Cherry Coconut Chocolate Chunk Hemp Granola [gf, vegan]

Happy Hump Day!

How’s your week going? I’ve gotten back into the swing of things in SoCal since getting back from vacation. While Mexico was a dream, it’s not too shabby coming home when you love where you live, so I can’t complain! My work week is a bit more exciting than usual because an East coast friend of mine is in town and will be staying with me for a few days. I love when friends from out of town visit!

But I digress, onto food…

Question of the day: Coconut – do you love it, hate it, or feel indifferent to it?

I used to not like coconut at all, and then all of a sudden last year, I developed a thing for shredded coconut. While I still don’t love most coconut flavored things, coconut shreds are now routinely sprinkled on top of my smoothie bowls – hence why I’ve shared two smoothie recipes on the blog with coconut: a chocolate coconut caramel smoothie and banana coconut match smoothie.

One coconut product that I’m sure you’ve seen everywhere is coconut oil. It’s undoubtedly one of the ‘it’ things in the healthy food world these days. A few of the many benefits that coconut oil lovers tout are its heart protecting and disease prevention properties, along with helping to curb appetite and improve digestion.

So, I hopped on the bandwagon and started experimenting in baking and cooking with coconut oil more. My conclusion? While I don’t mind baking with coconut oil if I’m making something coconut-y, I’m not really a fan of using it in things that shouldn’t taste like coconut in my opinion… as in, I don’t like my banana cinnamon muffins to have an underlying coconut taste to them.

But a recipe with coconut oil where coconut is actually one of the star flavors? That I can get behind. Thus, today’s recipe…

We’re cooking up granola made with oats, dried cherries, hemp hearts, almond butter, maple syrup, and – you guessed it – shredded coconut + coconut oil.

(Clearly I recently made a stop at Trader Joe’s!) 

I added some chocolate chunks in because I’m a firm believer that everything is better with a little chocolate thrown in. Do you concur?

Cherry Coconut Chocolate Chunk Hemp Granola [gf, vegan]

Foodie Loves Fitness

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Total Time 25 mins

Servings 10

Calories 260 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup dried cherries roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup hemp hearts
• 1/3 cup chocolate chunks roughly chopped (make sure they're dairy free if making the granola vegan)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey - if not vegan - or brown rice syrup
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 2 TBSP coconut oil
• 1 TSP vanilla extract

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• In a small saucepan, combine the maple syrup, coconut oil, almond butter and vanilla over low heat. Stir and heat until well combined.
• Meanwhile, combine the oats, cherries, coconut and hemp hearts in a large bowl.
• Pour the maple syrup mixture on top of the oat mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until evenly incorporated.
• Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray, and spread the granola onto the sheet.
• Bake for 5 minutes, then toss the granola. Cook for another 5-8 minutes, or until lightly browned.
• Allow to completely cool, then add chocolate chunks in and toss together well. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 260kcalCarbohydrates: 31gProtein: 6gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 6gFiber: 4gSugar: 16g

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Tell me… What are your feelings on coconut oil and coconut in general? Is there a food you’ve recently changed your opinion of?