Omega-3 Rich Chocolate Granola
Recipe by Danielle Lavallee
Happily, my kids are home from college for the summer. While the carnivore son is tolerating our plant-based household quite well for most meals, breakfast continues to be a stumbling block. Although (thank heavens), he is no longer eating eggs and bacon or sausage each morning, as he does while at school, he would still like to have a breakfast of store-bought chocolate granola and full-fat milk. We have compromised with 1% milk, which is significantly lower in saturated fat, and homemade chocolate granola. I have altered an old favorite chocolate granola recipe so that it now meets my high health standards. It still retains its crispy, chunchy, chocolatey goodness, though, and it is accepted by a teenage boy, which is high praise. He’s not eating it with plant-based milk, as I might prefer, but he’s also not eating fast-food sausage breakfast sandwiches, so I feel it’s a successful compromise. Baby steps!
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons of avocado oil
1 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons of vanilla extract
1.5 cups of unsweetened cocoa powder
6 cups rolled oats (gluten free, if desired)
1 cup raw walunts
1 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup raw pecans (or more)
4 tablespoons hemp hearts
4 tablespoons ground flax seeds
Sea Salt (optional)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Place the avocado oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl.
Stir until combined. It may take awhile, but it will eventually come together into a smooth, chocolatey paste.
Add in the remaining ingredients, except the sea salt, and stir until the entire mixture is well-coated in chocolate.
Spread onto two large or three small parchment-lined cookie sheets. My baking sheets are the extra-large commercial size, so you may need three smaller sheets in order to spread the granola into a thin layer. It needs to be as thin as possible in order to get fully dry and crispy.
If desired, sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake at 250 for a half hour, switching your baking sheets as needed to ensure even cooking.
After 30 minutes of cooking, gently flip the granola with a spatula, attempting to retain large chunks. Return the cookie sheets to the oven and bake for another 30 to 60 minutes. For extra crispy granola, turn the oven off and let the granola continue to dry in the warm oven for another couple of hours, or until at your desired level of crispiness.
Let the granola cool uncovered on the counter for several hours before placing in an airtight container.
This makes approximately 15 heaping cups of granola. You can easily halve the recipe, if this quantity is too large for your needs.
Nutrition Information per 1 cup serving:
Calories: 366 Protein: 9.8 g Fat: 19.8 g Carbs: 75 g Fiber: 8.6 g Iron: 3.4 mg
Calcium: 77.8 mg Vitamin A: .2 IU Vitamin C: .2 mg Folate: 23 IU
Potassium: 383.2 mg Polyunsaturated Fat: 7 g Saturated Fat: 2.6 g
Omega-3 Fats: .8 g Trans Fat: 0 g Cholesterol: 0 mg
Health Benefits:
Although considerably less than the average 24 grams of sugar (from cane sugar) per cup found in many store-bought granolas, this still contains approximately 14 grams of sugar per cup of granola. Please be forewarned, if glucose control is an issue for you.
That said, this granola has some serious health benefits:
It’s high in unsaturated Omega-3 fats from the walnuts, pecans, almonds, hemp seeds, and avocado oil.
It’s high in antioxidants, polyphenols, and magnesium from the unsweetened cocoa powder.
It’s high in avenanthramides from the oats.
It’s high in antioxidants, zinc, and manganese from the maple syrup.
It’s full of plant fiber to feed our good gut microbes.
I hope you like it as much as we do.
Happy eating!
🌱💕
For more info on Omega fats: www.thewell-nourishedbrain.com/blog/fat
For more info on nuts: www.thewell-nourishedbrain.com/blog/nuts-health-and-weight-loss
For more info on hemp hearts: www.thewell-nourishedbrain.com/blog/hemp-hearts
For more info on oats: www.thewell-nourishedbrain.com/blog/oats-andnbspavenanthramides