Are you a granola fan? Well, I love the stuff and have for many years. In college it was my snack almost every night and it easily helped me get through many final exams. Guess what? This addictive combination of oats, seeds, spices, nuts, and dried fruit is actually easy to make at home once you get the hang of it. My persimmon and spice granola is sweetened with honey and molasses and will, hopefully, make you want to ditch the store-bought granola for good.
My older son, Xavier, is also a serious fan of granola as well and is training his younger brother to follow in his footsteps. Xavier has called it “nola” since he was a toddler and the name has stuck. He was thrilled when he learned that not only can I make it for him, but also that he can help me make the granola. This is a great way to get your children involved in cooking and interested in what they are eating.
Many of my recipes are born out of experimentation or what I refer to as, “playing in the kitchen.” My granola recipe is one of these ideas. I love eggs for breakfast and I could eat them everyday, but my sons don’t always want them. We are not a big cereal family so I try to come up with hassle-free breakfast ideas especially on the mornings that my older son has preschool.
Granola has always been one of my go-to foods for snacking. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods have some delicious options, but once I discovered how easy granola is to make at home I almost always have some on hand.
Spread granola evenly onto baking sheet.
Granola baked until golden brown and the aroma fills your kitchen.
The best part of making it at home is that you are in control. You decide how sweet or savory it is. You decide if you add nuts or seeds or dried fruit. Heck, you can even leave out the oats all together if you don’t eat grains. In your home, you are the granola queen (or king) and set the rules.
All of my granola recipes will be made without nuts since my son has a severe allergy, but please feel free to add them. Trust me, if I did not have to consider my son, I would put nuts in everything. I love nuts!
For this persimmon and spice granola, I use warm, wintery spices to boost the flavor as well as molasses and honey to sweeten it up. Since the nuts are a no-go, I like to add coconut and sprouted seeds for texture and variety as well as for some healthy fats. This granola is incredibly versatile and you can change up the ingredients based on yours and your family’s taste preference.
Persimmons are possibly one of my favorite fruits and I have tons of them thanks to my mother-in-law. I thought some dried persimmons would be a nice change from raisins and they give the granola that festive, winter vibe. The dark orange color is also eye-catching.
Enjoy this recipe for persimmon and spice granola and have fun with it! Oh, it is ok to be addicted to this stuff. I am! If you make this recipe, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe. I would love to hear of any twist you put on it, as well.
Persimmon and Spice Granola
Ingredients
- 3 cups Rolled Oats (not quick oats)
- 1/2 cup dried coconut, shredded and unsweetened (I prefer unsweetened but either will work)
- 1/3 cup seeds of choice See Note 1
- 1/2-1 cup dried persimmon, chopped into dime nickel size pieces See Note 1
- 1/2 cup nuts of choice, optional
- 7 tbsp butter
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 tbsp molasses (preferably blackstrap)
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger, ground
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg, grated
- 1/8 tsp allspice
- 1/16 tsp cardamom, ground (I used 1/8tsp measure and did about half or little less)
- dash sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet (I use 16 x 12) with parchment paper.
- In large mixing bowl, combine oats, seeds, coconut, dried fruit, and nuts (if you are using.)
- In small sauce pan over low to medium heat, melt butter. When butter is melted, add in honey and molasses stirring with wooden spoon or heat resistant spatula. Bring to gentle rolling boil and then let simmer for a 2-3 minutes. Mixture should appear to thicken slightly.
- Remove from heat and add in the vanilla, salt, and all spices. Stir or whisk until combined.
- Carefully pour mixture over dry ingredients. Using same spatula or wooden spoon, stir mixture until the dry ingredients are coated.
- Pour out oat mixture onto prepared baking sheet and use back of spatula to smooth out mixture. It should be about 1/4 inch or so thick while it bakes. If it is too thin, the mixture won't clump together as much.
- Turn oven down to 325F and put baking sheet with oats into oven. Cook until golden brown on top. About 20-30 minutes depending on your oven. Monitor closely because they can burn quickly once they get close to completion.
- Remove baking sheet from oven and let cool for few minutes. Then lifting up the parchment or sliding it gently (if baking sheet doesn't have edges)remove it from sheet and let it continue cooling on counter.
- Once it cools completely, you can break it into pieces of desired size and put into storage container (if it makes it that far!)
Notes
[nutrifox id=”26823″]
This recipe looks delicious. I love persimmons and had not thought to add them to granola, but it’s perfect! Can’t wait to try it!
Thank you, Cleo! I hope you enjoy it. This was first year I have tried to find different ways to use persimmons in recipes. I love them too! Just an FYI that I forgot to mention: If you don’t eat butter, you can swap in coconut oil in place of the butter as well.