Apple, Walnut and Tahini Granola.

Yep, did get granola all through my bed!

I got lost in my blog the other day. Re-reading old posts and reflecting… and also avoiding uni!

Reading old posts highlighted the fact I think I have been in a bit of a writing funk of late. So I apologise if my posts have been a bit repetitive! After blogging about my travels and FORCING myself to finish the last few entries, I have come to realise just how much I enjoy blogging about food… but don’t have any dreams of becoming a travel writer. Unless of course someone’s willing to fund these adventures – then I wouldn’t say no!

As most of you know, I’ve gone back to uni which means living and budgeting like a student again. Oh the joys! It’s really not that bad. It does however, grind my gears when you spend a bit extra to buy organic produce and it’s shit. I guess it’s my own fault though… I did buy a bag of organic apples from Woolworths, so I was asking for trouble. Seriously every single bag of organic apples I have purchased there has been floury.

Australia’s Fresh Food People my arse!

Ugh! You know as soon as your teeth break the skin of an apple, whether a bomb is about to land in your mouth. BAM! Floury hell. Floury apples are up there on the list of things Brickie thinks suck… that and statistics…

I have had this bag of apples sitting in the fridge for a while… so I decided to roast them up to see if I could at least put them to use in this granola!

I also think it’s time to let go of porridge for another year – when you’re sitting on your balcony sweating over your breakfast it’s probably time to call it off until next season!

Again, as with most of my recipes, feel free to substitute ingredients if some of them aren’t really your thing! Cranberries would be awesome as would a selection of seeds and nuts.

I did eat half of this mix as I was constructing it – you could also leave it untoasted if you prefer – I’m not sure how well it would go storage wise as the mix is a bit wet.

The bits and pieces

2 green apples, finely sliced

1 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted

1 1/2 Tbsp pure organic maple syrup + 1/4 C for oat mix

2 Tbsp ground cinnamon + 1 Tbsp for oat mix

2 C rolled oats

1/4 tahini, hulled

1/4 C pumpkin seeds

1/2 C shredded coconut

1 C walnuts, roughly chopped (I actually ended up using 1/2C almonds + 1/2C walnuts)

1/2 C dates, roughly chopped

Pre-heat oven to 150ºC and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

In a small bowl, mix together coconut oil, cinnamon and 1 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup. Coat apples in this mixture and pop in the oven for about 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to about 120ºC, you essentially want to dry the apples. Flip at about the half way mark.

Remove from oven and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add remaining ingredients except dates. Mix well to ensure everything is evenly coated – pop mixture into the oven (turning back up to 150ºC) and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden – Stirring the mixture every so often.

Remove from oven and let cool before stirring through apples and dates.

Allow to completely cool before storing in an airtight container.

Enjoy!