It had been way too long since I’d made granola, which is a shame because it’s a nutritious snack or breakfast that’s easy to take on the go or give to friends and family. I’ve found that the store-bought granolas are full of oil and sugar, and thus empty calories. So if I eat granola, I prefer to make it myself and use nut butter instead of canola oil, and maple syrup or coconut sugar instead of cane sugar. It’s still fairly high in calories, but it’s also packed with protein, minerals, and fiber to keep you full and energized.
For some reason I wanted to try my hand at a savory coffee granola because, duh, I love everything coffee-flavored. With Abby’s help, I came up with this nutritious coffee almond butter granola that my father-in-law described as “almost as good as [my husband’s] shot on hole 17” last weekend. Apparently it was his best golf shot of all time, so I decided to take that as a major compliment.
I love this coffee almond granola so much on its own, but I couldn’t stop there. I had to try it with chocolate. Had to.
Hence, the coffee almond butter granola chocolate bites!
These chocolate bites are great if you’re like me and you crave just a small amount of chocolate after dinner but don’t want to eat a huge dessert. I recommend using high-quality dark chocolate for these. The better the chocolate, the better they’ll taste!
But first, let’s focus on the best part — the coffee almond butter granola!
In her happy place
- 3 cups rolled oats (GF if necessary)
- ⅓ cup sliced or slivered almonds
- ¼ cup raw buckwheat groats
- 2-3 T. instant coffee granules, depending on how strong you want the coffee flavor (I used 3 T.)
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ¾ cup smooth almond butter
- ¾ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- ¼ tsp. almond extract (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, almonds, buckwheat, instant coffee, salt, and cinnamon.
- In a smaller bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients until smooth. You may want to warm up the maple syrup and almond butter so they stir more easily.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir well with a wooden spoon. Transfer to the baking sheet and spread out as evenly as possible.
- Bake for 10 minutes, stir, then bake 7 more minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheet at least 10 minutes (granola will crisp up during this time). If any edge pieces burned, discard them.
- Store granola in an air-tight container up to 10 days.
To make this coffee almond butter granola into even more of a treat, I purchased high-quality dark chocolate chips for melting and turning into small disks. I chose Madécasse Madagascar dark chocolate (63%) because it’s dairy-free and only contains four ingredients. Any chocolate should work though!
Simply melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave in short increments, then spoon it onto wax paper, top it with granola, and let it set before adding a drizzle of chocolate.
Abby had so much fun helping me place the granola on the chocolate! We made quite a mess, but it was great mommy-daughter time.
- Roughly ¾ cup Coffee Almond Butter Granola (recipe above)
- 1 cup high-quality dark chocolate chips
- Optional: espresso beans for decoration
- In a double boiler or in short increments in the microwave, melt the chocolate until completely smooth.
- Spoon the chocolate onto wax paper into disks about the size of a silver dollar (they spread out when you add the granola, so be conservative).
- Press granola into each chocolate disk. Allow to set on the counter, or transfer chocolates to the fridge or freezer to set more quickly.
- When chocolates are set, drizzle more chocolate over the granola. Add one espresso bean to the center of each chocolate, if desired.
- Store in an air-tight container up to 10 days.
What are some of your favorite coffee recipes?
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