flavours & seasons that work together. Favourites of mine are:
Sliced papaya & mango
Goji & strawberry or raspberry
Fig, golden sultana & apple
Fig & grated dark chocolate
For that special morning:
Add thinly sliced nougat, such as cherry or pistachio.