Clean and Healthy Maple Granola with Dried Fruit, Chia and Hemp Seeds

Happy Monday everyone!  Im not feeling incredibly chipper today, but I have a feeling I will come around later on. Im just a little tired.   We had a fun filled weekend.  Debbie and I got together Saturday to cook up a few things for the blog (yes that’s fun for us) and then Sunday we went snowmobiling with our men, Mark and Kevin.  It was SO much fun!  Both Debbie and I are beginners, but we had so much fun just learning and being out in a winter wonderland for a few hours.  Its great exercise too.  Its hard work to pull that sled around and try to make it go where you want it to!  We ended the weekend with a dip in Debbie’s new hot tub.

Im pretty excited to share this recipe with you all today.  Its another clean and healthy recipe that can help get your day started off right.

I love granola, but it can be full of sugar and crappy things if you buy it from a store and you aren’t careful.   This granola is made from quality ingredients and it is better than any granola I have ever tasted.    Its got that sweet and salty thing going on in the perfect balance along with tasty bites of fruit, chewy oatmeal, crunchy pumpkin seeds, and some super healthy hemp hearts and chia seeds.

This recipe is adapted from a granola recipe posted on Cookie and Kate which looks amazing too, I just changed a few things up how I like them to be, but the method is basically the same.

I love lots of fruit in my granola so I added dried cherries, apricots, and my homemade dried apples.   I also wanted to add some extra protein so I added chia seeds and hemp hearts.  I chose to use maple syrup as my sweetener because I love the flavor and it doesn’t make the granola too sweet.

Kate’s recipe said to mix the fruit, nuts, and seeds separately and cook the spiced and sweetened oatmeal for a bit first so that’s what I did.  I like the result, however, I think next time, I will try adding the chia seeds and hemp hearts with the oatmeal because they didn’t really stick to anything and so they kind of end up at the bottom when I would like them to stick to all the oatmeal.  But adding the fruit at the end is important especially if you want your fruit still nice and soft and chewy.

Update: I made this granola again and I did put the hemp hearts and the chia seeds in with the oatmeal first.  It turned out much better and I have re-written the instructions to reflect this.  I did, however, still put the seeds and fruit in after.   

As options, you don’t have to use the same kind of fruit that I did.  You can use whatever dried fruit you like.  Same with the nuts and seeds.  You could also use honey instead of maple syrup if you like too.  A lot of recipe have agave in them, but agave is actually highly processed so its best to stay away from that sweetener.

Debbie eats oatmeal usually in the mornings, just a couple spoonful’s at a time to give her some energy for her run or workout.  She was in Hawaii when I made this so she hasn’t tasted it yet…  I think she will prefer this recipe to her plain old oatmeal 🙂

I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to eat this granola with yogurt and honey drizzled on top (Mmmmm) because I discovered a couple years ago that yogurt gives me eczema!  I don’t eat a lot of dairy anyways, but when I eat yogurt a few days in a row, I get eczema on my  fingers that is terrible and lasts a few weeks, if you can believe that.  My body is not a fan of dairy.   However, I have discovered goat yogurt!  I was pretty wary to try it at first, but I have had it a few times now and no reaction!  I am so excited to be able to eat granola with yogurt on a regular basis again.  Its so incredibly delicious!

Oh ya!  Don’t you want your own bowl of that yummy goodness now?

5 from 1 vote

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Clean and Healthy Maple Granola with Dried Fruit, Chia and Hemp Seeds

Course Breakfast/Snack

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Author Cooks with Cocktails

Ingredients

• 4 cups organic rolled oats (gluten free) not quick oats
• 1 tsp Himalayan or sea salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 c hemp hearts
• 1/4 c chia seeds
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 c walnuts chopped in pieces
• 1/4 c dried cherries chopped
• 1/2 c dried apples chopped
• 1/4 c dried apricots chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add the oats, salt, cinnamon, ginger, coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, hemp hearts and chia seeds to a large bowl.
3. Lay on a parchment paper lined tray and bake for 12 - 15 mins.
4. Remove from the oven and mix in the fruit, seeds, and nuts. I put mine in a bowl to mix.
5. Spread granola back on the sheet and bake for another 10 mins.
6. Remove from the oven, give it a mix and let it cool.
7. Store in airtight container or bag.
8. Serve with plain yogurt and drizzle with honey if desired.

Recipe Notes

The amount of fruit and the type of fruit that you put in the granola is really up to you. If you don't like fruit just don't add any. Or if you like lots, add more, it wont matter to the recipe.