With Christmas just around the corner now (eeek!), many of us are going to be enjoying many festivities – with festivities comes mince pies, festive drinks and sweet treats, which can be hard to resist! I’m all about balance and not depriving yourself, so by all means indulge in these things at this time of year. On the other side, I’ve been challenged by Lancashire Farm Dairies to create a healthy recipe using their yogurts to help keep that balance going – which is where this breakfast recipe comes in.
The most important meal of the day (in my eyes, anyway!), one thing I love to make a big batch of is some homemade granola. The possibilities of flavourings and add-ins are endless and in this case I’m going down the festive theme (obviously), incorporating dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, orange and cinnamon. Served with stewed cranberries and my favourite fat-free Lancashire Farm natural yogurt, this makes for a delicious, filling and balanced way to start the day – or any time, really!
Ingredients:
For the granola –
- 300g porridge oats (I used Mornflake)
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 170g maple syrup, honey or alternative (I used Sweet Freedom amazing new Gingerbread Syrup)
- 170g melted coconut oil (I used The Coconut Company)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 100g pumpkin seeds (I used Whitworths)
- 100g dried cranberries (I used Whitworths)
Serve with –
- 150g fresh or frozen cranberries
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup, honey or alternative
- Juice of 1 orange
- Lancashire Farms fat-free natural yogurt (lots of it!)
Get making!
- Preheat the oven to 170C and line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
- Mix together the oats, cinnamon and orange zest in a bowl. Whisk together the maple syrup, oil and vanilla powder pour into the bowl.
- Give everything a good mix to combine so it’s all coated. Spread out onto your prepared baking sheet in an even later and bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove, stir in the pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries and continue baking for 8-10 minutes then leave to cool – the granola will crispen as it cools. Keep in an airtight container.
- Place the maple syrup and juice of the orange in a pan with the cranberries, bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes. Leave to cool for 10 minutes or completely then serve in a bowl with yogurt and granola on top.
Lancashire Farm Dairies is a Rochdale-based family business which has always believed in the power of yogurt for over 30 years. This isn’t a paid post but gifted in the form of supermarket vouchers.