I wanted to make some smoothie bowls for breakfast, but the recipe called for granola. I considered buying some ready-made granola, but home-made granola is always so tasty and it's not that hard to make, so I opted to go that route instead. There were even a bunch of granola recipes in the same book as I was using for the smoothie bowl recipe. Convenient!

Since the smoothie bowls called for both (chia) granola and toasted almonds, I opted to make this almond granola and just use a bit more of it rather than preparing toasted almonds separately. The recipe also calls for flax seeds (which is what I used this time around), but those could easily be swapped out for chia seeds if you wanted "chia granola" as the smoothie bowl recipe calls for. That said, I think I'd be inclinde to swap out the flax for sesame seeds next time. Sesame and apricots make a great combo!

Almond Granola with Apricots

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
• 3/4 c. slivered almonds
• 2 Tbsp. flax or sesame seeds
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. honey
• 1/4 c. coconut oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 c. dried apricots, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and very lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet.
2. Combine the oats, almonds, flax/sesame seeds, cinnamon, and salt and mix well.
3. In a small pot, warm the brown sugar, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla and heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth (3-4 minutes).
4. Pour the sugar mixture over the oats and stir to combine.
5. Dump the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread into an even layer.
6. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
8. Break granola into small pieces and mix in apricots.