Its no secret that most shop-brought granolas are laden with sugars and some even contain palm oil so for this I prefer to make my own. Its also much cheaper and so easy to make why wouldn’t you?
Form nutrition, a vegan protein powder company, kindly gave me 3 of their protein powders to try which I have been so excited about. I’m not a sports buff in any way but as I follow a plant-based diet I try and incorporated protein into every meal and protein powders are a convent way to do so. What I liked the most about form nutrition and why I wanted to collaborate with it (apart from the fact they actually taste damn good) their values are incredibly inspiring and on par with mine, their packing is compostable and they are organic and 100% plant based AND made without any soy products. Seriously good stuff that.
They sent me their toffee, tiramisu and unflavoured protein powders. My favourite is the toffee. So this is the first one I’ve made a recipe out of. I highly recommend you try out their products, if not you can use any other plant-based protein powders you like in this recipe!
Sprinkled on top of smoothies or just eaten by the fistful this granola is low (er) in sugar, high in protein, easily adaptable and seriously delicious. The secret to getting large chunks without all the extra sugar? Peanut butter! And DON’T stir it, leave it to cool as a whole on the tray, this will create large clusters which is always the best bit.
Protein granola
- 250g jumbo oats
- 50g puffed rice
- 40g protein powder, I used this one
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 60g maple syrup
- 3 tbsp peanut butter, I used pip and nut smooth
- 100g mixed seeds, I used sunflower, pumpkin, hemp, chia and flaxseeds
- 100g nuts, I used almonds and walnuts but beacons and hazelnuts would be delicious too
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Large pinch of salt
- 50g dried fruit- raisins, dates, apricots… let your cupboards decide, but cut up large fruits into smaller pieces
- 50g desiccated coconut
- Preheat the oven to 180C, line a large, rimmed baking tray with parchment paper.
- In a bowl combine the Oats, puffed rice, seeds and nuts in a bowl
- In a saucepan gently melt the oil, mix with the maple syrup, peanut butter, spices, salt and vanilla. Stir into the dry mixture and mix well to coat everything.
- Spread it out as an even layer on the baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes, Leave to cool completely (DON’T STIR) before scattering over the dried fruit and coconut and mixing this through.
- Store in a airtight container for ups to 2 weeks.
Jodie Cox 