Lately I’ve been obsessed with cherries. It all started a couple of weeks ago when I stopped at a local farm stand and nabbed some dark sweet cherries. I’ve always liked cherries, but it seems my love for them has been on a whole new level since that purchase. Fresh cherries by themselves, frozen cherries in smoothies, cherry frozen yogurt (ate some last night!), cherries in my salads – I’ve been finding endless ways to incorporate cherries into my diet pretty much everyday. One day last week, I whipped up a new recipe and found yet another way to eat (dried) cherries: dark chocolate cherry almond butter granola!
This granola will add some pizazz to yogurt or cottage cheese, and is a nice sweet treat all on its own. The only downside to this recipe, and to pretty much all kinds of granola in my book, is that it’s addictive. I kept grabbing a handful here and there, and before I knew it, the whole batch was gone!
If you want to slash the calorie count, just cut the chocolate chips and (dare I say) dried cherries out. Almond butter, honey, cinnamon, vanilla, and oats – what’s not to love? It would be delicious as plain almond butter granola too.
Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond Butter Granola
Ingredients
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup almond butter
- 1/4 cup dried cherries
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips or morsels
- 1 TSP cinnamon
- 1 TSP vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Melt almond butter and honey on the stove over low heat, stirring constantly.
- Add cinnamon and vanilla, mix together, and remove from heat.
- Put oats, chocolate chips and dried cherries in a bowl. Pour honey mixture over oats, then stir with a wooden spoon to combine evenly.
- Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Arrange the granola onto the sheet in clusters, with the chocolate chips either in the oat mixture or positioned on top of oats (This is so that the chocolate doesn't burn onto the baking sheet).
- Bake for about 15 minutes, or until oats are slightly browned.
- Allow it to cool, then use a spoon or spatula to break up the granola and transfer it to an airtight container.
I wish I liked cherries! I have always hated them…I’m sure I could sub in something else for them, though. This looks so good!
Haha that’s funny…you could definitely just leave em out! Or substitute with some kind of chopped nuts or other dried fruit.
I agree with you that granola is addictive.. And I’m definitely making this!
Do it! 🙂