French Chocolate Granola

I’ve been on a real granola kick lately.  Granola for breakfast, snacks, and dessert.  I love to eat it with yogurt and fresh fruit, like cereal with milk poured over it, or straight out of the bag, and up until recently, I was relying on the store bought kind.  I have seen so many recipes for homemade granola floating around in the blogosphere, and finally decided it was time to try my hand at making granola at home.  I used food blogger turned Bon Appetit contributor Molly of Orangette‘s recipe, which is based on granola she ate while in Paris recently.  In the last 4 weeks, I’ve made about 4 or 5 batches of this granola.  The first time, I included the chocolate called for in the recipe (okay, maybe a little MORE than what was called for in the recipe).  The chocolate makes it extremely decadent, especially delicious eaten with yogurt and strawberries.  But it seemed a little too sinful to be eating chocolate for breakfast (I’m sure some of you will say that’s crazy talk), and the chocolate seemed to overpower the granola itself (likely because I was heavy handed when adding the chocolate).  Since then, I’ve been making it without the chocolate, and I still can’t get enough of this granola!  It is super simple to make, especially if you use buy slivered almonds instead of chopping your own.  Take Molly’s advice though, and consider doubling the recipe (especially if you have to share!)

French Chocolate Granola

from Orangette

3 cups rolled oats
½ cup raw almonds, chopped
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
6 Tbsp. mild honey
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
½ cup, or more, finely chopped bittersweet chocolate

Picky Apple Notes: I used slivered almonds and sweetened coconut, and don’t always include the chocolate.
Preheat the oven to 300°F.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, coconut, sugar, and salt. Stir well to blend.

In a small saucepan, warm the honey and oil over low heat, whisking occasionally – watch out! the oil will want to splash – until the honey is loose. Pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to combine well.

Spread the mixture evenly on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden. Set a timer to go off halfway through the baking time, so that you can give the granola a good stir; this helps it to cook evenly. When it’s ready, remove the pan from the oven, stir well – this will keep it from cooling into a hard, solid sheet – and cool completely.

When cool, transfer the granola to a large bowl, storage jar, or zipper-lock plastic bag. Add the chocolate, and stir (or shake, if using a jar or bag) to mix.

Store in an airtight container. Serve with plain milk; soy milk and plain yogurt overwhelm the chocolate flavor.

Yield: about 5 cups