Chocolate Hazelnut Granola

Lately, my husband has mentioned we should make our own granola. I happened upon a granola recipe on one of the blogs I follow, Food in Jars. I made it yesterday, and it is delicious! A bonus is that is uses a unique ingredient, golden syrup, that is now a staple in my pantry. You could probably substitute maple syrup if you don't have golden syrup. Here's my version, which varies slightly from the original version.

Chocolate Hazelnut Granola
1 cup hazelnuts
3 cups oats
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup golden syrup

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Toast hazelnuts 10 minutes or until lightly golden. While still warm, rub nuts together to remove as much of the skin as possible. Don't worry if there are still skin pieces. The idea is just to get the majority of the skins off the nuts. Use a rolling pin to crack the nuts into smaller pieces. Reduce oven heat to 325ºF.


Toss together nuts, oats, cocoa and salt until the cocoa coats everything. Add oil and syrup, and stir until everything is evenly coated. Spread on a baking sheet in an even layer.


Bake 25 to 30 minutes until evenly toasted, stirring every 10 minutes.


Remove from oven, and scrunch hot granola together. Press the granola together, and let cool completely. Break apart to ensure some nice, crunch clusters. Store in an airtight container.