I have always had a soft spot for homemade granola. I love making it, I adore the smell that fills the house when it is toasting in the oven, and I simply swoon over the taste. I am usually not picky with my granola choices although I do have one rule. There should never be raisins in my granola, nothing against them I just don't like them. That being said I have tested just about every possible flavor combination in the world and since I struggle to pick a favorite, I tend to go in waves. You know, basically I cook and eat the same type of granola over and over until one day I declare that I have had enough and move on to a new granola obsession.
I have been on a toasted coconut and chocolate chip quinoa granola kick for quite some time now, but this week I decided it was time to move on. Time to start a new granola love affair and this time the flavors are exotic and tropical. There is just something about waking up in the morning to a bowl of granola spiked with the flavors of ginger, pineapple, and coconut that puts a little extra pep in my step as I head into the kitchen in the morning.
Have a happy Easter B&B friends!!
Tropical Granola (Gluten Free & Vegan)
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 1 quart of granola 1x
Ingredients
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon water
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 cups gluten free oats
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup raw cashews
- ¼ golden flax seeds
- ⅓ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- ¼ cup hemp hearts
- ⅓ cup roasted & salted pepitas
- ⅓ cup chopped pineapple
- 1 tablespoon crystallized ginger
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 275°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the maple syrup,coconut oil, water, and ginger. Stir to mix together then allow to come to a gentle simmer.
- While the liquids are heating combine the oats, brown sugar, salt, cashews, flax seeds, and coconut flakes. Stir to combine.
- When the liquid mixture has come to a simmer carefully drizzle over the oat mixture and stir well to ensure that everything is coated evenly.
- Pour the mixture onto the prepared pan and use your hands to squeeze small clumps together to create clusters. Bake for 30 minutes. Keep an eye on the edges of your pan, if the clusters towards the edge begin to brown stir them in towards the center and allow the granola to bake for the remainder of the time. At the end of 30 minutes remove the pan and stir in the hemp hearts, pepitas, pineapple, and ginger then continue to bake until the granola is golden brown, about 10-15 minutes. Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Rosanne Ingoglia says
Just found your site.
Had the most delicious biscuits for breakfast.
Hope my hubby save me one for tomorrow. Definitely life changing.
I did not try this granola recipe.
Wondered if you ever tried a substitute for oats.
Oats is really not Gluten free and is a big problem for celiacs -even when it says GF.
Thanks
Meg says
Hi Rosanne,
I am so very glad that you enjoyed the biscuits! They are a favorite in our house for sure. I will keep my fingers crossed that your husband saves you one, they are still really delicious the second day.
Although oats are naturally gluten free the problem of cross contamination comes in when the oats are harvested and in processing. There are a lot of people with celiac disease that also have an allergy to oats which is why this is also such a scary ingredient for people to use sometimes. In our home we are really lucky and have not had any issue with oats that are labeled as gluten free so I haven't really had to experiment too much with oatless granola, but if I were to give it a try I would probably go for a mix of nuts and seeds like sliced almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and flax seeds with the dried fruit. Let me know if you give it a try and how it turns out!
Crystal says
I am surprised that I actually have all of these ingredients in hand. Well, excepting the brown sugar, because I make my own, freshly when I need it. It's just white sugar with molasses stirred in, so you can make your brown sugar as dark or light as you'd like, and you use molasses on it own as a flavorant. And it's a lot cheaper than buying brown sugar, a jar of molasses will last for months, and can turn many many bags of white sugar to brown. Plus you never have to deal with your brown sugar being all clumped up and hard. And you can pick the molasses brand and type you like the flavor of best, especially important when making things that have a strong molasses flavor.
Anyway, this granola looks delicious, and would probably make an excellent granola bar as well. I look forward to giving it a try.
Meg says
Crystal, I often make my own brown sugar as well. We actually have a tutorial on the site showing how to make it! I love finding other ingredient DIY'ers. I hope you love the granola as much as we do.
Vv says
Ugh, I'm so pro-raisin is not even funny lol. Is it possible to refrigerate this, say, if I make more than 1 quart? If so, how long would it last? So I could avoid making granola on a weekly basis and just have some saved for whenever I wish to have granola for breakfast and/or snack C:
Meg says
haha! I wish I loved raisins...I must have eaten too many as a child. You can absolutely make extra and keep it sealed in the fridge. I would guess that it would last at least a couple of weeks. Ours never lasts that long:)
Chrissy says
I make my own granola every week! I love it as a summer swap for my winter oats. I'm also very anti-raisin...we are few but proud 🙂
Meg says
Anti-raisin granola lovers unite!! I am so glad that I am not alone Chrissy:)