Being part of that small but significant part of the population who became allergic to nuts in their adulthood, I really struggled cutting out some of my usual food habits. One of them was eating my breakfast bowl of granola with milk in the morning, and I struggled to find a good brand that didn’t contain any nuts. But then I came to the realization that I could actually just make my own!👩🏼‍🍳 The following recipe is also vegan friendly, gluten free, refined sugar free but definitely not taste free!

The first time I found out about my allergy, I was having a packet of mixed dried fruits and nuts in the office (I was trying to be more healthy by swapping them with my traditional sweet snacks!🙄). I started to have that tingling sensation at the back of my throat and my lips started to swell up which was pretty scary at the time as I never experienced it before. I was able to swallow an allergy tablet thankfully and it eventually calmed down. Since then, I went to the hospital so that they could perform that allergy prick test where they sting you with different type of common allergens (nuts, trees, grass, cats etc) to see which ones your immune system says “No-No” to. Few minutes later, rashes and bumps started to appear on my forearm and I got a little report that confirmed that I should definitely not eat any hazelnut, almonds or walnuts! (And I should also not roll in the grass like in the Little House on the Prairie 😏🌿🌿🌿)

As a precautionary measure and because my boyfriend also suffers from nut allergies (what were the odds that we would find each other hey?!💕🌰🚫), we don’t have any nuts in the house except for pistachios for the very occasional cake I would make (we seem to be both fine with it for now).

Anyway, let me stop rambling for now and get to the actual recipe. My nut free granola is dead easy (no weight measurement needed), you can make a large batch on the WE that would last for a good couple of weeks in a sealed container (although it is probably gone within a week in my household) and the advantage of the home made version is that you know exactly what you put in and tailor it to your taste buds!

Happy brekkie people! 😁

My Nut Free Granola

Servings: 10

Time required: 30 minutes

Level of difficulty: Really easy

Equipment required: Measuring cup (250mL), an oven and large baking tray

Ingredients

• 3 cups of Jumbo oats (gluten free if required)
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup of coconut shavings
• 1/3 cup of maple syrup
• 1/3 cup of pumpkin seeds
• 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds
• 15 dried apricots
• 1.5 tsp of ground cinnamon (adjust to taste, I just love it)

Instructions

1. Turn the oven on at 180°C and melt the coconut oil in the baking tray in the oven for a minute or two (until it becomes liquid again)
2. Take the tray out of the oven then add all the rest of the ingredients except the dried apricots and half the coconut shavings (I like to have a mix of toasted and untoasted shavings but you can put all of it in if you prefer)
3. Mix everything together until it is homogeneous then jiggle the tray to make an even layer
4. Bake in the oven for 8 minutes then take it out, give it a good toss with a spatula and return it in the oven for another 8 minutes (or until everything is golden brown)
5. Whilst it’s cooking, chop each dried apricot in 4 then reserve
6. Take the tray out of the oven, add the rest of the coconut shavings and the chopped apricots to the granola mixture and give it a good mix
7. Leave it to cool for 15 minutes then transfer into a large container for storage but let it cool completely before closing the lid

Notes: I usually serve it with lactose free semi-skimmed milk for breakfast but you can also have it as a dessert with few dollops of fat free yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup or some stewed fruits at the end of their life (below my baked plum with yogurt and granola, YUMMY!). Enjoy!