Over the past few months, I’ve been trying to curb my sugar addiction. The first step was to cut out any white refined sugar in my diet. I switched to more natural sugars like maple syrup and coconut sugar for awhile, but I’ve noticed that as I was still making baked treats and granola with these products, my sweet tooth was raging. I used up what I had and have not bought products containing any added sugars for the past few months. I only use the naturally occurring sugars found in plants (dates, raisins, etc) to sweeten foods and baked goods. I’m feeling better, happier, and more free because of this dietary change.
My sugar hiatus poses a problem however when I try to pick up a bag of gluten-free granola. It usually always contains some sort of added sugar. I remedied the problem by setting out to make my own sugar-free granola, sweetened only with the naturally occurring sugar found in dates.
This recipe takes about 25 minutes to make and you’ll have the batch for a few weeks. I’m obsessed with topping smoothie bowls with it!
- 1.5 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 4 dates, pitted
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp unrefined coconut oil
- 1 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
- 1 tbsp maca powder (can substitute with 1.5 tsp cinnamon + .5 tsp ginger powder)
- 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
- Preheat over to 300 degrees F. Line a 9×11 baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine oats and cashews on an unlined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes, stirring at halfway point, until toasted.
- While oats and cashews are baking, combine dates and 3 tbsp water in a blender or food processor. Blend until fully pureed.
- Remove oats and cashews from oven. Place in a large bowl. (Keep oven on at 300 degrees F.)
- Add date syrup, coconut oil, flaked coconut, maca powder, and sea salt to oat/cashew mixture. Mix well until fully combined.
- Spread oat mixture onto lined baking sheet. Bake granola mixture for 10 minutes until lightly toasted, stirring once after 5 minutes.
- Remove granola from oven. Let cool completely.
- Store granola in a glass container for up to 3 weeks. (Glass helps to keep granola crunchy.)
Never use added sugar in granola! So unneeded!
So true!!! This is so tasty just sweetened with dates!