The Best Dark Chocolate Granola
There are some snacks that you associate with friends.
The friend who had the best sandwiches. The friend whose parents bought them roll ups and tiny teddies. The friend who received $5 to spend on junk at the cafeteria. I think we ALL had that one friend who had a granola bar. Right?
One of my closest friends, Lauren, was said friend. I remember during high school she would always have a granola bar packed with her lunch and even through university- I still recall our bus commute home (FUN FACT- we were neighbours too- AND she moved up to Sydney just before I did….I swear I’m not stalking her) in the afternoon, she would often snack on one of these granola bars.
The conversation topics we shared were often way more liberating that granola bars, but it did come up in conversation before. Which was better? The fruit ones? The yogurt covered ones? Nope. To Lauren (and myself), it was always the one with some form of chocolate in it. Always.
It was her birthday a few weeks ago (a week before mine…NO I AM NOT STALKING HER) and in her honour, I made her The Best Dark Chocolate Granola. When I say ‘The best’, I mean it. I would never make Lauren mediocre or subpar granola- she is a granola bar connoisseur after all.
Another fun fact? Lauren recently went to Costco and got a Costco sized box of granola bars. FRUIT filled granola bars. Pity she was impatient.
The Best Dark Chocolate Granola
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup quick oats
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup nuts of choice (I used salted peanuts)
- 3/4 cup natural nut butter of choice (I used Mayver's Dark Chocolate Super Spread)
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1 standard block (100 grams) of Lindt Excellence Dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I used Lindt 85%)
- Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees Celsius. Line a large oven tray with baking paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the rolled oats, quick oats, salt and nuts of choice.
- In a small saucepan, heat the nut butter of choice with the honey until it just begins to bubble. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and combine until fully incorporated.
- Spread out the granola mixture evenly on the lined oven tray and bake for 10-12 minutes (depending on the oven) until the edges start to go slightly golden. Remove from the oven and stir through several tablespoons of the chopped chocolate. Place back in the oven and continue to bake until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and stir through remaining chocolate and allow to cool completely. Once cooked, break up the granola and store in an airtight container.
- Constantly keep an eye on your oven temperature throughout- my first couple of batches burnt very quickly. The use of rolled oats and quick oats provided a more loose granola. To have more cluster like granola, use strictly rolled oats.
***
Friends, can you believe we are coming up to our 30th week of Spill it, Sundays? In all this time, I’ve loved getting to know bloggers outside of the typical HLB stream, and being introduced to new blogs! For a fun twist for this Sunday, instead of a guest blogger hosting, we take on a little survey I came across- ‘The Lasts’….. Enjoy and join in the Spill it, Sundays fun!
The last….person you spoke to?
The last…sweet food you ate?
The last…savoury food you ate?
The last…blog you visited?
The last…blog you commented on?
The last…recipe you tried out?
The last…item you pinned on Pinterest?
The last…TV show you watched?
The last…trip you took?
The last…time you spent money and on what?
What snack would you have been ‘known’ for?
Did you have a ‘granola bar’ friend?
What is your favourite store bought snack bar?
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I just made granola for the first time last week. I can’t believe I’ve never done it before. It’s so easy and simple! I would have never thought about putting Mayver’s in it, so I may have to try that out next time!
It is really simple, isn’t it! the only possible error is burning it- so many failed batches!
Haha I’m definitely that girl who always has a granola bar lurking in her handbag…you never know when they’ll come in handy! Any recipe involving nut butter and dark chocolate has potential to be the best, so I am taking your word buddy! Lately I’ve been loving those store-packaged bags of popcorn…the sweet & salty flavor is especially addictive!
My friend is currently in Japan and went to Universal in Tokyo and get this- they had a popcorn factory store with flavours like curry, soda and burnt caramel!
I think anything with chocolate beats fruit or yogurt flavor! HA.
My parents packed me a lunch…I was always that pudding cup kid.
Hahaha pudding cup kid. I’m LOLZ-ing right now.
Chocolate granola ftw! Bear Naked makes a chocolate granola that I was OBSESSED with. Sadly for me, like yours it had honey so it had to go after my fructmal diagnosis. Happily for me, thanks to you I now have a recipe so I can make my own and sub a tummy-friendly sweetener. Winning!
Try it out with brown rice syrup but cut the proportions by 2-3 T- as long as the stickiness is there, it shouldn’t detract from the chocolate flavour 🙂
I love that this actually uses chocolate, and not just cocoa. Looks amazing!
Thank you, Regan! Definitely real chocolate here 😉
YES! Chocolate is a necessary part of granola 😉 haha. This recipe looks so yummy!!
Thank you, Liz! And happy Wedding! 😉
OK, I’m a chocolate peanut butter freak – I have a PB granola recipe I add chocolate chards to but loving the idea of using a dark chocolate nut spread in a granola – yum!!
Thank you, Deanna! I think it exemplifies the chocolate flavour!
