My favourite of all the breakfast options is always eggs. Boiled, fried, scrambled or poached; I don’t discriminate. My other half though, well, he likes eggs but his heart has always belonged to sweet breakfasts. Pre our own paleolithic era, a creamy bowl of oats topped with fruit & honey or a thick slice of banana bread smothered with ricotta would do him just nicely thank you very much.
Almost every week since we started living life grain & dairy-free, I put together a batch of granola so we’ve always got a speedy breakfast on hand that satisfies any yearnings for the days of old. The beauty of granola is that you can easily customise it to whatever is in the pantry & you’ve got plenty of wriggle room to substitute or supplement for your own cravings or food requirements.
Our Healthful Pantry order this month included organic hazelnuts & dried figs so I was inspired to put this combo together. Hazelnuts, honey & cacao almost had me tasting Nutella. Almost.
This isn’t an everyday food but it’s an indulgence I like to have once or twice a week on days where I haven’t trained before breakfast & won’t be eating another nut-based meal/snack throughout the day.
I store this in a sealed container in the fridge & it usually lasts us 5-6 serves, depending on how much ‘accidentally’ gets stuck to the spoon after stirring (& consequently ends up in my mouth).
Grain-free fig & hazelnut granola
- 1 cup hazelnuts
- 1 cup almonds
- 1 cup coconut flakes
- 8 dried figs
- handful or 2 sunflower seeds
- handful or 2 cacao nibs
- shake of ground cinnamon
- 1-2 tblsp raw honey
- 1-2 tblsp coconut oil
Preheat your oven to 150°C (300°F) & line a large tray with baking paper (you don’t have to but you’ll thank yourself when you’re trying to wash the tray later tonight!)
Blitz the hazelnuts & almonds in a food processor for a few seconds, or until they’re roughly chopped (or chop them by hand if it’s early/late & you’re overly kind to your neighbours) & tip them onto your baking tray.
Thinly slice the figs & toss them, along with the coconut flakes, seeds, nibs & cinnamon, on to the tray mixing them in with the nuts.
Drizzle your coconut oil & honey (warm them if they’re a bit solidified) over the lot & mix it through a little to evenly distribute.
Bake at 150 degrees for 30 minutes stirring every 10 minutes or so, trying not to burn your tongue on the spoon when you inevitably succumb to the toasty aroma.
Once it’s looking all golden and delicious, remove from the oven & let it cool down for a bit before tipping it into a container for storage.
We love to eat our granola topped with sliced banana, a handful of blueberries & a hearty drizzle of coconut milk. Depending on your relationship with dairy, feel free to involve some full-fat plain yogurt or whatever you’d normally put with crunchy breakfast-y goodness.
Just between you & me though, it’s also quite delicious eaten plain, by the handful, straight from the fridge.
