Confession: I barely turned on my oven all summer.

Granted, I wasn't home very much to cook at all this summer with all that happened, but still. NYC is enough of an oven outdoors that I don't need to turn my apartment into an oven too!

But now autumn is rolling around, and I'm feeling the urges to cuddle up in cozier layers and nest a bit in my apartment, especially after a rough few months. You all know breakfast is one of my favorite meals and I could subsist off breakfast foods alone. Given the choice, I always prefer eating breakfast at home versus going out to eat.

Granola is one of my favorite things to have on-hand at home to snack on or to throw on top of greek yogurt for breakfast or a post-workout snack. Clearly. As I've posted literally 5 different granola recipes (see: pumpkin oat, gingerbread, chocolate peanut-butter, PB pistachio bars, cranberry-almond bars) already on this blog. But you can never have too many different varieties of granola, amiright?

I spotted my dear friend Heike's matcha granola all throughout summer on her IG, and then another one of my girls, Sara, make Heike's matcha granola, so I made a mental note to try out some matcha granola the next time the desire to turn my oven on struck.

SO glad I did because I adooooore this new blend. Honestly, my inspiration for these particular mix of ingredients simply came from what I had available on hand, and then the cranberries just for a touch of sweet and addition of bright red color to contrast that beautiful matcha green. 

Let's get crunchin people!

Matcha Cacao Crunch Granola

Gluten-free, Vegan, Nut-free optional

Ingredients

2 cups Raw Rolled Oats (GF certified if you need GF)
1/2 cup dry Quinoa, pre-rinsed
3 tbsp Chia Seeds
1 cup dried Cranberries
1/2 cup Pistachios (can sub pepita seeds or sunflower seeds if going nut-free!)
1/2 cup dried, unsweetened Coconut Chips
1/3 cup unsweetened Raw Cacao Nibs
1/3 cup Coconut Oil, melted
1/3 cup Maple Syrup, room temp (you can lessen quantity if trying to reduce sugar)
2 tbsp of culinary grade Matcha powder (my favorite kind here)
1-2 pinches of Salt (I used Himalayan Pink Salt)

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 315ºF, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients (oats, quinoa, chia seeds, pistachios (or pepitas), coconut chips, cacao nibs, salt) with a spatula until well-mixed. Add matcha into bowl and mix until granola mix is evenly coated with matcha powder.

3. Drizzle wet ingredients (melted coconut oil and maple syrup) over the dry ingredient mix in the large bowl, and use spatula to combine ingredients and mix thoroughly. 

4. Spread out granola mixture in an even layer on the baking sheet. Bake for about 40-50 mins, turning mixture over once halfway through.

5. Remove baking sheet from oven, sprinkle cranberries on top, and let granola cool on the baking sheet. When cooled completely, mix, and store granola in an airtight container.