This hearty homemade breakfast granola is easy-to-make, gluten-free, oil-free, and naturally vegan! Slow-baked in natural sweeteners for a deeply satisfying crunch, it's a delicious source of protein and complex carbohydrates.
Place dates and ½ cup nuts in blender. Add hot water, honey, vanilla, molasses, maple flavoring and salt. Blend for about a minute until smooth.
Place the oats, coconut, and nuts in a roasting pan or very large mixing bowl. Add blended mix to the oats in the large bowl and gently mix together with your hands. Work the wet and dry mixtures together for several minutes until all the oats are all very evenly moistened and coated.
Place the mix into large cake pans or cookie sheets, taking care not to pack or pat it down tightly. Keep it light and airy.
Place pans in oven at 200°F | 93°C for about 8-10 hours, or until the mixture becomes crunchy and your kitchen smells like cookies. Use a spatula to turn the granola a three or four times during the baking process.
Remove from oven and allow to cool. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
Check your oven temperature: It is a good idea to use an oven thermometer to verify the accuracy of your oven temperature. When cooking for such long periods of time at such low temps, even a small temperature variance can make a difference. Granola can easily burn if the temperature is too high.Low and slow are the watchwords when baking granola. Do not try to rush the process. Higher temperatures can cause the nuts and coconut in your mixture to burn before it has a chance to dry out and crisp up. Stirring the granola during baking helps to break the mixture into a more bowl-friendly pieces, and it also encourages even toasting. Use a spatula to turn the granola three or four times during the baking process.