Functional Chocolate Granola
This delicious chocolate granola recipe is easy, healthy, and features health-promoting, functional ingredients like brazil nuts, mulberries, and ashwagandha. It is also vegan / plant-based and gluten free! There are some chocolate chips in the recipe, but they can be left out to make this refined-sugar-free (although I highly recommend including them because they help create clusters and provide a bit of extra sweetness and chocolaty goodness).
Aside from all of its health benefits, this is such a wonderful granola in both taste and texture. In fact, it has the perfect granola texture in my book: a bit crunchy without that almost-burnt chalkiness I’ve experienced with other recipes or without feeling like you’re going to break a tooth!
It tastes absolutely incredible with some plain vegan yogurt, a splash of oat milk, some fresh fruit (like banana and raspberries or blueberries) and a little drizzle of honey (leave out the honey if you want to keep it vegan). It’s so handy to have around for a lazy, but beautiful, breakfast or an on-the-go snack.
See below for a break down of the health benefits of the star ingredients in this granola.
ingredients
rolled oats
brazil nuts
sliced almonds
coconut oil
Coconut oil can have an overpowering coconut flavor - use refined coconut oil to avoid this as it has a neutral flavor.
maple syrup
coconut sugar (optional)
cacao powder
ashwagandha powder (optional)
vanilla
sea salt
chocolate chips
dried mulberries
what are functional foods?
Functional foods are foods that are believed to have additional health benefits beyond basic nutrition, such health promoting, disease preventing, and/or medicinal properties. This is quite vast and vague as examples range from fortified orange juice to cancer-fighting green tea.
functional ingredients and health benefits
What are the benefits of brazil nuts?
A single brazil nut has more than the recommended (minimum) daily intake of selenium. Selenium is most commonly found in meat and dairy, so brazil nuts are a great source of this mineral for vegans and vegetarians. Selenium is important because it supports thyroid and immune function.
What are the benefits of mulberries?
If you’re not familiar with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), you’ve probably still heard of yin and yang. Yang is the masculine energy: hot, dry, rigid, fast paced. Yin is the feminine energy: cool, moist, slow. Optimum health requires that these be in balance, though most of us live a very yang lifestyle (i.e. being overworked, overstimulated (particularly with technology), eating “hot-natured and fried greasy foods, coffee, alcohol, and red meat.”) Mulberries nourish yin - that soft, relaxed, flowing feminine energy that we could likely all use more of!
What are the benefits of ashwagandha?
Ashwagandha is an adaptogenic herb known for helping the body adapt to stress, lower cortisol, balance blood sugar, and reduce inflammation.
As with all medicinal substances, this one might not be for everyone. It is considered a ‘hot’ herb so it could be too heating for some.
HOW TO MAKE FUNCTIONAL CHOCOLATE GRANOLA
Chop the brazil nuts very finely.
2. Stir together all of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips and mulberries.
3. Spread the mixture out on a parchment lined baking sheet.
4. Bake at 325 F for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.
5. While the granola is still hot, transfer it to a bowl and stir in the chocolate chips and mulberries. Keep stirring while the chocolate chips melt so that clumps start to form.
6. Transfer back to the baking sheet and let cool completely.
THE RECIPE
Functional Chocolate Granola
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Stir together all of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips and dried mulberries.
- Spread the mixture out evenly on the parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through the baking time.
- While the granola is still hot, transfer it to a mixing bowl and add the chocolate chips and dried mulberries. Stir the mixture until the chocolate has melted and started to form clumps.
- Allow to cool completely and store in an airtight container.
*Disclaimer - I am not a medical professional. All content on this blog is a collection of personal experiences, wisdom passed to me by others, and gathered information from different sources. This is not meant to diagnose or prescribe - it is merely a record and reflection of what I have learned and what has helped me along my healing journey. Please take from it what you like, leave the rest, and consult a trained practitioner for more thorough information.