morning spice: gingerbread granola
Way back in February, I was about to make some gingerbread granola. I probably stumbled across a recipe online and figured, of course, gingerbread granola is a thing! But I was out of molasses and made do with something else. But when I found myself one Saturday morning in the kitchen putting together some granola, the idea of gingerbread granola came back into my head. All that cozy spiciness that you associate with gingerbread can be poured into your morning bowl. It’s a very nice thing to look forward to on these dark autumn mornings.
Molasses give this granola a dark, deep flavour. Maple syrup goes along for the ride, but don’t go thinking that this is a sweet, sugary breakfast cereal. It’s not. I like this dark and robust. It goes well with my morning coffee and since I usually eat granola with coconut yogurt and loads of fresh fruit (strawberries and Coronation grapes this time around) I don’t see the need for extra sweetness. But please do feel free to add in more maple syrup if you’ve got a sweet tooth.
The key is not to just have molasses on hand, but to load up on the ginger. Ginger is key, obviously. So there’s a tablespoon of ground ginger that mingles nicely with the rest of the spices: cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. But the candied ginger that gets sprinkled over top when the granola comes out of the oven is essential. Don’t skip this, please. It adds the pop to this gingerbread breakfast.
gingerbread granola
3 1/2 c whole organic oats
1/2 c wheat germ
1 c almonds, roughly chopped
1 T ground ginger
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t kosher salt
1/3 c melted coconut oil
1/3 c molasses
2 T maple syrup
1 c dried cranberries
1/3 c finely diced candied gingerPreheat oven to 300F. Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, use your clean hands to combine the oats, wheat germ, almonds, spices and salt together. Measure the coconut oil into a measuring cup and then pour in the molasses – this helps the thick molasses to slide out easily. Add in the maple syrup. Use a wooden spoon to give everything a good stir. Evenly divide the oats onto 2 trays and bake, stirring every 15 minutes or so until evenly done – about 25 minutes in the oven should do it. When the trays come out of the oven, scatter the dried cranberries and ginger over top. Let the mixture completely cool before storing in tightly sealed jars.
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