Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola
You may want to adjust the sugar and salt depending on the type of peanut butter you use. I prefer Teddie Natural Chunky peanut butter, which is unsweetened but salted.
You may want to adjust the sugar and salt depending on the type of peanut butter you use. I prefer Teddie Natural Chunky peanut butter, which is unsweetened but salted.
- Carbohydrate 17.259020487646 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 4.43074104332617 g
- Fiber 0.904649587591757 g
- Protein 2.47620725178214 g
- Saturated Fat 0.788510892320073 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Numberofservings(yield) (26g)
- Sodium 100.095804277546 mg
- Sugar 16.3543709000543 g
- Trans Fat 0.20335517922905 g
- Calories 114 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, toss oats, salt, cocoa powder and peanuts.
- In a saucepan, heat oil, peanut butter, honey, brown sugar, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture bubbles a bit. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Pour liquid ingredients into the oat mixture and stir until the oats are evenly coated.
- Spread oats onto a nonstick cookie sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then remove and gently toss the granola (if you want chunkier granola, just run a spatula under the granola and gently rearrange).
- Turn off the oven and put the granola back in for up to an hour to dry, tossing once more along the way. When granola is cool, store in an airtight container. Now the hardest part: try not to eat it all.
Achieving Optimal Texture and Doneness
Baking granola with cocoa powder and honey requires careful monitoring because the dark pigments obscure visual browning. Oats require ten minutes of initial heat at 350 degrees Fahrenheit to begin crisping before the residual heat drying phase begins. Turn the oven off completely after the first ten minutes, leaving the sheet pan inside for up to an hour to drive out remaining moisture without burning the sugars. If large clusters are preferred, slide a thin spatula underneath the mixture to flip sections intact rather than breaking them apart.
Storage and Freezing Guidelines
Granola relies on complete dehydration for shelf stability, making airtight storage containers mandatory to prevent moisture absorption. Properly cooled batches maintain structural crispness at room temperature for up to three weeks. Freezing baked oat mixtures extends storage significantly for up to three months when sealed inside heavy-duty freezer bags. Excess air must be pressed out prior to sealing to prevent freezer burn and lipid oxidation within the canola oil and peanut components.
