Ingredients
- 5 cups rolled oats (use gluten-free if that’s important to you)
- 2 cups hazelnuts, roughly chopped
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- heavy pinch sea salt
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup honey or agave
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey's special dark)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 300. In a very large bowl, mix together the oats, nuts and salt.
In a small saucepan, warm the applesauce, brown sugar, honey/agave, cocoa powder and coconut oil until well combined, whisking constantly. Add the applesauce mixture into the dry ingredients and toss to combine. Evenly divide granola in an even layer between two large baking sheets.
Bake until browned and crispy, about 50 minutes-1 hour, turning half way through.
Cool completely, then store in an airtight container at room temperature. The granola will stay fresh for at least one month. I've never made a batch last any longer than that, but it's still great a month in and probably for longer.
note
If you'd like, you may gently stir the granola every 20 minutes while cooking. This will lead to less clusters and a finer granola. I prefer to be able to break the clusters up myself afterwards, but if you like a finer granola, then stirring will help.