When Life Gives you lemons

When life gives you lemons and poppy seeds, make lemon poppy seed granola.

First of all, making granola at home is fun because you can really play with the add-ins and sweetness and different flavors and make it custom to your exact preferences.

For me, I typically like a high add-in to oats ratio. I like lots of bites of dried fruits, nuts and seeds mixed in with my sweet crunchy oats. Others may like less add-ins and more oats, that’s the beauty of making it yourself! You can easily make it fit your preferences.

Also, store bought granola is typically pretty high in sugar. Or, you may have noticed that some of the “healthier” granola options these days come with a pretty pricey price tag. So, another benefit of making it yourself at home is that you might save a few bucks per batch.

Plus, I’m loving this citrus twist on classic granola.

The lemon poppy seed combination is a great one - we know it quite well from lemon poppy seed muffins, scones, cakes, and so on. But granola?? I don’t know about you, but this is a new pairing to me, and I’m here for it!

How to eat

I think you probably know how to eat granola…but just in case you need some inspo for this lemon poppy seed rendition, here are some ideas:

Alone as a snack
With plant-based milk
Over top a bowl of coconut yogurt or other plant-based yogurt
Over top a bowl of fruit
As a smoothie bowl topping - I paired it with a blueberry smoothie bowl and it was delicious!
Sprinkled over vegan vanilla ice cream or homemade “nice” cream

Recipe Notes

Oats - Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats if gluten is an issue for you
Add-ins - I used sliced almonds, shredded coconut, and then the chopped candied lemons. You could try using different nuts or seeds and/or using dried oranges or cranberries as well.
Sweetness - I used a combination of monkfruit syrup and coconut sugar. The result is moderately sweet and sweeter when you throw the candied lemons in the mix. You can adjust the syrup/sugar content to your liking depending on how sweet you like your granola.
Almond Extract - If you don’t have almond extract you can use vanilla extract or just omit it altogether.
Citrus - I used a combination of lemon and orange juice. If you don’t have orange juice, you can skip it and use extra lemon. Or if you don’t have lemons, you can use all oranges! But then it would be orange poppy seed granola, which I’m sure would be great too.
Bake time - So the thing with granola is that if you want it to stay in clusters the goal is to try to not have to stir it much in the cooking process, as this will break it up. However, the edges will cook faster than the middle, so you may need to give it a stir half way through. You can also just scoop up the edges towards the middle and leave the center intact to avoid breaking up the clusters and prevent the edges from burning - this is the method I used and it seemed to work fine!
Candied Lemons - I used Megan Porta’s candied lemon recipe to make these, which can be found here. I subbed out regular sugar for monkfruit sweetener to keep the sugar content down.

I hope you love this recipe! Be sure to leave a comment below if you give it a try, and tag me in your photos on Instagram @wellismore so I can see all of your amazing creations!

Lemon Poppy Seed Granola, Vegan, Gluten-Free

Ingredients

For the granola

2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 tbsp coconut sugar
2 tbsp poppy seeds
dash of sea salt
6 tbsp monkfruit syrup (or regular maple syrup)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 tsp almond extract

For the candied lemons (optional)

2-3 lemons, sliced thin into roughly 1/8 inch slices, seeds removed
1 cup water
1 cup monkfruit sweetener (or regular sugar)
2 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300° F
In a large mixing bowl, add the oats, almonds, shredded coconut, coconut sugar, poppy seeds, and sea salt and stir to combine.
Add the syrup, melted coconut oil, lemon juice, and orange juice and stir to combine.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the mixture out in an even layer.
Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Check after about 10 minutes and if the edges are browning faster give the granola a stir then return to oven. If it’s still wet after 20 minutes, that’s okay, it will crisp up as it dries. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
While the granola is baking, prepare the candied lemons.
Once the candied lemons are cooked and cooled, chop roughly into small bits and mix in with the granola.
Store in an airtight container and enjoy!