Lemon Poppyseed Granola

After 10 years of cooking professionally, I finally made granola without burning it! Turns out, all it takes is a little patience and the right temperature. Once I got that part figured out, this Lemon Poppyseed Granola was a breeze. It's tastier and less expensive than store-bought granola, plus you can create lots of different riffs on the recipe. They sky's the limit.

I developed this granola for an essential oil event that my friend Tiffany was hosting. You can cook with some of the oils so she asked if I could come up with a recipe using the lemon oil. I wanted to make a recipe in which you couldn't necessarily just use a lemon. For example, I've seen people use the oil in cake but you can get great lemon flavor in cake by just using lemon zest.

But some dishes, like granola and roasted nuts, are fairly dry and bake for a long time. If you used lemon zest or juice, the flavor becomes so faint as to be absent in the dish. Same thing with candies - which is why you can order flavorful extracts for candy making. Like extracts, essential oils are very intense and a little goes a long way. I learned that the hard way when I ruined a batch of Curry Roasted Cashews with too much Lemongrass oil.

I hope you'll enjoy my recipe below. #MakingHealthyDelicious is easy when you start with the right recipe. Enjoy!

Lemon Poppyseed Granola

Makes about 6 cups granola

3 cups oats

1 1/2 cups slivered almonds

1 tablespoon coconut flour, optional*

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup real maple syrup

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup coconut oil

Young Living Lemon Essential Oil, about 15 drops

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

2. Line a large sheet pan with foil or parchment paper.

3. Combine the oats, almonds and coconut flour in a medium mixing bowl.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the poppy seeds, salt, brown sugar, syrup, olive oil and coconut oil. (You may need to heat the coconut oil slightly to get it to melt and combine.)

5. Pour the coconut oil mixture over the oat mixture and stir to combine.

6. Spread the mixture evenly onto the prepared sheet pan.

7. Bake until golden brown and fragrant, about 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. (Depending on your oven, you may need to go an additional 15 minutes.)

8. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

9. Store for up to two weeks in an airtight container.

*The coconut flour helps create a rough surface for the ingredients to stick together. But you can make a delicious granola without using it, if you don’t have it in the house!

#recipe #Granola #PersonalchefCharleston #healthy #vegan #vegetarian #essentialoils