I am not a Hobbit – I’m too tall for that, and my feet aren’t hairy – but I do like Breakfast. And Second Breakfast. In fact, if I had time, Third Breakfast would be my favourite meal of the day.
One of the (MANY) things I love about Sweden is breakfast food. While visiting friends and family, we often enjoy conversation over a multi-course breakfast:
First Breakfast consists of “filmjölk”, a cultured milk similar to kefir or yogurt, with cereal. I like granola, but muesli is just as tasty. A great big cup of tea is the perfect accompaniment for this course. (And Sweden has some of the most incredible tea shops!)
(Yes, that’s me sniffing tea – probably a little loopy from too much sniffing…)
Second Breakfast is a “smörgås”, or open-faced sandwich. Hearty bread with meat and cheese, or crisp bread with cheese and jam. Yes, you read that right! A good, mild white cheese with a glob of jam is delicious!
Third Breakfast is a cup of amazingly strong coffee with something small and sweet, like a cookie.
And now you know why I could love the Hobbit life. 🙂
You might have to sell your first-born in order to buy gluten free granola from the health food store. Buy gluten free oats there, and make your own granola!
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
Melt coconut oil over low heat, and stir in the sweetener. I like using a combination of honey and molasses, but agave and maple syrup are other options.
Chop the nuts. I have recently become infatuated with a blend of pistacio, cashew, filbert, pecan, and macadamia nuts. If you are using salted nuts, only add one pinch of salt to the granola. Otherwise, use two hefty pinches. (There’s probably an official measurement for that, but I don’t like to measure.)
Make the flax/chia meal by grinding seeds in a spice mill. This adds lots of nutrition and fiber to the granola, but also helps it clump.
Dump oats into a large bowl, and stir in the cinnamon, nuts, flax/chia meal, chia seeds, and salt.
Pour the coconut oil and sweeteners over the oat mixture and stir until moistened.
Spread onto 2 baking sheets, and bake for an hour, stirring every 20 minutes.
Before returning the pans to the oven for the final 20 minutes, add flaked coconut, raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, and any other dried fruit you like.
When you remove the pans from the oven, put on a cooling rack but DON’T stir the granola. Allow it to cool completely before stirring so that it has an opportunity to clump.
Granola – Gluten Free
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
Description
Easy to customize, and delicious with milk, yogurt, kefir, ice cream — use your imagination!
Ingredients
- 4 cups gluten free oats
- 1/2 cup flax/chia meal
- 4 Tbsp chia seeds
- 1 1/2 cup mixed nuts, chopped
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup coconut oil, melted
- 3 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp molasses
- 1 cup dried fruit – raisins, blueberries, cranberries, coconut flakes, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees
- Melt coconut oil, then stir in sweetener – honey, molasses, maple syrup, agave, etc.
- Roughly chop nuts
- Grind chia and flax seeds in a spice mill to make 1/2 cup
- Combine oats, nuts, chia/flax meal, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl (use less salt if the nuts are presalted, more if they are not)
- Pour coconut oil and sweeteners over the oat mixture, stirring until moistened
- Spread on 2 large baking sheets and bake for an hour, stirring every 20 minutes
- During the final 20 minutes add coconut, raisins, dried blueberries, cranberries, or any other fruit
- Remove from oven to cooling rack, but do not stir
- Allow granola to cool completely before disturbing it (except for the uncontrollable urge to nibble)
- Store in airtight containers
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
