Coconut Banana nut-butter Granola



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:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, combine oats, flax, coconut sugar, salt, cinnamon, coconut flakes, and nuts.
- 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).
- Pour wet ingredients over oat mixture and stir to coat everything REEEEAL GOOOOD!
- Divide mixture onto 2 baking sheets (you do not want to overcrowd the granola on one sheet). Spread out evenly and flatten with spatula.
- 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!)
- 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.
- 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.