CoCo2 and EVOO granola
CoCo2 and EVOO granola....it sounds like space food, doesn't it? I created this recipe for the lovely team at Pureharvest. Do you know of or use this brand? What I like about Pureharvest, besides spoonfuls of CoCo2 in my porridge and their CoCoQuench milk warmed + poured into my coffee (it's so good, I am obsessed!) is their commitment to environmentally-friendly and considered practices. Being in the food industry has its challenges, however it's important to Pureharvest that they are as sustainable as possible and I respect that.
When brainstorming how to use their CoCo2 spread, I decided to go the granola route. A tad predictable, perhaps, and I've made cacao granola in the past, however this time I wanted to use the beautiful extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) Pureharvest sent me and make it a little special. You see, the idea of cacao granola is often more wonderful than the end product. It can end up bitter or burnt, and easily head too far in one direction, whether overwhelmingly sweet, coconutty or chocolatey (I know that "too chocolatey" sounds like an oxymoron, but it's totally possible). Anyway, I felt that by bringing EVOO into the mix, I would a) up the health factor, because EVOO is liquid gold/healthy juice of the Gods, and b) take the sweet/coconut/chocolate notes down a notch, mellowing everything out nicely and letting the base ingredients of oats and seeds sing. And it worked! I tried this recipe around six times, playing with different ratios and adding in another sweetener until I found my ideal taste and texture. Feel free to tinker as you wish, some cinnamon sounds nice and walnuts would be a dream. One time I added cacao nibs after the granola had cooled, and felt really smart. Another time I added shards of roughly chopped dark chocolate to my bowl and felt like a straight-up genius. Oh, and if you somehow have leftovers, this granola + pitted Medjool dates + LSA or almond meal, blitzed in the food processor makes killer date balls.
Head over to the Purharvest website for the recipe (LINK) and a little interview I did with them (here), and browse a bunch of other recipes on their site. I was impressed with how tasty and varied they look, I mean yum and YUM.