I’m having a chocolate craving.
I know what you’re thinking. A girl with a chocolate craving? Yeah, not exactly a big deal. And I agree. Except, I’m not a chocolate lover. I blame my mom and grama. They’re HUGE chocolate lovers. Who wants to compete with their mom and grama for a chocolatey confection? Not this girl. No way. Nope, I’m generally chilling with my grampa when it comes to sweets because both he and I would prefer something without chocolate. A nice carrot cake or coconut cream pie are way more up our alleys.
So, just get some chocolate right? Well, yeah, that’s simple. I don’t do simple too well, if you haven’t noticed. I also haven’t made granola in FAR too long.
Dark chocolate granola to the rescue? Hells yeah.
Dark Chocolate Granola
2 T unsweetened apple sauce
2 T (heaping) dark chocolate chunks (or chips, or a broken bar, etc)
1 T dark chocolate cocoa powder (I used Hersey’s Special Dark)
2 T dark brown sugar
⅓ c brown rice syrup
1 t vanilla extract (note to self: quite being cheap and buy better vanilla!)
¼ t salt (which I forgot to add and I can tell it’s missing!)
3 c old fashioned rolled oats
¼ c wheat bran
2 T flax meal
¼ c sunflower seeds
¼ c pepitas
¼ c roasted almonds (I used raw, soaked overnight, then dry roasted in my oven at 300 for an hour)
¼-? c white chocolate chips (for my husband since all the dark chocolate is for me)
Preheat the oven to 325 and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Throw the first 7 ingredients into a small saucepan over medium low until completely combined and looking like an oozing chocolate lava! Don’t forget the salt. Sheesh.
Combine the remaining ingredients except for the white chocolate chips. Pour the chocolate lava in and stir until everything looks thoroughly covered in dark chocolate goodness. Spread the mixture evenly onto the parchment paper and bake, stirring every 10 minutes, until dry. It took me 30 minutes, but ovens and moisture levels vary. My oven is ancient and has hot spots, so I don’t even pretend to use is as the end-all, be-all standard for baking times or temps. Once completely cool, stir in white chocolate chips. Use as little or as much as you like. I actually left them out and am adding the chips to the individual portions. After all, the hubby likes them more than I do. So a few in mine. A handful in his!
I stirred this goodness into my yogurt and absolutely died in chocolate heaven. Now, this is a dark chocolate granola, so it isn’t sticky sweet like milk or white chocolate. It’s just barely sweet at all. So, be warned in case you were expecting otherwise.
Enjoy!
I know what you’re thinking. A girl with a chocolate craving? Yeah, not exactly a big deal. And I agree. Except, I’m not a chocolate lover. I blame my mom and grama. They’re HUGE chocolate lovers. Who wants to compete with their mom and grama for a chocolatey confection? Not this girl. No way. Nope, I’m generally chilling with my grampa when it comes to sweets because both he and I would prefer something without chocolate. A nice carrot cake or coconut cream pie are way more up our alleys.
So, just get some chocolate right? Well, yeah, that’s simple. I don’t do simple too well, if you haven’t noticed. I also haven’t made granola in FAR too long.
Dark chocolate granola to the rescue? Hells yeah.
Dark Chocolate Granola
2 T unsweetened apple sauce
2 T (heaping) dark chocolate chunks (or chips, or a broken bar, etc)
1 T dark chocolate cocoa powder (I used Hersey’s Special Dark)
2 T dark brown sugar
⅓ c brown rice syrup
1 t vanilla extract (note to self: quite being cheap and buy better vanilla!)
¼ t salt (which I forgot to add and I can tell it’s missing!)
3 c old fashioned rolled oats
¼ c wheat bran
2 T flax meal
¼ c sunflower seeds
¼ c pepitas
¼ c roasted almonds (I used raw, soaked overnight, then dry roasted in my oven at 300 for an hour)
¼-? c white chocolate chips (for my husband since all the dark chocolate is for me)
Preheat the oven to 325 and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Throw the first 7 ingredients into a small saucepan over medium low until completely combined and looking like an oozing chocolate lava! Don’t forget the salt. Sheesh.
Combine the remaining ingredients except for the white chocolate chips. Pour the chocolate lava in and stir until everything looks thoroughly covered in dark chocolate goodness. Spread the mixture evenly onto the parchment paper and bake, stirring every 10 minutes, until dry. It took me 30 minutes, but ovens and moisture levels vary. My oven is ancient and has hot spots, so I don’t even pretend to use is as the end-all, be-all standard for baking times or temps. Once completely cool, stir in white chocolate chips. Use as little or as much as you like. I actually left them out and am adding the chips to the individual portions. After all, the hubby likes them more than I do. So a few in mine. A handful in his!
I stirred this goodness into my yogurt and absolutely died in chocolate heaven. Now, this is a dark chocolate granola, so it isn’t sticky sweet like milk or white chocolate. It’s just barely sweet at all. So, be warned in case you were expecting otherwise.
Enjoy!
That looks faaaaaaantastic!!
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