Almond Joy Granola

     The main byproduct of making coconut milk is coconut pulp or mulch. This is the leftover meat that has been ground tiny and squeezed dry. The other day when I made coconut milk, I looked at my leftover pulp and wanted to figure out something to do with it. With a quick google search, I discovered many things you can make with coconut pulp. The biggest one that caught my eye was almond joy! I know that people either hate or love almond joy but it is one of my absolute favorite candies. However, chocolate is my worst enemy and most of the time when I try working with it, something goes wrong. That is when I had the idea to figure out how to implement my favorite almond joy flavors into granola!

    The nice thing about granola is you can put just about anything in it and it will turn out great. So, I just raided my cabinets to see what I had and got mixing! I started with a base of oats and then added in sliced almonds, shredded coconut, coconut meal, and chia seeds. To help everything stick together and to sweeten it up a bit I dumped in coconut oil and honey. If you want, you can replace your honey with maple syrup or brown sugar. However, if you use brown sugar you might need to increase the amount of oil you use just by a tablespoon or two. 

    Before mixing everything, I last minute decided to put my chocolate chips in before baking. Almond joy are covered in chocolate so I wanted my granola to be chocolate covered instead of just having a chocolate chip here and there. 

    After mixing everything, I spread everything on a baking sheet. I like to put down a silicone baking mat or parchment paper before baking my granola, especially with the chocolate, so that cleanup afterwards is easier. My granola baked at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. Once the first 15 minutes was over, I took my granola out of the oven and mixed everything up a bit. I wasn't quite yet worried about making sure the chocolate was evenly distributed. This first toss is just to make sure nothing is burning. 

    Putting my granola back into the oven, I let it bake for another 10-15 minutes or until everything was turning a golden brown. That is when I took it out of the oven and gave everything a final toss to ensure the chocolate was pretty evenly coating everything before it cooled and hardened. I put my pan onto a cooling rack and let cool entirely before breaking up my granola and putting it in an airtight container. With the chocolate, the shelf life decreases a little bit. However it still lasts quite a while. It will probably get stale long before it even thinks about molding as long as your granola is totally cool before you put it in a container. If it is still warm it can cause condensation and your granola will end up soggy and mold after a while. 

    I recommend you keep your granola in an airtight container at room temperature and eat it within a month with the chocolate and up to 2-3 months without the chocolate. Like I mentioned before though, it will probably be stale if you let it go for three months. I will say though that granola has never made it that long in my house. It is good on yogurt, smoothie bowls, eaten like cereal, or even plain! The mix of nutrient rich almonds, coconut, and chia seeds with the addition of sweet chocolate chips and honey is the perfect start to any day when eaten for breakfast or a filling, guilt free, treat when eaten as an after dinner snack. 

    What did you think of this recipe? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Use the comment section below!