Gluten & Dairy Free Chocolate Protein Granola

The best thing about food blogging is that you get to create exactly what you have been craving, eat it al and then tell the world about it! Daniel and I have been on a granola kick for a few reasons…for one thing it’s delicious, secondly it can be eaten for breakfast or as an ice cream topper! thirdly it’s easy to make and lastly saves money in the long run! For me a bag of gluten free oats is about 4 to 5 dollars whereas a small bag of granola can be 6 to 8 dollars!

Not don’t get me wrong because I have definitely bought store bought granola, It’s delicious and I am a human being. So weather you are going to buy granola or make granola this week, great job! I mean it just seems to be the logical and best thing to always have granola on hand!

Anyways, I am getting a little carried away…For this granola what makes it protein granola is the addition of the pea protein & sun butter, which together contains about 50g of protein! Keep in mind that you can sub the sun butter for other kinds of nut butter and will vary the protein.

Thankfully the main goal of the granola is in tasting delicious, and it definitely accomplishes that!

P.S see if you can find me in the photo!

Ingredients

• 2 & 1/2 cups gluten-free oats

• 1/2 cup pea protein powder

• 1/4th cup coconut sugar

• 1/4th cup cocoa powder

• 1/4th cup chia seeds

• 1/4th cup unsweetened coconut

• 1 tsp fine Sea salt

• 2 tbsp Nut butter (I used SunButter)

• 1/3rd cup coconut oil

  Optional (But highly recommend)

• 1/4th cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions

1. preheat your oven to 350F and lightly grease a baking sheet

2. In a large bowl whisk together your dry ingredients until well combined.

3. Mix in your melted coconut oil and nut butter. This works best when you use a spatula.

4. Pour and smooth your mixture onto the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

5. After ten minutes remove your granola from the oven and mix around the granola with a spatula. Flatten out the mixture and then put it in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes.

6. when it’s done baking take out of the oven and move to a glass pie plate to cool. You do this so the bottom of your granola doesn’t burn while sitting in the baking sheet.

7. Once cooled sprinkle in 1/4th cup of mini chocolate chips if you like.

8. Store & enjoy!

Vegan and Gluten-Free Mocha Granola

there are two things I am certain about when it comes to granola, 1 it is the best breakfast cereal out there, and 2, it is always worth making a double batch. So for today's dream granola, you are going to need only 7 simple ingredients that are easily interchangeable if needed!

Let’s start with the oats. I use gluten-free rolled oats because traditional rolled oats can contain traces of gluten. So if you are like me and are very sensitive to gluten, spend the extra dollar and get yourself a big bag of gluten-free rolled oats! I like to get mine at Trader Joe's because they are the cheapest and taste awesome! If you can’t access a Trader Joes you can buy them online. I use Thrive Market and they have them on there for only a dollar more than Trader Joes. You can also try Bob’s Red Mill and order them off of Amazon. 

Now for the coconut sugar, you can use whatever granulated sugar you like. The benefit of coconut sugar is nit just because it’s “healthier” but because coconut sugar has a unique caramel-like flavor that gives a lot more flavor to the granola! SO do what you wish, but I highly recommend using coconut sugar!

when it comes to the espresso, daniel and I dring ut coffee at home, if you don’t have access to freshly ground coffee, you can use store-bought espresso powder.. also if you use fresh coffee the milk will be smoother and more enjoyable. If you don’t have espresso powder at home feel free to omit the espresso powder and just make it chocolate! Don’t worry, you won’t be disappointed, either way!

When it comes to baking the granola make sure you follow the instructions and mix it around halfway through. This helps the granola to bake evenly, then when you take it out of the oven, put the granola in a glass plate to cool. I have learned the hard way, burning one too many batches of granola by letting it wit in a hot pan to cool off, then realizing I have half-burnt granola…

Anyways, thankfully I am here to make the mistakes so you don’t have to! 

So without any further chit-chat here is your recipe for Mocha Granola! 

Ingredients

• 2 cups gluten-free oats

• 1/4th cup coconut sugar

• 1/4th cup chia seeds **

• 1/4th cup cocoa powder

• 1 tsp fine sea salt

• 1 tbsp espresso powder

• 1/3rd cup melted coconut oil

Instructions

1. Preheat your over to 350F and spray a baking sheet with coconut oil, set aside. 

2. In a large bowl whisk together your dry ingredients

3. Mix in the coconut oil until fully combined

4. spread your mixture evenly onto your baking sheet and place in the oven. 

5. Bake for 10 minutes, take your granola out of the oven, and give it a good mix, evening it out when you're done. 

6. Bake for another 10 minutes. 

7. Remove from the oven and transport granola into a glass plate to cool. Do not leave on the baking sheet as this will stay hot and possibly burn your granola. 

8. Once cool serve with milk, on yogurt or all by itself!

9. Enjoy!