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Date Sweetened Paleo Granola

Date Sweetened Paleo Granola (grain and gluten free)

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This grain-free granola sweetened with only fresh Natural Delights Medjool Dates is a must try! It’s a delicious, nutrient dense option for granola lovers who want crunchy texture and flavor without gluten, grains, or other added sugars

 

Ingredients

Scale

Nut/Seed Mixture

(Note: I use/recommend all unsalted nuts and seeds so you can control the level of saltiness. If yours are salted be sure omit the salt in the recipe.)

3/4 cup sliced almonds

3/4 cup walnut or pecan halves/pieces or chopped

1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1/4 cup sunflower seed kernels

1/8 cup chia seeds

Date “Sauce”

6 pitted Natural Delights Medjool Dates chopped (quartered lengthwise then chopped into small pieces. For best results use fresh/soft dates. If your dates feel hard/dry just soak in warm water for a few minutes to soften before blending)

2 tbsp cashew butter (or other nut butter of your choice)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c warm water

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla extract

Other ingredients:

1 tbsp coconut oil melted

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Instructions

Make the Nut/Seed Mixture 

In a Food Processor: 

(If you don’t have a food processor make sure the nuts are chopped/smaller in size. Or if you prefer bigger, less uniform clusters you can skip this step and just combine the nuts/seeds in a large bowl)

  1. Pour the nuts and seeds into the food processor bowl.
  2. Pulse 3-5 times  to “rough chop” but don’t over process. You don’t want the pieces to be too small. 

 

Make the Date “Sauce” 

In high speed blender:

  1. Add the warm water, dates, salt, cashew butter, cinnamon, vanilla extract.
  2. Blend until you achieve a mostly creamy consistency, stopping to scrape the sides of the blender as needed. (Small chunks of dates are fine, sauce doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth)  

 

Make the Granola

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
  2. In a large bowl add nuts/seeds mixture, date sauce, and coconut oil. 
  3. Stir with a spoon until nuts and seeds are well coated/combined 
  4. Transfer mixture to a parchment paper lined baking sheet 
  5. Spread mixture into an even layer on the sheet, careful not to spread the layer too thick or thin. 
  6. Bake at 300 for 10 mins then remove from the oven and gently stir in the shredded coconut, until evenly distributed. 
  7. Place back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes. 
  8. Remove from the oven and gently stir again, moving the granola from the edges of the baking sheet to the center. 
  9. Place back into oven and bake 10 more minutes 
  10. Remove from the oven (don’t stir again) and let cool for at least 20 mins. Granola will get crunchier as it dries so be sure not to move it around while it’s cooling. Enjoy right away or later! 

 

Notes

If you are not serving it right away, store granola in a ziplock bag or other airtight container. Stays fresh for about 1 week. It doesn’t last longer than this at my house so I’m not sure about freshness after that!!

 

Nutrition

Keywords: granola, grain free granola, paleo, gluten free