Coconut Almond Granola (with clumps)

If you like chunky granola with clumps you’re going to love this homemade coconut almond granola! Made chunky with a special trick that doesn’t involve egg whites or a ton of sugar. Vegan & gluten-free.

Oh granola!! It has the perfect amount of crunch, as well as, a sugar, fat, salt ratio that makes it 100% delicious and addictive as all get out. Baked & Wired sells granola called Hippie Crack and I honestly think that’s the perfect way to describe all granola. At least for me because I literally have zero portion control when it comes to ‘nola.

Anyhow, because of my deep granola love I decided that this year I wanted to make an EBF house granola. A simple base recipe that I adored. One that’d I’d be happy to make and eat on the regular, but also one that could easily be adapted.

I had some ambitious goals. I wanted the granola to be gluten-free, vegan, naturally sweetened, low in sugar AND super chunky with large clumps. As you probably know, this was no small feat considering sugar is one of the things that really binds granola together and makes it clump.

I knew it might take some experimenting, but I was determined to find a granola solution so over the past few months Maria and I have tested about six different recipes.

We experimented with a variety of different natural sweeteners.We tried heating the sugar and coconut oil in saucepan until bubbly so it would be thicker and hold together better. We tried parchment paper vs no parchment, baking stone vs baking sheet, stirring vs no stirring. It was quite a process.

None of the recipes were a complete flop (they all got eaten), but when we made this coconut almond granola with the flaxseed I knew we’d found the winning combo. It was perfectly sweet (only 3 Tablespoons of maple syrup for the whole batch), light and crunchy with BIG clumpy, granola clusters. Hooray!

The trick to the crunchy clusters/clumps = flaxseed egg. I noticed that many granola recipes called for egg whites (or water) to help create clusters so I decided to try a flaxseed egg and it worked like a charm.

This coconut almond granola has the full package — great flavor, crunch and clumps… all without a ton of sugar. Each 1/4 cup serving has about 4 grams. And as I mentioned before this granola recipe is 100% customizable so feel free to use your favorite nuts and add-ins. I love the combo of coconut and almonds so that’s what I went with, but I’m sure I’ll be experimenting and posting variations of the recipe soon. I’m thinking a chocolate version needs to happen next.

Coconut Almond Granola

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Preparation 10 mins 2017-06-22T00:10:00+00:00

Cook Time 40 mins 2017-06-22T00:40:00+00:00

5 1

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size	1/4 cup
Amount Per Serving
Calories 156 Calories from fat 94
Total Fat 10g	15%
Saturated Fat 6g	30%
Transfat 0
Sodium 21	1%
Carbohydrate 15g	5%
Dietary Fiber 3g	12%
Sugars 4g
Protein 3g

Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:

	Calories	2000
Total Fat	Less than	65g
Sat Fat	Less than	25g
Cholesterol	Less than	300mg
Sodium	Less than	2,400mg
Total Carbohydrate		300g
Dietary Fiber		25g

Serves 14     adjust servings

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 Tablespoons water
• 2 cups regular rolled oats
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup chopped or slivered almonds
• 1 Tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 Tablespoons coconut oil
• 3 Tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 Tablespoon coconut sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300°. 
2. Whisk together flaxseed and water in a small bowl. Set aside. 
3. Add all remaining ingredients into a large bowl and toss to combine. Add in flaxseed mixture and toss again. 
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment and spread granola mixture onto the sheet, pressing the mixture down with a spatula. 
5. Bake for 35-40 minutes, stirring once about 20 minutes in. Once you stir the granola, be sure to press it back down with the spatula. Granola is done when it's dry, crunchy and golden in color. 
6. Let the granola cool completely on the pan before stirring. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

by Brittany Mullins

5 1

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size	1/4 cup
Amount Per Serving
Calories 156 Calories from fat 94
Total Fat 10g	15%
Saturated Fat 6g	30%
Transfat 0
Sodium 21	1%
Carbohydrate 15g	5%
Dietary Fiber 3g	12%
Sugars 4g
Protein 3g

Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:

	Calories	2000
Total Fat	Less than	65g
Sat Fat	Less than	25g
Cholesterol	Less than	300mg
Sodium	Less than	2,400mg
Total Carbohydrate		300g
Dietary Fiber		25g