Although we don’t eat granola for breakfast, we do sometimes enjoy it sprinkled on fresh fruit, cooked spiced fruit, or pumpkin pudding to finish off an evening meal that doesn’t quite want to end yet.

For a while I was buying cashew-coconut gluten-free granola when it went on sale, which made a delicious dessert-like treat. However, with cane sugar as one of the main ingredients, I knew it wasn’t good for us. Spiking my insulin never ends well. And even at the sale price, it wasn’t exactly healthy for our budget either.

This home-made recipe is just sweet enough, has plenty of crunch, and uses quality ingredients to provide extra nutrition you won’t find in a run of the mill oat-sugar-oil granola.

The Bushes’ Best GF Granola

Using these quantities, the finished granola equals about 2 litres/quarts.
* denotes a protein enhancement

Ingredients

• • ¾ cup coconut oil, melted
  • ½ cup coconut sugar
  • ⅓ cup pure honey or real maple syrup
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 20g (4 scoops) enhanced collagen protein *
  • 1 egg white *
  • 4 ½ cups gluten-free sprouted rolled oats (Farmers We Know brand for example)
  • 1½ cups unsweetened, shredded coconut
  • 1½ cups chopped raw walnuts / cashews, or sliced almonds / hazelnuts *
  • ½ cup pumpkin seeds *
  • 4 tbsp hemp hearts *
  • 3 tbsp ground flaxseed *

Instructions

Set the oven to 300°F or use your convection bake setting with the final temperature of 275°F.

Line three 10”x15” rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan, heat the coconut oil just long enough to melt it. Turn off the burner. Mix in the coconut sugar and honey or maple syrup until well combined. Stir in the vanilla, salt and cinnamon and collagen protein. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Gently mix in the egg white and the melted ingredients until everything is well coated. Spread evenly onto the baking sheets. Press only if you want clusters more than loose flakes.

Bake for 32 minutes, stirring halfway through to bring the browning edges to the middle. When you can smell it baking, it is close to done so watch it carefully. You want the granola to be golden, not browned.

Remove the trays from the oven to heatproof trivets. Let cool completely on the baking sheets. The granola will crisp up as it cools. Once cooled, transfer to airtight containers.

Enhancing Your Granola

You can omit any of these protein additions if you don’t have them in your pantry. You will still end up with a satisfying granola. I add these ingredients because I have them on hand and I appreciate their nutritional value.

Here are the grams of protein added to the batch by including each of these ingredients per amount listed. Add more or less to your taste.

Walnuts = 24 g, or sliced almonds = 30g

Enhanced collagen protein = 20g

Egg white (helps the granola stick together) = 4 g

Pumpkin seeds = 17 g

Hemp hearts = 12 g

Flaxseed = 4 g