Golden Granola (Coconut Cashew Granola with Golden Raisins )

Good morning to you! And what a good mernin’ it is with this coconut cashew granola with golden raisins AKA Golden Granola. This olive oil granola is perfectly salty and sweet, studded with golden raisins (our fav) and perfect for eating with milk, on top of yogurt, or just by the handful on your way out the door. Better yet, it’s super easy to make.

Why you should make homemade granola

Buying high quality granola can be so expensive. And like, I get it. If you’re buying a hearty, good for you granola, it’s going to be made with some expensive ingredients, but like $14.99 for some gourmet granola?!

I think not.

Especially when it’s so easy to make at home.

How to make homemade granola?

We used a combination of old fashioned oats, oat flour, pumpkin seeds, coconut chips, cashews, cinnamon, maple syrup, olive oil, and sea salt! The result? A salty sweet granola with a beautiful golden hue. The oat flour gives this granola the bind it needs to stay together, while the coconut chips give it a buttery crunch.

1. Mix all the dry ingredients togethers: In a large bowl mix together the oats, pumpkin seeds, coconut chips, cashews, cinnamon, and salt.
2. Stir the  wet ingredients into the dry: Add the maple syrup and olive oil to the dry ingredients and toss everything together until all the dry ingredients are well coated. If you’re using sugar in your granola (we didn’t want ours to be too sweet so we didn’t!), you’ll want to heat the wet ingredients in a small sauce pan until the sugar dissolves before tossing with your dry ingredients!
3. Shape the granola into a disc and bake: We like our granola to have huge chunks in it, so we use oat flour to bind it together and then form the granola into a disc when we bake it. Simply pat your granola into an oblong flat oval and bake at 325°F until it’s golden brown. Turn off the oven and leave the granola in the oven to crunch up even more.
4. Crumble up your granola, store, and eat! Once the granola is cool you can break it into large chunks or crumble into smaller ones. Add the raisins (we didn’t add them before you put everything in the oven because they’d dry out!). Store in an airtight container or plastic bag and enjoy on yogurt, with milk, or plain!

What are golden raisins?

Ahh golden raisins. We LOVE them.  I think we can alllll agree that golden raisins are far superior to normal ones. They’re juicier, plumper and tend to be more flavorful, than their shriveled up counterparts. 

So what’s the difference between regular and golden raisins?

The difference between golden raisins and regular raisins is NOT that they are made from green grapes (I know, I was shocked too), but actually in the way they’re dried! Regular raisins are sun-dried (which causes them to brown), while golden raisins are dried in a dehydrator with controlled temps and humidity. The more you know, my friends. Put this knowledge to good use at your next cocktail party or trivia night 🙂

So go ahead and put that expensive af granola back on the shelf. Make your own and munch on it all day long like we are!

Happy halfway through the week bbs.

See ya Friday with a new recipe we are SO excited to share (hint: it’s cheesy and it’s vegan).