This is the last granola recipe from the Breakfast Bible that I hadn't made yet. I made it this one according to the recipe. And it's good. But I found the proportion of walnuts way too low. I think I'd double them next time. I'd also like to try it with maple syrup instead of honey as the sweetener. I think that would go really well with the walnuts. And I'd try reducing the sugar next time. Because I found this version very sweet.

Dark Chocolate-Cherry Granola

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. maple syrup
• 1/4 c. coconut oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. dried cherries
• 60g dark chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Combine oates, walnuts, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In a small pot, combine the sugar, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla and heat until oil is melted and mixture is smooth and homogenous.
4. Pour the syrup mixture over the oat mixture and stir to combine.
5. Spread the oat mixture out in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet.
6. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.
7. Allow to cool, then break into small chunks.
8. Add the cherries and chocolate and toss to combine.
9. Stire in an airtight container.

These were slightly unusual, but very tasty pancakes! The base is a pretty standard buttermilk pancake batter. But the twist is that you stir in a cup of granola right at the end. It's not something that I would have thought of doing, but it works quite well. We used the last of Orthia's home-made granola and it was lovely!

Granola Pancakes

From The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 150g flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 3 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 1 c. granola

Directions

1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt and sift in the baking powder and baking soda. Mix well.
2. Beat the eggs with the buttermilk and mix in the melted butter.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined.
4. Stir in the granola.
5. If the batter seems too thick, add a splash of mix (or buttermilk).
6. Heat a large pan, griddle, or tawa over medium heat. Add a little butter if necessary.
7. Use ~1/4 c. of batter per pancake and cook until bubbles form and top is just beginning to look dry.
8. Flip and cook until both sides are golden-brown and pancakes are cooked through.
9. Serve with jam, syrup, butter, bacon, and/or fruit compote.

I decided to make parfaits for breakfast this morning and figured it'd be nice to make my own granola for them. I was initially thinking of doing a chocolate-cherry granola, but I wasn't sure that would complement the nectarine parfait I had in mind as well. So, in the end, I opted for this peanut-y granola instead.

Blueberry-Peanut Butter Granola

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 c. slivered almonds
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 c. coconut oil¹
• 1/4 c. peanut butter
• 1/4 c. maple syrup
• 1/2 c. dried blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet.
2. Combine oats, almonds, and salt in a bowl and mix well.
3. In a small pot, combine the oil, peanut butter, and maple syrup and gently warm over low heat until oil is melted and ingredients mix easily.
4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir to combine.
5. Dump the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread out into an even layer.
6. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and mix in dried blueberries.

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¹ I was running a bit low on coconut oil, so I actually ended up using only 2 Tbsp. of oil + an extra Tbsp. of peanut butter, which actually seemed to work out fine. ^Back

I'm way behind on write-ups and have a huge backlog of older recipes left to do, but I wanted to get this on in before I forgot. Especially since everyone liked it so much! TF and the Kidlet were both very enthusiastic about these bowls for breakfast.

The recipe as written calls for 2 c. of yogurt and 2 bananas and said it made two servings. I did this and served half of the resulting smoothie to the Kidlet and TF and I split the remaining half. So, I guess it makes either two or four servings depending on how hungry you are. Personally, I think a half serving of smoothie with a full serving of toppings is just about right for me.

The recipe below makes half as much smoothie as the original recipe (so, 1-2 servings depending on your appetite), but I've left all the toppings at their original quantities (because I like less smoothie and more everything else in my bowl). And I've actually suggested a range for the granola (because I really like granola, especially when it's a nice home-made) batch!

Protein Smoothie Bowl

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. almond butter
• 1 banana
• 1 c. raspberries
• 1/4-1/2 almond granola (or store-bought granola)
• 1 Tbsp. cocoa nibs
• 1 Tbsp. Rice Krispies

Directions

1. Combine the yogurt, almond butter, and banana in a blender and purée until smooth.
2. Pour into a bowl (or two) and top with raspberries, granola, cocoa nibs, and Rice Krispies.

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.

I've been continuing to work my way through various pumpkin recipes while they're in season here. So far I've made pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin muffins, a pumpkin-apple brown betty (which I haven't had a chance to do a write-up for yet), and two different kinds of pumpkin bread. I've also got a beef and pumpkin stew queued up. But for today, I decided to give this pumpkin granola recipe a try.

Now, first thing's first: I like this granola a lot. Especially the walnuts; they go very well with the spices and toast up really nicely as the granola cooks and come out with a beautiful warm, deep flavour. And, while the nut/seed butter in the wet ingredient mixture isn't front-and-centre in this recipe, it adds a lovely richness to the whole thing. So yes, I really enjoyed this granola.

That said... I probably would try changing a few things next time.

I only had peanut butter and tahini to choose from nut/seed butter-wise, so I went with tahini for this iteration. And it was great! But I'd love to try tripling down on the pumpkin next time and try using pumpkin seed butter instead.

And, while I'm at it, I'd also be inlined to up the pumpkin purée slightly. It was fine as is, but it seemed like it would probably take extra pumpkin well too. And, while the final granola was very tasty, it did not actually taste very pumpkin-y too me, so I'd like to try cramming even more pumpkin into it next time if possible.

Pumpkin Granola

Slightly adapted from Jessica in the Kitchen

Ingredients

• 3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 1/4 c. pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp. mixed spice or pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 c. pumpkin seed butter (or tahini or almond butter)
• 1/2 c. maple syrup
• 1/2 c. pumpkin purée
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. dried cranberries (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Combine the oats, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and spice blend and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the seed (or nut) butter, maple syrup, pumpkin, and sea salt and mix well.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix very thoroughly.
5. Spread the granola out on the prepared baking sheet and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30-40 minutes, flipping halfway through.
6. Mix in the dried cranberries (if using).