University has radically changed my mindset on life.
Monday is now my favourite day of the week and scoring 70% on an assignment isn’t much of a blow to my expectations. Sneakers and leggings have become my daily outfit and backpacks are essential. Eating ice cream is almost the only way to sweeten up chemistry homework to make it ever so slightly more bearable.
My little way of treating myself during the week is to do some grocery shopping midway on my commute home. I get some fresh air walking along the streets and some quiet time to slow down and think about not much at all. Seeing all the possibilities of ingredients laid out in front of me also stimulates my culinary creativity; what new foods are in season, what I should make for the blog, what I should make for dinner that night, etc. Scoring good deals on groceries is just as exciting as fashion (maybe even more). I know, that’s like a granny thing to be excited about. One of my group chats is actually called “Grandmas” because my friends and I all have traits that are…not what young adults usually have. Maybe I’ll delve into those details another time.
The downside to shopping all by myself is when I buy more than needed. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach. Despite trying to limit myself to purchasing enough for the next two to three days, I always seem to come home with extra goodies. The fact that Whole Foods is only a few blocks away doesn’t help either.
One item I’ve been splurging on is artisan bread. Why. Are. Carbs. So. Delicious. Particularly loaves of fluffy bread studded with crunchy nuts and fruit. (Hey, that kinda sounds like today’s recipe!) For the past two weeks, I’ve been waiting for Thursday to roll around because that’s the day my local bakery bakes loaves of chia fruit bread. A seedy whole wheat sandwich bread is my go-to because it works for both sweet and savoury, but like I mentioned earlier, fruit and nut bread has been my new addiction. This past week, my schedule finally aligned and I victoriously walked out of the bakery with a loaf of their chia fruit bread.
A few doors down from this bakery is the local grocery mart I purchase most of my produce from. After major success with my Banana Nut and Pumpkin Spice Granola recipes, making an Apple Pie Granola has been at the top of my to-bake list. Apple season has just begun, and British Columbia is known for growing many many many varieties of apples. Being terribly uneducated in apple varieties (I grew up only knowing Gala and Red Delicious), as I stood in front of about five boxes of different species, I wasn’t quite sure which type was best for baking. And as if she was aware of my dilemma, the lady next to me started telling me about how great Spartan apples were for making applesauce, tarts, and pies.
“So they’re good baking apples?” I asked.
She confirmed that and I wholeheartedly took her advice and picked out two of those local, unsprayed Spartan apples.
When this big pan of oat goodness is in the oven, your house will be filled with the aroma of hot apple pie. It’s absolutely lovely and is a great way of soothing the stress from work or school. That’s what it did for me.
This Apple Pie Granola has just about every texture out there: crispy oats, crunchy walnuts, chewy raisins, and juicy apples. I pretty much deconstructed an apple pie (or crisp), played with the ingredient ratios, and baked it flat on a cookie sheet. All the elements of apple pie made totally acceptable for the first and most important meal of the day. And it can be eaten with your fingers too. I’ve been nibbling on the batch since it came out of the oven.
This recipe can easily be made to suite vegan and/or gluten free diets; I’ve included notes throughout the recipe.
Whether you serve it in a bowl with plenty of chilled milk or fancily layered in a glass jar, this clumpy Apple Pie Granola will make a wonderful autumn treat. By the way, I used a coconut milk yogurt here; it was my first time trying a non-dairy yogurt. Super thick and creamy…dangerous…I might get hooked.
Now with this Apple Pie Granola recipe, you can have pie for breakfast!
- 3 cups old fashioned oats, gluten free if needed
- 1 cup walnuts, roughly crushed
- ½ cup plump raisins*
- ¼ cup ground flax seed
- ½ of a large baking apple variety, such as Spartan, cut into small cubes
- A pinch of pink Himalayan salt
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- A pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- 3 tbsp honey**
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 300⁰F.
- In a large bowl, mix together the oats, walnuts, raisins, flax seed, chopped apples, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- In a separate small bowl, roughly combine the applesauce, coconut oil, honey, and vanilla extract. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and mix until every particle is moistened.
- Spread granola mixture onto a large cookie sheet (preferable one with sides) and press down with a spatula into a singular layer about ½-inch thick.
- Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until oats are golden brown. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before transferring to an airtight container. Since there are fresh apples, this granola is more perishable. Consume in about a week.
**Vegan Option: Substitute honey with maple syrup
Serving size is about ½ cup of granola
P.S. The baby apples in the photos are crab apples and were not the Spartan variety used in the recipe.
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