Another granola recipe - using chia seeds

[replay]

This recipe is from the Expert Foods website. Here is the original recipe:

1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds, hulled
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup sesame seeds
1 1/2 cups dried coconut shreds, unsweetened
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup ThickenThin not/Sugar thickener
Sweetener equivalent to 3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Makes approx 30 quarter-cup servings.

Preheat oven to 325°F, and line a large baking pan with oiled foil.

1. In a large bowl combine nuts, seeds, coconut. Stir in the cinnamon, salt, ThickenThin not/Sugar thickener and sweetener.

2. Stir in the oil and mix until the nuts are thoroughly coated.

3. Add the water and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.

4. Transfer to pan and bake for 30 minutes. Remove pan and stir thoroughly, to even out the baking process.

5. Return to oven and bake for another 30 minutes or until dry, crisp and lightly-browned.

6. Remove from oven. Adjust seasoning while granola is still warm.

7. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container. Preheat oven to 325°F.

Nutrition* per quarter cup (as calculated by Mastercook): 100 calories; 9g fat; 3g carb (of which 2.5g is fiber); 3g protein.
*based on no-calorie sweetener

[replay]

3/4 cup chia seeds (mixed in 1 ½ cup water for form gel)
[COLOR="Blue"]***Next time, add chia dry, and add enough water or coconut milk at the end to make the mixture stick together. [/COLOR]
1 ½ cup almond flour (8 ounces)
3/4 whole pecans (4 ounces), coarsely chopped
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 1/2 cups dried coconut shreds, unsweetened
1 tablespoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon all spice
¾ teaspoon salt
1 splenda Quick Pac
½ cup maltalol crystals (3 ounces)
1 stick butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
[COLOR="#0000ff"]***Next time, I will add a little maple and almond extract, maybe ¼ teaspoon each[/COLOR]
.

Preheat oven to 325°F, and line a large baking pan (jelly roll pan works well for this recipe) with parchment paperl.

1. In a large bowl combine nuts, seeds, coconut. Stir in the spices, salt, and sweetener.

2. Stir in the butter, chia seeds/gel and vanilla. Mix well by hand or with a mixer.

4. Transfer to pan and bake for 30 minutes. Take out and turn over.

5. Return to oven and bake for another 30 minutes.

6. Cut into squares or crumbles and return to oven (I broke mine into chunks). Reduce temperature to lowest setting and dry until crisp.

7. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

[replay]

My modified recipe tastes great to me. I might add a smidge more salt next time. I also want to try adding the chia seeds dry instead of making the gel.

It took a while to get everything crisp, but it was really crispy, like the low carb granola by Flax Z Snax.

[rexsreine]

Replay, this looks really interesting. Two questions: How long, approximately, did it take to get really crispy? A couple of hours? Also, why do you think it might be better next time to add chia seeds dry instead of making the gel?

Thanks for posting this!

Ginny

[replay]

He, he, he

I thought about not making the chia gel and just using the dry seeds because it took so long to dry. I am not 100 percent sure of how long it took because I was not really paying attention.....it was several hours.

I lowered the temperature of the oven so it wouldn't burn, then I did housework for a while. Then I turned the oven off and went out for a while and left it in the oven.

I considered using a dehydrator too.

What I do not know is how much the gel drying contributed to 1) holding it together and 2) making it crispy. When I make my next batch I will find out. My thinking is that the moisture from the fluids in the recipe will create enough gel in the mixture to hold it together.

I was inspired to experiment by Carolyn's recipes, so it should hold together without making the chia gel first. The chia seeds produce a soluable fiber like flax seeds do. For some reason I do not care for flax seeds lately.

This is great sprinkled over cottage cheese.

[replay]

I made this without the chia gel step. Uhm...nope....a disaster as far as creating granola.

The recipe below it the version that I will keep. I didn't make bars but if you want to make bars just spread to your desired thickness and shape and cut into bars. I increased the cinnamon but it still does not taste "cinnamony" enough for me.

I put a portion in the refrigerator (ran out of time) and later that day I put this portion into the dehydrator and it turned out just fine. For those interested in keeping things closer to raw, use a low temp and be sure to turn it over at least once. I have an Excalabur dehydrator.

This recipe makes a bunch, so you may want to cut it in half the first time. It would be fantastic with added dried fruit, but that would be too many carbs for me. I didn't use splenda because sometimes I can detect it (after taste) so I just use other sweeteners.

If you try the recipe, let me know how you like it.

***************************

Lowcarb Almond and Chia Granola

1 stick butter, melted and cooled
½ cup isomalt (or maltalol) crystals (4 ounces)
½ teaspoon stevia liquid (Body Ecology brand)
6 NectaSweet saccaharine tablets dissolved (or six packets Sweet-n-Low)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon coconut extract
½ teaspoon almond extract

1 cup chia seeds (mixed with 2 ½ cups of water to form a gel)

1 ½ cup almond flour (8 ounces)
¾ whole raw pecans (4 ounces) finely chopped
¾ cup whole raw Brazil nuts (4 ounces) finely chopped
1 1/2 cups dried coconut shreds, unsweetened
3 tablespoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon pumkin pie spice (Frontier brand)
1 teaspoon salt





Preheat oven to 300°F, and line a large baking pan with parchment paper.

1. In a large bowl combine almond flour, chopped pecans, chopped Brazil nuts and coconut. Add spices and salt. .

2. Dissolve in melted butter. Stir in stevia, saccharine and extracts. Add chia gel and blend together with a hand mixer. Add to nut mixture and mix well using a hand mixer. The mixture will be stiff.

3. Spread onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. You may need two pans cookie sheets depending on how thin you spread the mixture. For this recipe, I used 2 pans. Bake at 300°F for 30 minutes.

4. Remove pan from oven and flip the contents over onto the counter. Put the parchment paper back into the pan. Return to oven and bake for another 30 minutes or until dry, crisp and lightly-browned.

5. Break the sheet of granola into small chunks. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.