Healthy Almond Butter Granola

Hello everyone! It’s Hallie again (Natalie’s daughter for those of you who don’t know) and I am so excited to share with you (drumroll, please) the second recipe on the blog! This recipe is for granola that is healthy and also is gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar free! It’s also super easy to make, and only has five ingredients, which chances are, you will probably have lying around somewhere in your kitchen. So let’s jump in!

The five ingredients in this granola are oats, almond butter, honey, cinnamon, and salt. I always have all of these ingredients on hand; they are a must-have for me. I used my favorite Trader Joe’s rolled oats because I have never found any other gluten-free oats that are so delicious and have such a good price! I also used a raw unsalted almond butter that I have always bought from Trader Joe’s, for the same reasons I buy the rolled oats (This post is not sponsored by Trader Joe’s, but I wish!). I wanted to try to use almond butter in this recipe because I absolutely love it, and have never found a recipe for granola that uses almond butter, only recipes that have peanut butter, which I don’t usually eat. I tested out this recipe for the first time yesterday and am so impressed with how it turned out! (affiliate links are used in this post)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The granola is so delicious and definitely my new favorite…better than any type I’ve ever bought from the store. It’s perfect for yogurt, acai bowls, trail mix or even just on its own as a snack (I will admit, I’ve been snacking on it a lot throughout the day!). It’s also healthy and only uses unprocessed sugar: honey, which is raw (the kind that I buy), natural and so much better for you than white sugar. For anyone who is vegan, pure maple syrup would probably work as a substitute, you just may need to add a little more almond butter.

 

 

 

 

 

Even Chester likes the granola! Not going to lie, we did give him some so that he would look for this photo…but what else can you do when you’re out of dog treats? I know, I know, he probably would eat anything that we gave him. But he told me that this is the best thing he’s had yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the granola once it’s finished! Although it’s homemade, it still sticks together like granola should, and doesn’t crumble into pieces, from my experience. It’s crunchy and perfect to satisfy your sweet tooth. Who doesn’t love healthy dessert for breakfast?! And as my mom said earlier this morning, “It’s like dessert!” She’s so right! It’s amazing, and I hope you guys will try it out!

 

 

 

 

We wanted to also show you what we used the granola for…açaí bowls!

For two servings, we started off by adding 2 packets of unsweetened frozen açaí to the blender (each packet that we used contained 100g, or about 3.5 oz, and we purchased them at Sprout’s), as well as some frozen strawberries (about 7 large strawberries) and frozen blueberries (about 1 cup). Note: you may need to thaw out the açaí a little before blending it. We also added almond milk as needed, to blend everything up. However, the mixture should be more thick so that you can eat it out of a bowl, almost like a frozen yogurt consistency, not liquid-like as a smoothie would be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For toppings on the bowls, we used fresh strawberries, chia seeds, hemp seeds, raw unsalted almonds, unsweetened coconut flakes, and my almond butter granola (they wouldn’t be complete without it!). There are so many options for toppings, though, that we didn’t include–cacao nibs, other nuts, honey, other fruits–there are so many ways to customize your own açaí bowl, and my mom and I had so much fun with it! If you’ve read this far, thank you so much, and stay tuned for the next recipe that will be coming in the future!!