This recipe is a cross between granola and a granola bar.
For Christmas one year during high school I received a Richard Simmons exercise tape called “Reach”. He wrote the lyrics to the soundtrack (very hokey) and he sings you through the exercise routines in his goofy voice. It was my introduction to aerobics and listening to it made me feel like I was in some sort of low budget sitcom. Still, it suited the motivations of the post-Christmas season and I did the exercise routines all through the winter.
Cranberry Almond Granola Bites
Ingredients:
- 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (GF if necessary)
- 1 1/2 cups raw whole almonds
- ½ cup unsweetened coconut
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 cup good-quality olive oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- ¼ cup fancy molasses
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a baking sheet with a parchment paper.
- Combine the oats, almonds, coconut, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, salt, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
- In a medium saucepan whisk together the oil, honey, molasses, brown sugar, butter and vanilla. Warm gently until butter melts and mixture is smooth.
- Pour warmed mixture over the dry ingredients and stir gently until all the ingredients are evenly coated.
- Transfer the granola to the lined baking sheet. Spread it out so it covers the baking sheet evenly.
- Bake until the granola is golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Stir the granola every 15 minutes — do not stir more frequently. When you think the granola is almost done, stir in the cranberries and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Once you remove the granola from the oven, do not stir again; it will crisp and solidify into clusters as it cools.
- Once the granola has cooled completely, break it into clusters.
Oh my, I LOVE granola clusters (and I remember Richard Simmons!). Bookmarked for my next batch!
Clumpy granola is my favourite! I think it's probably because I'm just as likely to eat granola straight out of the jar as I am to actually put it in a bowl, and the clumpy kind is just so much easier to grab by the handful and go. Also loving the use of both honey and molasses for sweetness… it sounds absolutely perfect, no matter what the calorie count might be. 🙂
I like my granola in clusters and yours looks perfect!
I tried this without the molasses add a little more brown sugar and raisin and omitted the cranberries because I didn’t have any. It was a huge hit.
That sounds delicious! You could also replace the molasses with maple syrup if you wanted to take the flavour in a different direction.