Maple Nut Granola (gluten-free, refined sugar-free)

Sweet, crunchy clusters filled with maple and cinnamon flavors, for a classic and healthy breakfast or snack recipe!

Who likes sweet and crunchy? And healthy breakfast recipes?

ME!!! 🙂

A soft, fresh muffin or slice of banana bread is always a great breakfast. Some mornings though I’m looking for that CRUNCH. Some mornings I CRAVE the crunch… I am a huge texture eater after all.

On those mornings, I grab handfuls of homemade granola, like this Maple Nut Granola. Those same mornings, my kids turn into vultures when they see me with granola! 😉 My toddler daughter in particular is a huge granola fan.

Coated with sweet maple and cinnamon flavors, these crunchy clusters of granola are a texture lovers dream.

Not crazy about Greek yogurt, but wanting to eat it for a little more protein? Try eating Greek yogurt with some granola on top. I also love to add some shredded coconut too (yum!). Weird, but true: granola is also fantastic on top of ice cream. Somehow my husband came up with that genius idea that I thought was super weird at first! But it’s SO good.

Ready for some tricks, to make this gluten-free Maple Nut Granola a winner?

Typically I like to heat up my wet ingredients on the stove, and boil them for a minute, to get an almost caramel-like flavor into my granola.

However, with a granola based so heavily on maple syrup, I like to just microwave my wet ingredients, to make sure the maple syrup doesn’t burn in the pot on the stove.

You’ll also want to carefully watch your granola white it’s baking in the oven. In a matter of one minute, the edges of my granola went from perfect to a little burnt when I made it a few weeks ago! I made it again last week and pulled it out a couple minutes too early and the granola wasn’t quite as crunchy as I would have liked.

My family is currently in a rental, with an oven I’m not used to, so I’d like to blame it on the oven! Or the stress of moving 😉 Either way, lesson learned: watch your granola carefully the last few minutes to ensure the perfect amount of crunchy with no burnt edges.

So, how do you make this healthy Maple Nut Granola?

To begin, preheat your oven to 300 and line a pan with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, add your oats, almonds, and cinnamon and stir together till the oats and nuts are completely coated in cinnamon.

In a microwaveable bowl, add your coconut oil and microwave until it is melted (mine took about 30 seconds). Now, add your maple syrup, and microwave again, so the entire mixture is hot (maybe about another 30 seconds).

Remove your wet ingredients from the oven, add your vanilla, stir it all together and pour it over your dry ingredients.

Spread your wet granola mixture out into a thin, even layer on your pan and bake in the oven for 22-25 minutes, carefully watching it the last few minutes so you don’t wind up with burnt edges!

Let your granola cool entirely and then break it up into your desired size of chunks! Want bigger clusters? Only break your granola up a little. I’m a big fan of big clusters! 🙂

Oh, and by the way, the maple syrup and cinnamon combined smells like absolute Heaven in the oven 🙂

Need more granola flavor ideas? Check out my gluten-free Lemon Honey Granola or gluten-free Orange Turmeric Granola.