Almond Joy Granola

Steve eats granola on his yogurt every morning for breakfast.  I usually just buy granola (because really, why bother making your own?), but then I came across this recipe and I knew I had to try it out.

I am a convert and will now be making homemade granola!

If you like Almond Joys, you will love this granola!!!  It is so good, and surprisingly easy to make.

Recipe adapted from A Spicy Perspective.

Ingredients:

• 2 c. rolled oats
• 1 ½ c. sliced almonds
• 1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ c. brown sugar
• ¾ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1/3 c. honey + additional to drizzle
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ c. (more or less to your liking) large unsweetened (you can use sweetened if you want) coconut flakes
• ¾ c. mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the oats, almonds, cocoa powder, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, honey, vanilla, and sweetened coconut in a bowl.  Line a 9×13 jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
2. Spread the granola out into a thin even layer. Bake for 10 minutes. Mix with a spatula, drizzle additional honey; then spread the granola out again and bake another 10 minutes. (If you don’t mix the sweetened coconut in step 1; then sprinkle the coconut over the top of the granola and bake another 3-5 minutes to toast (if you use sweetened coconut and didn’t mix in step 1 it will take longer to toast). Watch the coconut – it burns very quickly!
3. Once the coconut is toasted, remove the granola from the oven and mix. Cool completely; then mix in the mini chocolate chips. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Almond Joy Granola: