Kick your granola game up a notch with Coconut Ginger Almond Granola-goodness.
This post is sponsored by Diamond of California but, as always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that make this site possible.
Two very bizarre things happened this weekend:
1.) I came perilously close to adopting another cat. Guys, we already have two. In case you were bad at math in grade school, another would have made three. I’ve officially lost my marbles just considering it – and yet, there I was, looking at the one poor little cat who hadn’t been adopted at Petco on Saturday (as I was running in for cat food for the existing two) and wanting to adopt take home all the animals.
There surely must be some sort of rehab/recovery program for people like me.
2.) Alex and I watched Gone Girl. My brain still hurts from it. What the actual eff? I can’t even form intelligent sentences about it yet. To be fair, I haven’t read the book – I usually read the book first, but that just didn’t happen this time. I really must do that. Please tell me my brain won’t hurt so much from the book.
I feel like making granola is the perfect activity for someone whose brain hurts too much from intense movies and trying to avoid becoming a crazy cat lady. If you think that making granola is hard, think again. Throw some dry ingredients (oats and nuts are a good baseline – coconut, flax and spices are icing on the cake) in a bowl, stir ’em up with some wet ingredients (oil and sweetener), and bake. 30-40 minutes later, you’ll be in granola heaven.
Coconut Ginger Almond Granola uses unsweetened coconut and coconut oil, ground ginger and candied ginger, and sliced almonds for a crunchy, slightly sweet, gingery-spiced granola that is perfect for breakfast or a snack.
Spoiler alert: Wait until you see what I did with this granola next week.
Spoiler alert 2.0: There were cookies involved.
You’re welcome.
Coconut Ginger Almond Granola
Ingredients
- 4 cups oats
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
- 3/4 cup Diamond of California Sliced Almonds
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 cup ground flax seed
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup agave syrup
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup finely diced candied ginger
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside
- In a large bowl, stir together the first 7 ingredients.
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the applesauce, agave and coconut oil over medium heat until coconut oil is melted. Whisk in the vanilla. Pour wet ingredients over the dry ingredients. Stir well to combine.
- Spread granola onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 35-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until golden brown, fragrant, and slightly dry to the touch. Remove from the oven and stir in the candied ginger. Allow to cool on the baking sheet completely before storing in an airtight container for up to a week.
Notes
Gone Girl is one of Grandmommie’s favorite new books. And, she couldn’t believe you didn’t adopt that cat. You are your grandmother’s child. Also, I’m making this granola this weekend. We need a snack.
Actually, Grandmommie read it before it was popular. So go figure that one. Also, I still wish I had gone back for the cat.
Someone will adopt her. Of that, I’m sure.
Every time I make homemade granola, I do a little dance, because it makes the house smell so wonderful and is wholesome too. Love the almond-ginger flavor combo you have rocking here!
I often dance while granola-making, too! Gotta do something while it bakes…waiting is too hard!
You know where to send this =) HOLY YUM!
<3
I still haven’t gotten around to making my own granola, I need to change that. I love that you added ginger in here, you don’t usually see that!
You do need to change that – it is so easy!
This granola looks fabulous! I have an adopted dog and I can’t even go near an animal shelter or adoption center because I want to bring them ALL home. I’m such a sucker for those cute little faces!
My grandmother has always said that our homes have signs above them (visible only to homeless animals) that say, “Sucker lives within.” Pretty accurate, I say.
Gone Girl was soooo good and disturbing. I read the book and saw the movie. That’s called a double headache. Even though I knew what was going to happen it still got me. Umm I can’t go to pet stores or shelters. I have been banned. I leave crying because I can’t take all the animals home. We are thinking about getting another pug in the summer. You can be the crazy cat lady and I will be the crazy pug lady. Granola for all!
I love the flavor combo you used here. Yum! Yeah, I was so close to getting a rag doll kitten. Yeah, the book was cuh-razy.
I’VE ALWAYS WANTED A RAG DOLL CAT.
Sorry. Can’t contain myself when super cuddly cats are involved.
I was excited to find this, as I’ve been looking for a good ginger granola recipe. However, I had to throw the whole batch away because 375 is NOT a good oven temperature for granola! I should have spotted this, but I didn’t until the whole batch was charred (and yes, I did stir–it was dark brown after only 25 minutes).
So I tried again. This time, I set the oven to 300 degrees. The other change I made was to not add the sliced almonds at the beginning. They were one of the first things to burn. So I mixed them in during my second stir. This delay may have been unnecessary. I also omitted the vanilla, but that was just an oversight. I don’t miss it as I don’t much care for vanilla-flavored granola.
I think it’s a good recipe and I would make it again, but not at 375 degrees!