You’re in the cereal aisle at the supermarket. There are boxes upon boxes of brightly coloured cereals, and it’s all terribly overwhelming. They’re all screaming their (slightly passive aggressive) slogans at you – ‘I’d rather have a bowl of Coco Pops’, ‘they’re Grrreat’, ‘keep hunger locked up till lunch’, ‘Snap! Crackle! Pop!’, ‘have you had your Weetabix’ –  all of them that is apart from one little unassuming packet in the corner. The oats. 

Now you might think ‘gosh oats are boring, what would I want with those’ and if this is the case, please humour us and read the ingredients of all those ‘healthy’ cereals. Sugar, salt, flavourings…not so healthy are they? Now the oats? The only thing they contain is, well, oats!

So grab a bag and let me show you how to make some magic, breakfast style. You just need a handful of ingredients (and an oven) to make the most indulgent and delicious granola in the world, ever. It’s so easy to do, and you can make a big old batch to enjoy all week long. And enjoy it you will – this granola is so good it doesn’t need a slogan, the taste just speaks for itself.

Ingredients 

• 2 cups oats
• 4 tbsp maple syrup
• 3 tbsp cacao nibs (or dark chocolate chips)
• 1 cup pecans
• 1 cup mixed seeds
• 4 tbsp coconut oil
• 3 tbsp cacao powder
• Optional – raisins or chopped dates

Pop the maple syrup and coconut oil together in a saucepan, place on a low heat and stir until they are totally melted.

Then blitz the pecans in a food processor for 20 seconds or so until they are roughly chopped. Add all the ingredients into a mixing bowl (NB if you are using dried fruit or chocolate chips, simply stir them in at the end as they may burn otherwise) and once all mixed together spoon the granola onto a lined baking tray.

Bake at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes, opening the oven to stir every 5 minutes or so so that it bakes evenly and doesn’t burn.

Once it’s all lovely and golden, add in any extra ingredients and store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Love, Mrs H xx