I made the grevious error of buying “all-natural” trail mix a few weeks ago.
Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? A variety-packed blend of natural, raw nuts and seeds, mixed with some dried berries and even the occasional bonus chocolate chunk – sounds pretty good on paper. But throw in way too many tiny pumpkin seeds and absolutely zero roasting or salting, and I couldn’t talk my usually nut-loving kids into eating it. Not to say I was any shining example of leadership – that stuff is bland.
But nuts are sooooo ‘spensive, so I wasn’t about to let them go to waste. Obviously they were going to need a little roasting, or salting, or…oooh, I know, peanut butter and honey-ing!
There is no food problem I cannot solve :)
My sister had sent me a granola recipe to try (along with this recipe, whaaaat even, she wants to make me so fat), and it was the perfect starting point to incorporate my boring bare nuts. This granola is totally adaptable to whatever nuts or nut butters you have on hand, and is a perfect balance of sweet, salty, and healthy. Not to mention totally filling, delicious in plain or vanilla yogurt, and chunky enough to eat plain by the handful.
Yerrr gunna love it.
- 2½ cups old-fashioned (large flake) oats
- ½ cup ground flax seed
- 1 cup nuts of your choice, plain or roasted
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ⅓ cup honey
- ⅓ cup maple syrup (or additional honey)
- ⅔ cup regular or crunchy peanut butter
- ¾ cup chocolate chips, divided
- 1 cup dried fruit of your choice
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together oats, flax, nuts, and cinnamon.
- In a small bowl, combine honey, maple syrup and peanut butter and microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir together until very smooth and liquidy (add more honey if needed to make it smooth.) Pour melted peanut butter mixture over oat mixture and stir well till all oats are coated. Stir in half of the chocolate chips. Spread onto prepared baking sheet and press the oats down.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes. Stir well with a spatula after 15 minutes, then bake another 10-15 minutes. After removing from oven, immediately mix in the dried fruit and remaining chocolate chips. The warm granola will melt the chocolate and help bind the granola. Let cool the rest of the way without stirring to keep chunks intact.
- Once cool, transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. Great on it's own or as a topping for yogurt!
Recipe adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction
Way to give some life to bland trail mix! I’ve ended up with bland trail mix, too, but we usually just take forever to finally finish it!
Mmm, this sounds amazing! Much better than that boring ol’ trail mix in its original form. I love something like this stirred into a rich vanilla yogurt, or even better, ice cream. =)
Yum :)