Homemade Chocolate Granola Cereal
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There’s something very comforting about homemade chocolate granola cereal. Maybe it’s the love that goes into it, or maybe it’s the chocolate. Fortunately, this recipe is super easy to make and, as a bonus, WOW does it make the house smell like heaven! Besides, what could be better than starting your day with chocolate?
I burned out on breakfast cereal at a young age. Being a child of a single working mom in the 70s (yep, I’m old), school day breakfasts were usually a bowl of Captain Crunch or Frosted Flakes and a glass of orange juice. It’s not a good flavor combination, let me tell you, so once I was old enough to make toast for breakfast I did.
My teenaged son, however, is crazy about breakfast cereal. Maybe that’s because, being a child of the 00s, he grew up eating homemade hot breakfasts, so a bowl of cereal makes him feel like he’s getting a treat.
Homemade Chocolate Granola
Made with old-fashioned oats, this is a delicious way to eat your whole grains. The Dutch-processed cocoa powder is full of anti-oxidants, too. Using honey and a sprinkling of cinnamon for flavor brings out the chocolate, and the milk that’s left in the bowl will have you slurping with a smile.
Ways to enjoy granola
If you’re not big on cereal for breakfast, there are plenty of other ways to enjoy Homemade Chocolate Granola. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Layered with Greek yogurt and blueberries for a fruit parfait
- Mixed with dried fruit (banana chips, dried apricots, and coconut flakes) for trail mix
- Sprinkled over ice cream
- Freeze a banana, drizzle it in chocolate sauce, and roll it in Homemade Chocolate Granola
- Add a handful to fruit smoothies before blending
- Use it to garnish frosted cupcakes or cookies
- Stir 1 cup of granola into 1/4 cup melted chocolate chips and shape this into balls for granola snack bites
- Eat it by the handful instead of popcorn while watching Netflix
Yes, you can make it into bars
To get chunkier granola, stir it less often. To shape it into granola bars, use a smaller pan and pack it in well with buttered hands then bake it for 20 minutes without stirring. Wait 5 minutes after it comes out of the oven to slice it into bars but leave it in the pan to cool completely. Once completely cool, pop those bars into an airtight container to enjoy throughout the week.
Ready to love your home again?
Chocolate Granola
Ingredients
- Cooking spray for the pan
- 4 cups old-fashioned oats
- ½ cup brown sugar - firmly packed
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons sugar - (coconut sugar works, too)
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 F/ 150 C / gas mark 2. Spray a large, rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Mix oats, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and cocoa powder together in a large bowl.
- In a smaller bowl, stir the honey, sugar, vanilla extract, and melted coconut oil together.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir well until the oats are completely coated.
- Spread the mixture onto the oiled pan and bake it for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool. Break up very large chunks before storing in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks.
Dearest Katie,
That looks like a very clever recipe. May I ask you what coconut sugar is? I’ve never heard of it and might want to know more…
Hugs to you,
Mariette
Thank you, Mariette! It’s a sugar made by ‘tapping’ the flowers of coconut trees, which is then boiled down. It’s primarily sucrose, and is lower on the glycemic index than white sugar, so it’s considered healthier.
Hugs back to you!
Katie
These sound wonderful! I’m wondering where you find coconut sugar and if I can’t find it if just regular sugar would work? Looking forward to making these with my kids. 🙂
Awesome granola recipe!
Thanks, Natalie. We really love this one. The cocoa-free version is pretty awesome, too.
This sounds so delicious. It makes granola a little more bearable if you add chocolate 🙂
I ordinarily don’t like granola — it’s so loud, and as someone who’s definitely NOT a morning person, that’s not a good thing. But this stuff isn’t as hard as the commercial product, probably because there’s less sugar. And, yeah, chocolate makes it so much better. 😉
You bet!
LOL, Claire. Thank you so much for making it longer. I won’t have to bite through my lip trying to figure out 15 character titles anymore. 😉
I just made more today. It goes so quickly around here!