Healthy low sugar granola

I try to eat healthy as I can and add in the odd naughty thing here and there although sometimes I do have days where I might go a bit sugar crazy I will admit, nobody's perfect! I've been trying to find recipes for healthy snacks and remembered how much I love granola either as an evening snack or for breakfast, the downside though to granola is that most shop bought versions are packed full of sugar and considering this is the first meal you are eating of the day you don't want to spike your blood sugar level.

The thing I dislike about granola is the amount of honey and dried fruit that goes into it, because it has fruit in the product people assume that it must be healthy but contrary to belief dried fruit is packed full of sugar and eating dried apricots (the worst offenders!) are as bad sugar wise as eating your favourite biscuits! I would rather just eat the biscuit if I'm honest.

Rice malt syrup which I am using in this recipe as a maple syrup substitute is not something that most people have heard of and is the perfect alternative to sugar, honey and other sweeteners. Rice malt syrup is made from fermented cooked rice. Now I know that doesn't sound nice but it is, yes really!  It's a blend of complex carbohydrates (the good carbs!) maltose and glucose so that makes it completely fructose free plus it's slow releasing which is great!
The other great thing about rice malt syrup is that you only need a small amount to achieve sweetness, it has the consistency of honey and tastes a little like golden syrup. You can use it on pretty much anything you want to sweeten - pancakes, smoothies or even to sweeten up a stir fry! I use either Biona or Clearspring which you can find in Waitrose, any good health shop or Goodness Direct.

So I've found what I think is the perfect low sugar healthy granola recipe that I altered to fit my preferences. So here's the recipe if you fancy trying out something new and you like me are stuck in a breakfast rut.

Ingredients -

• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 125ml rice malt syrup 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract. (Good quality version where possible!)
• 300g rolled oats
• 50g sunflower seeds
• 4 tbsp sesame seeds
• 50g pumpkin seeds
• 100g flaked almonds
•   50g coconuts flakes or desiccated coconut
• 
  
• Optional extras I added - 

   Cacao nibs 

   Handful of raisins  

   Ground pistachios

   Cinnamon

Method - 

-Preheat your oven to 150 degrees celsius.

-Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

-Mix the coconut oil (melted) with rice malt syrup and vanilla essence and mix all together until a smooth consistency. 

-Tip all the remaining ingredients into the bowl and mix together (if you add raisins don't add them yet), it should all stick together relatively easy so if it doesn't add a little more rice malt syrup.

-Spoon the granola evenly onto the two baking trays and bake for 15 minutes.

-After 15 minutes mix it all up on the trays so it bakes evenly and bake for another 10/15 minutes depending how crunchy you want it. 

-Once baked let it cool in the trays for 15 minutes then remove from trays and place into a jar or tin. I used a Kilner jar but as long as your container is airtight it doesn't matter what you use. The granola can be stored for up to a month like this!
-At this point don't forget to add in your raisins if you are and I added a little sprinkle more of dedicated coconut 

Hope your enjoy this recipe, let me know if you make it :)

Until next time xo

SHARE: