Chocolate Pecan Cherry Granola

This week I wanted to go for a super easy recipe and this granola fits that condition. So easy to make and it stores really well in a glass jar for several months. You don’t need to make this is strictly brekkie food, you could use it as a topping on ice cream or yogurt, process it a little in the food processor and use it as a lovely texture in chocolate… heck, you could even process it down and roll some truffles in it! (watch this space for that to happen)

Feel free to trade the oats for soaked/sprouted buckwheat if you’d prefer that. It’ll change it a little, but it will still be amazing.

125g ( 1 cup ) pecans, soaked 8 hours and rinsed
100g ( 2 cups ) coconut flakes, soaked 1 hour and drained
200g ( 2 cups ) gluten free rolled oats
30g ( 2 tbsp ) golden flax, soaked in 100g ( ½ cup ) water for 1 hour
30g ( 2 tbsp ) cacao powder

100g ( ¼ cup ) frozen cherries, thawed and chopped
75g ( ¼ cup ) maple syrup
100g ( ½ cup ) coconut sugar
½ tbsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp sea salt flakes


Method

• In a food processor, pulse the first set of ingredients just to break the nuts and oats down a little. We want them to remain rather chunky for nice texture.
  
• Transfer to a bowl and mix in remaining ingredients by hand.
  
• Line a dehydrator tray with Teflex and pour the contents onto the sheet. Dampen your fingers a little to keep it from sticking and helping the cereal to spread out a little.
  
• We want to encourage clusters to form, so don’t separate the mixture too much. Allow clumps to form.
• Sprinkle the sea salt flakes evenly over the surface.
  
• Dry at 115f for 10 hours, flip onto mesh and dry a further 10-15 hours or until crisp.
  
• In small batches, maybe 3 in total, pulse the cereal in the food processor to break down the clumps and create various textures.
  
• This is optional, you may prefer to keep it as is.
  
• Once cool, store in an airtight jar at room temp for several months.