Bo's Kitchen

Plant based recipes made with love

maca

Chunky almond granola clusters

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chunky almond granola clusters with maca

Granola is just one of those things I wish I’d started making years ago. It can be so expensive to buy and they are often laden with as much sugar and salt as regular cereals. I set about making my own after trying several recipes and I’m now sharing the result with you. Making your own granola means you can make it just how you like it, it’s fairly hard to go wrong! This recipe is super flexible, so if you don’t have any of the ingredients just stick with the same rough proportion of wet to dry ingredients and you can be sure to whip up your own exclusive batch of breakfast heaven. The most important thing to remember is not to break it up on the baking tray while cooking and to let it cool completely before smashing to pieces (I enjoy this bit). Granola is amazing with yoghurt, on top of oatmeal or just on its own! The perfect nutritious snack.

Chunky almond granola clusters

  • 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup almonds
  • 3/4 cup walnuts or pecans
  • 1 cup dried fruit (I used cherries)
  • 2 tbsp Organic Burst chia seeds (optional)
  • 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup or agave
  • Pinch of himalayan pink salt
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp Organic Burst maca powder (optional)
  1. Preheat oven to 140°C and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
  2. Blend almonds in a food processor into a rough crumb, leave chunkier for a crunchier granola. Add the almonds and oats to a large mixing bowl.
  3. Briefly pulse walnuts /pecans, just to break them up a little. Add to the mixing bowl.
  4. Add all other ingredients to mixing bowl, stirring really well until everything is coated evenly.
  5. Press the mixture down into a large flat piece of granola (almost like a flapjack) and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn the granola around in the oven, don’t break it up (this is the key to clusters).
  6. Check again after 15 minutes and if it’s starting to brown around the edges, take it out. It should take no longer than another 20 minutes until it’s ready.
  7. Take out the oven and leave to cool completely before breaking into chunky clusters. Stores in an airtight jar for two weeks.

Cacao banana maca muffins

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cacao banana maca muffinsThese marbled muffins are sweet, moist and very delicious. Vegan (as always), refined sugar free and easily made gluten free if you sub the spelt flour for buckwheat or gluten free oat flour.

I included organic cacao powder and maca powder for an extra boost. Raw cacao is made by cold pressing unroasted cocoa beans. This process means the living enzymes in the cocoa are maintained but it removes the fat (cacao butter). Cocoa powder is made when raw is roasted at high temperatures. This changes the structure of the cocoa bean, reducing the enzyme content and lowering the overall nutritional value. Basically cacao means you can get the most health benefits from chocolate, which has to be a good thing! Maca is a great energiser, mood enhancer and balances hormones. It also has a gentle caramel flavour that really works in these muffins. I love the stuff!

I’d love to hear what you think if you try this recipe, it’s a firm favourite here!

Recipe – Makes 12 muffins

  • 3 large mashed very ripe bananas (about 1 cup)
  • 3/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
  • 2 tsp Organic Burst Maca powder
  • 1/3 cup non dairy mylk (I used almond)
  • 1 1/2 cups spelt flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp himalayan pink salt
  • 4 tbsp cacao powder
  • 6 tbsp boiling water
  1. Boil kettle and preheat oven to 180•c. Line or grease your muffin tin.
  2. Mix mashed bananas, coconut sugar, coconut oil, almond mylk, maca and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth.
  3. Mix spelt flour, baking soda and salt in gently. Don’t overmix- it’s okay if you can still see some flour.
  4. Put one cup of batter into a small bowl. Mix in four tbsp of cacao and three tbsp of boiling water with fork. Add another three tbsp of boiling water to the original banana batter and mix well.
  5. Put 2 tbsp at a time into each muffin case/tin until the mixture is evenly distributed. Swirl through a chopstick or knife to make pretty swirl patterns.
  6. Bake in your preheated oven for 20-22 minutes, or until a chopstick comes out clean. Cool and enjoy, or eat slightly warm with peanut butter (couldn’t help myself).