Summer Berry Granola

The fruit in summer is so good and this Summer Berry Granola is the perfect summer treat! Fresh peaches, blueberries, nectarines, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, apricots, cherries…so many to choose from.  Today’s recipe is inspired by summer fruits.

This granola is a very easy recipe to create and there are so many options!  With locally grown strawberries available right now, I decided a strawberry based granola was the way to go. So in this recipe we are adding freshly blended strawberries in the granola with the wet ingredient portion.  To make the wet portion simply blend the strawberries and water to make a strawberry puree.  Then add the coconut oil, vanilla and maple syrup.  At this point, add the dried cranberries to the wet portion, because when dried fruit like the cranberries or raisins are baked in granola, they usually burn or turn hard which can make the granola difficult to eat or even enjoy.  So, by blending the dried cranberries in with the wet part it breaks them up into little bits so when they are baked, not only will there be little red pieces (which makes the granola look like strawberry bits), but they won’t be tough or hard to eat.

The beauty about making granola, is you can almost put whatever you want into it.  I usually have a lot of different nuts and seeds on hand, so when I’m making granola I find it’s a great opportunity to use up nuts/seeds that I have leftover from the cupboard.

Now when the granola is baked and cooled you can continue to be creative with the granola.  A scoop of plain, nonfat, Greek yogurt, some fresh fruit like sliced peaches and blueberries, a drizzle of honey and then a sprinkle of your freshly made granola will make an excellent snack or breakfast!

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Summer Berry Granola

Course Breakfast, Snack, Treats

Keyword almonds, berry, granola, nuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, strawberry, summer, sunflower seeds

Ingredients

• 4-5 strawberries
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
• 5 cups large flake oats
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup each walnuts, pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tbsp hemp hearts
• pinch flaked sea salt
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.

2. In a blender or magic bullet, combine strawberries and water and blend to a puree. Add the melted coconut oil and the maple syrup, vanilla and dried cranberries. Blend until cranberries are slightly chopped up (little bits).

3. In a large bowl mix together remaining ingredients. Use whatever nuts/seeds you like. I used all of the ones listed above.

4. Pour strawberry/coconut oil mixture over the bowl of oats and nuts/seeds. Mix well. Pour granola mixture onto a large cookie sheet.

5. Bake granola in oven for 13 minutes. Take out and flip and stir granola. Put in oven for another 13 minutes. Remove from oven and stir again. You want the color of the granola to be golden brown. Let cool.

6. In the featured photo, we put a scoop of plain greek yogurt, half a sliced peach, a handful of fresh blueberries, 2 tablespoons of Summer Berry Granola and a little drizzle of honey on top. This is an excellent, healthy breakfast, snack or treat. Enjoy.