Woke up earlier, unprompted, before 7:15. Not a terrible thing, because it means I’ve already had time to make, and eat, Posh Granola. Posh because the ingredients are a bit fancier than I would normally use every day, but as this makes almost four cups of the stuff (it can, in my experience keep refrigerated for a few weeks, and is probably freezable), you don’t need to blow through $10-15 of ingredients very often.

It’s grain-free, but it’s not a paleo thing; it was born on a day when I wanted to make granola, but was out of oats and did a bit of Googling for inspiration on alternatives. Also, my usual Posh Granola-eating involves sprinkling it on oatmeal.

Oh, and it looks like this. (YMMV, jar fingerprint-wise.)

A photo posted by Megan McLeod (@blautreacle) on Nov 14, 2015 at 7:12am PST

Posh Granola

Start by chopping up, in a food processor

• 1 cup of raw hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup almonds

until it looks like, oh, I dunno, fine gravel? That hippy corncob-based kitty litter? It shouldn’t take more than a few pulses, probably.

Separately, in a sauce pan, melt together

• about 4 Tbsp of coconut oil (I actually didn’t have enough this morning, so subbed in 2 Tbsp of canola like a HEATHEN, but it still tastes fine
• 2-3 Tbsp of maple syrup
• the zest of most of a medium-sized orange
• 1 tsp cinnamon

stir until it looks like a syrup-y thing.

Separately, put about

• about 1 cup of dried fruit (cherries and cranberries are especially good here – cranberries, obv, are cheaper – today, I also added about 1/8 cup of candied orange peel because I had it)
• 1/4 cup dried coconut

in a large bowl. Stir it up. Add the chopped up nuts and seeds. Stir it up some more.

Tip in a bit of syrupy stuff. Mix.

Tip in a bit more of the syrupy stuff. Mix

Tip in yet more. Mix.

(You are doing this so it coats stuff more evenly.)

Scrape the last bits of delicious goo out of the pot with a rubber or silicon spatula and into the nutty stuff. Mix more.

Remember at this point that the oven should be on to 190°C to preheat. Go take of that.

Spread the nutty mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet into a thin layer. Press down a bit with your hands so it looks like a single island of delicious. Sprinkle with fine sea salt to your liking/sodium tolerance.

Put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until it is brown and delectable-smelling.

Take it out of of the oven and leave to cool for about 15-20 minutes. It will continue popping and getting more delicious.

Pick up parchment (carefully) and flex it to break up the stuck-together bits some.

Decant into jars or other containers when totally cool.

Eat well, and eat often.