Hhahah you are a stalker for sure. Also I have a granola recipe that I’ve delayed posting because I’m not obsessed with the pics but the recipe is pretty similar to yours so please don’t think I am stalking you. <<felt the need to provide a disclaimer! Although in my defense and yours, I think most granola recipes are fairly similar.
I know your a copycat blogger, Ez. I’m going to report you to the blogging police.
😉
Mmm this looks awesome! I love almond butter or soy nut butter and chocolate together!
I probably would have been known for my turkey sandwiches. I ate them pretty much every day from grade 4 til grade 12 haha.
I wish I had turkey sandwiches every day! Ironically, my mum would make almond butter and nutella sandwiches and I’d be like ewww. Her mindset? Nutella needed the AB to offset the sweetness.
I’m pretty sure it’s been a few years since I made granola…but I did always make chocolate and peanut butter 😉 Can’t beat that flavour combo!
I feel like in elementary school, I would have been known for chocolate pudding cups (every damn day) and when I was older, chocolate-covered granola bars (usually twice a day…)
Twice a day? That’s inspirational. I remember playing swapsies for the good stuff with naive little kids.
Dark chocolate granola – that looks delicious yet dangerously moorish! I cannot wait to have a stock of that mayver’s nut butter!!
Mayver’s is dangerously delicious- expect a cheeky giveaway soon 😉
hahaha, you sure you’re not stalking her all through life? 😛 Thanks for sharing the recipe! I am somewhat of a granola fiend, but had to vow not to make my own until I finish the frightening stores I have first (waste not, har har).
I was known as the apple girl! I was a science camp counselor for a while, so we taught the kids to eat the cores to lessen the waste and join the hardcore club (heh heh heh). I had friends who later admitted to watching me eating apples, looking away for a moment and wondering how it was that when they turned back, there’d be no evidence of it left.
I like this Spill It, Sundays thing! 😀 May join up on it this weekend!
Hahahahaha hardcore club. Thanks for the good laugh.
Hope to see you join in 🙂
I’m with Lauren — granola NEEDS to have chocolate in it. So does trail mix. And oatmeal. And cookies. And cake. And… well… pretty much everything 😛 Ice cream too, but only if we’re talking chips or chunks — chocolate ice cream is a cruel imposter. As for what shack I was known for… in school it was Skittles. I had one of those red baggies with me almost every day, so I guess people got used to seeing me with one. Then came a day where I ate too many of them in one sitting, made myself sick, and went cold turkey for a few years.
Chocolate ice cream is an insult- INSULT. Hear this- the best gelato I ever had in Italy was Sachertorte- Which was a German Dark chocolate cake and it legit had cake pieces in it. THAT was not an insult.
Skittles? More reason for Niki to love you.
A great way to eat granola and get your chocolate too!
I LOVE your mindset, Cindy!
Chocolate granola sounds amazing! I love making my own! It’s so easy and at least you know exactly what is going into it. And, I love that hint of chocolate – you can never go wrong there!
Definitely cannot go wrong there- after making my own, buying it is just criminal.
I can’t say I’m known for any specific snack other than I always have one haha. I like to try all the granola bars in the organic section at my local grocery store but I’d have to say Clif Bars are always going to be my first love. I will try anything as long as it has natural ingradients and is minimally processed, but Clif Bars were my first love and I will never whore myself out to another brand :-X
I was shocked when I got clif bars in America- I thought they were all natural but they were quite processed! But delicious…Very delicious.
I like the company philosophy though
I was always the granola bar friend! I didn’t have much experience with other kids in “real school” (home-schooler since forever) but at all dance recitals you could count on me to bring along some kind of granola or meal bar.
My favorite store bought snack bar is Luna (carrot cake is my #1; lemon zest takes a close second).
NOOO Not lemon zest- The white chocolate and macadamia is del-i-cious.
I don’t think I have a granola friend. 🙁 I think my favorite snack is hummus. I love the stuff! This would b really good in yogurt though!
Oh Tonya I read that as hummus would be good in yogurt and thought…that Sh!t crayyyy.
I can’t even remember the last time I had a granola bar, but I would definitely be down for one with chocolate AND peanut butter. Nom!
Australia just brought out a range of chocolate and peanut butter ones….the proportion of peanut butter to oats was like 1:100000000000000.
Yum!! I am definitely jealous of your granola friend. Wish I had this granola on top of my oatmeal today for breakfast!
Make a batch, it is delicious- even better on oatmeal.
What snack would I be known for? Do I need to answer that question? 😉 I have tried making homemade bars a couple of times, and mine just fall apart, I should just stop trying to make granola bars and stick with plain granola! Great idea!
I like that mindset- failed granola bars = perfect granola. Do it. Do it real good.
I am known for my balls OBVIOUSLY. How am I supposed to trust that this is the best granola. Who is giving you advice on these ridiculous SEO-friendly names? She must be a whore…
That, she is. My favourite kind.
No surprise here that the best granola bars were the ones with chocolate in them. I mean, everything is better with chocolate, right ;)?
