Apricot Granola |Cooking With Amanda

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Sasa Demarle Inc. The contributor received items for review and was compensated for recipe development. All opinions are her own.

The other day I was running around the house, taking care of the laundry, the dishes, corralling the toys, and everything else that happens when you have two kids, and I realized it was almost lunchtime. And yet, I had completely forgotten about eating breakfast.

Since my children are incapable of going more than 10 minutes without eating, this sort of thing never happens on the weekend. During the week forgetting to eat happens far more often than I would like, probably because it often seems silly to make a meal for just myself.

I'm healing this notion by preparing ready-to-eat breakfast foods like this apricot granola. Granola is one of the easiest things you can make at home, and it's so much better than the store-bought stuff that is often full of extra fat and sugar.

I like to keep my granola simple, and rely on natural flavors and spices rather than refined sugars. Coconut oil and honey add depth of flavor without overpowering the other ingredients, and dried apricots give it that fruity burst most of us have come to expect with granolas.

You can always switch up the ingredients when you make granola at home, using other fruits or spices to make it your own signature recipe. One of my favorite combos is lemon blueberry granola using flavored honey. You can even skip the fruit and go all-out with Nutella almond granola!

No matter what variety of granola you make, your best tool is a Silpat pan liner. I love them because they are reusable, which means I don't have to waste countless sheets of parchment paper each month. Anything I bake on them comes right off, and with granola I can just pick up the whole Silpat and pour my granola right into its jar. Easy peasy!

Armed with a batch of spicy homemade apricot granola, I no longer have any excuses to skip breakfast. Get rid of your excuses too and bake up some today!

Win your very own Perfect Silpat Mat Collection!

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Apricot Granola Recipe

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Ingredients

4 cups rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
4-6 tablespoons honey, depending on desired sweetness
3/4 cup chopped dried apricots

Directions

Preheat oven to 300°F and line a large baking sheet with a Silpat.
In a large bowl, stir together oats, almonds, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and salt.
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt together coconut oil and honey. Once melted, pour over oat mixture and stir to thoroughly combine.
Pour oat mixture onto Silpat, spreading it out in a thin layer.
Bake for 30 minutes, rotating pan halfway through.
When the granola is done baking, sprinkle apricots on top, then press down on granola all over. This will help it create clusters as it cools.
Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container.