I seriously, SERIOUSLY love home-made granola. However I will never, EVER eat it with milk (like cereal). Mr. Fantabulous does that and it just kills me to see this. It’s just not right I tell ya. The thing is it’s actually pretty common as a lot of folks do this. Why? It’s not cereal. It’s granola. G-R-A-N-O-L-A. Granola is meant for yogurt, trail mixes or snacking plain. Milk should be on the side and never mixed.
Now I typically make 2 batches of granola every 3 weeks as when I make it, I make A LOT. However as of late I’ve been seriously craving peanut butter and chocolate. Not sure why – maybe it’s hormonal or that I’m a woman and change my mind every 37 seconds. *wink*
So as I was measuring my oats I kinda stood there not sure where I wanted to go with this recipe. My granola recipes pretty much start with the same base – oats, salt, coconut oil and then yummy stuff. So I went with some creamy peanut butter but you could most certainly use crunchy if you want. You can go with dried fruits, chocolate, nuts, heck you can even add bacon to it if you wanted.
Wait… bacon granola? Hmmm…
I wonder.. *mental note: create a bacon granola recipe*
To make it easier to mix up the granola I heated up the coconut oil, nutella, peanut butter and honey. This would make it easier to mix up with the oats. Granola is really easy to make but some have had trouble mixing it. Granola shouldn’t be sopping wet or dry as as sand when you mix it. You want tacky. The oats really shouldn’t stick together but they should rather be coated.
Now do not add the chocolate chips or chunks before you bake it. I tried that the first time I ever made granola and I ended up with burnt chocolate oats. It was NASTY! No, you add stuff that can melt after it’s baked. 
Now this granola as it’s baking you can smell it. The smell of warm cocoa with the peanut butter and nutella was intoxicating! When making granola people expect that when you pull it out of the oven it should be hard and crispy. NO! If you cook it to that point you’ve made mini bricks. As this cools it dries and hardens. So when you pull this out it’ll feel soft but it’ll crisp up as it cools.
The other trick to granola is if you want clusters or not. If you do try not to mix it up as much on the last baking or as it cools. The more you mix it as it cools, the less clusters you’ll have. Totally your call!
Now for me I took this granola and make a Banana Split Yogurt Parfait. Totally simple and totally delicious!
Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Nutella Granola
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Ingredients
- 5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (regular or gluten free)
- 3 tablespoon coconut oil (or canola)
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1/2 cup Nutella
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoon hot water
- 1 teaspoon chocolate extract (can use vanilla)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Heat oven to 275F rack in the middle.
- Line a 15×10” pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mix together the oats and salt in a large bowl.
- In a saucepan over low heat, mix the coconut oil, honey, Nutella, and peanut butter. Stir constantly until the mixture is smooth and pourable.
- Add in the chocolate extract, cocoa powder and hot water.
- Remove from heat and stir until well combined.
- Pour cocoa mixture over the oats and mix well with a sturdy wooden spoon.
- Spread granola on the baking sheet pressing down with a rubber spatula.
- Bake for 20 minutes the remove from oven and stir the granola while it’s on the baking sheet.
- Bake for another 15 minutes and stir again.
- Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool. The mixture will be soft and chewy but will become crispy as it cools.
- After the granola is completely cool, stir in the chocolate chips and chunks.
- Store in an airtight container.
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