This looks great! I love granola on everything. Oatmeal, yogurt bowls, the list goes on and on.
Granola is like the health food icing on ….. everything.
I think I might actually be granola bar girl…I currently have one in my purse and another in my desk. Any granola with chocolate sounds delicious to me!
You are NOT the granola girl. Don’t put the Wine God’s to shame.
Wooowza all you needed to say was dark chocolate and you had me, but then you said granola and now I’m wishing I wasn’t on a cleanse this week. This looks like crack!
We don’t use the word crack on this parts of the world.
….say crack again.
Granola Bars!! I am so jealous of you guys who actually can buy good granola bars. The ones here are filled with crab – a no go.
BUT my genius kangaroo made a granola recipe that calls my name – how much more do I love you because you added LINDT chocolate!! . Now you just have to send over 64378267832 jars of that Dark Chocolate Super Spread. Geeeeez, I want to lick my screen. Stop making these recipes or you will have to take over the task and cleaning my Laptop.
Um….our granola bars are terrible- wait until you come. Actually, I’m probably digging a hole now and when you come, they will be magical.
I MAY have a cheeky giveaway soon involving them!
Obviously I’m known for crackers and hummus…more like eating it, not making it. Considering dark chocolate is my second favorite food (we know the first), this is being made ASAP. Drool!
Do it, my crest beauty.
Meghan brought me granola to Blend. You should probably send me this so I can do a side-by-side comparison.
YES. I will make you a strangebutgood custom blend.
I was always SO envious of the kids who had Dunkaroos (little animal cracker things that came with a bit of frosting to dip) or Fruit by the Foot snacks in school. My mom packed me healthy snacks. >:( Just kidding, I’m actually thankful for that now.
DUNKAROOS are in America? I thought it was an Australian thing- they were like crack, and I may or may not have gone through a box of them as a kid…throwing away the stupid kangaroos to just eat the frosting.
Haha yup, typical kid thing to do – we all did that! I haven’t seen them around in awhile, though I haven’t necessarily looked. Next time I hit the store…
…..Guess who’s doing that this weekend. 😉
I DO have a granola bar friend! It’s Kristi— she loves the chewy s’mores bars. It’s her business calc go-to snack. Just like nuts are my go-to snack!
LOL- Alison!!!! I am not kidding you, but my business calc snack in America was those Chewy bars too- (I think-) Did they come in a box with chocolate chip and a peanut butter style one? By Quackers? YES? YES?
YES! Man, we really are alter egos. Either that, or you’re just all my friends in one person.
Shut up and let’s make s’mores.
I’m known for having fancy snacks with me at work. Like kale salads and protein chia pudding. I’m eating a carrot muffin right now.
How healthy of you. Kale salads? You’re kale-ing me softly with your voice.
This granola looks UNREAL. Anything with chocolate is a big winer in my books!!! I always had healthy snacks as a kid and was so jealous of people whose parents packed them candy and cookies for snacks.
Vega snack bars are my current fav at the moment 🙂
Thanks Christina- I’ve never tried a Vega bar but must admit, their vanilla shake is pretty epic in oatmeal.
What a great time to start that fuckin whole30! This will be one of the first things to make next month!
Btw I was that granola bar girl among my friends 😉 I loved the chewy ones with chocolate on it!
I’m totally toying with you, Juli- although my recipe tomorrow has a paleo option 😉
Now you’d be a tit bowl cake bake girl.
You are becoming a granola making master, and I love it. Next up on my list (once I perfect the Coconut Lime Pineapple) is a savory granola.
I don’t know if I was known for always having a food on hand, but I do remember my one friend always had Spaghetti-O’s and I would associate her with them. I loved them and wanted to eat at her house all the time as a result.
SAVOURY granola? No bloody way. Actually, that sounds delicious- OMG I have a genius idea you need to include in it- messaging you now.
You just made my day. YUM! I love me some granola. I think granola is my favorite thing everrrr. I always had granola bars with me when I was in school.
Thank you, Audrey! Seriously, granola should be the new water!
I’ve never been a huge fan of granola bars… but I LOVE granola!!! And dark chocolate granola sounds amazing! Can you just send me a batch please 🙂 is it sad that I have no idea what my favorite snack was…. I do really love the Honey Mustard and Onion pretzel pieces! NOM NOM
I will indeed send you a batch in exchange for tater tots aha! Oh man, those pretzels sound delish!
Chocolate all the way! Love this!!
Thank you, Tina!
Looks delish – too tempting though!!!!
Never too tempting 😉
Okay why am I just now catching up on blog reading? I made granola last night (but it turned out beautifully so I just have to photograph for the blog :)) but would have LOVED the best dark chocolate granola because let’s get real, how can anything without chocolate not be good? Also, love the idea of mixing rolled & quick oats for texture!!
YES!! definitely consider mixing them to give an amazing texture- perfect to crumble in yogurt or cottage cheese!