After a weekend visiting friends in Baltimore, eating cupcakes, Easter candy, and Berger cookies (if you’re in Baltimore you KNOW) and drinking hot chocolate, mimosas, and cappuccinos… I’m ready for something on the healthier side today. Well, semi-healthy. Granola is one of my favorite snacks to have around. I almost always have a tupperware of my peanut butter & jelly granola, pumpkin granola, vanilla almond granola, or granola clusters on hand, and bowls of this chocolate crunch granola are the next best thing when all you’re craving are chocolate candy bars. Store-bought granola is usually full of strange ingredients, masked by way too much refined sugar and unnecessary fat. That’s why I always make my own. Full of ingredients I recognize and love. Including homemade honey roasted peanut butter. Have you ever tried my homemade honey roasted peanut butter before? It’s made from one ingredient—honey roasted peanuts. Shocking, right? It’s the peanut butter I love to eat on its own or on a sandwich/wrap/celery/apple/spoon. I don’t bake with it much since baked goods really require that box-brand creamy and thick peanut butter consistency. But I eat this stuff like it’s going out of style. Paired with a little honey, some coconut oil (for a light crunch!), vanilla and cinnamon for extra flavor, oats, and peanuts… we’ve got ourselves a tasty new granola recipe. 7 easy ingredients mixed up in 1 bowl. If you like honey and you like peanut butter, this granola is for YOU. With a little almond milk, I love a bowl of this honey roasted peanut butter granola for breakfast. It has so much incredible flavor! On the snack side, though, I like to add M&Ms and some peanut butter chips. As the granola cools, toss in a handful of each. The peanut butter chips will slightly melt making each bite a little sweeter and the M&Ms will mostly hold their shape. This fun version tastes like a monster cookie. You’ve tried my soft-baked monster cookies before, right?? Think of the M&M, peanut butter chip version as the “healthiest dessert but not really dessert” dessert you’ll have this week. Quick, straightforward, simple, peanut butter. Four things I love about a new recipe.
