Coconut Banana nut-butter Granola

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Ingredients: 

  • 4.5 cups rolled oats
  • 3 TB ground flax seed
  • 3 TB coconut sugar (can sub brown sugar)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 TB cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1/2 cup raw pecans or walnuts 
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1/3 + 1 TB maple syrup (can sub honey)
  • Heaping 1/4 cup nut butter of choice (I used Nuttzo)
  • 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 large ripe banana (or 2 small ripe bananas), mashed very well

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. In a large bowl, combine oats, flax, coconut sugar, salt, cinnamon, coconut flakes, and nuts.
  3. In a small saucepan, melt coconut oil over medium-low heat. Add maple syrup, nut butter, and vanilla extract. Once everything is melted, take off heat and stir in the mashed banana(s).
  4. Pour wet ingredients over oat mixture and stir to coat everything REEEEAL GOOOOD!
  5. Divide mixture onto 2 baking sheets (you do not want to overcrowd the granola on one sheet). Spread out evenly and flatten with spatula. 
  6. Depending on how hot your oven gets, bake for approx. 20-26 minutes, rotating pans halfway through and keeping an eye on them towards the end (the granola can go from perfectly golden to burnt pretty quickly!)
  7. Take it out when the granola has turned a golden brown around the edges. With a spatula, break the granola up a little bit but make sure to leave it as chunky as you can (#teamchunk). Then, let it sit and cool on the pan until crunchy!! I promise it will get there -- it won't be crunchy right out of the oven. 
  8. Go to TOWN! Eat by itself, on top of yogurt, oatmeal, smoothies, ice cream, etc. Granola is one of my absolute favorite things to make, and whenever I make a batch, half of it gets eaten the same day. It's just too delightful.