Pantry Basics: Best Ever Chocolate Granola
This is my absolute favourite chocolate granola recipe. It’s studded with peanuts and almond slivers, as well as cacao nibs. And just as it emerges from the oven, we stir dark chocolate pearls into the chocolate granola. The residual heat melts the chocolate, resulting in a chocolate granola which gives us the license to have chocolate nut clusters for breakfast. I add quite a generous helping of kosher salt to the chocolate granola to allude to the Snickers bar on the palate, but feel free to adjust the salt to your taste preference.
Our family obsession with dark chocolate
Our household consumption of dark chocolate has skyrocketed since T2 has been able to articulate her food preferences. The chocolate and chocolate products we like to work with most in the kitchen are from Valrhona (not a paid post. I’ve been a Valrhona fan for nearly two decades). For this chocolate granola, we use the French chocolate manufacturer’s cacao powder, cacao nibs, as well as dark chocolate baking pearls (their luxe equivalent to chocolate chips).
But T2’s greatest contribution to this chocolate granola recipe is her commitment to ensuring that all the ingredients are evenly dispersed using her “bottom to top, stir, stir, stir” method. I’ve observed her technique. She scoops up the cacao powder and coconut sugar from the base of the bowl, tossing it to the top of the chocolate granola mixture. Then she stirs it in carefully to ensure that the finer ingredients don’t all settle to the base.
Granola prep tips
It’s also important to pay attention to oven temperatures (purchase an oven thermometer, it’ll save you from the heartache of many baking disasters). And I use the timer function on my smartphone to remind myself to stir the chocolate granola every 15 minutes.
Chocolate granola isn’t just a breakfast food
Depending on the ingredients you choose to use in your granola, each batch yields between 800g to 1 kg. One of my favourite ways to enjoy this chocolate granola is to drizzle it with milk, top it with Greek yoghurt (both full fat because flavour otherwise suffers), then spoon roasted cherries over it (recipe to come). But don’t limit yourself to having this chocolate granola only at breakfast time. It’s just as delicious sprinkled over ice cream or incorporated into a plated dessert. I’d scoop it into clusters for all day snacking.
About Su-Lyn Tan
Su-Lyn is Aun's better half and for many years, the secret Editor behind this blog known to readers simply as S. Su-Lyn is an obsessive cook and critical eater whose two favourite pastimes are spending time with her three kids and spending time in the kitchen. She looks forward to combining the two in the years to come.
looks pretty simple my kids can do. gonna ask my kids to make a trial. cheers.
Thank you so much for this! If I can’t get hold of the Valrhona 55% pearls, will it be ok to melt the normal Valrhona chocolate and mix it in right after taking it out from the oven?
Is honey a substitute for maple syrup or it’ll give a different taste entirely?
Hi? Chop the chocolate into smaller pieces and stir it in, or as you’ve suggested, melt the chocolate. I find it easier to spread by chopping the chocolate 🙂
I haven’t tried using honey. I only worry that it burns faster. But you can try, just watch it closely so that it doesn’t burn and ruin your batch!
Hi, I’m trying to make this but cannot find valrhona pearls! Where did you buy your valrhona?
In Singapore, you can try Sun Lik Trading or online through Pantry Haiku. But you can substitute with your favourite chocolate chips or buttons 🙂 Just try to keep the chocolate pieces small so it melts easily in the residual heat.
I was wondering if it will work with chopped dark chocolate too? Had too much leftover from Christmas!
I tried this recipe and it turned out amazing so simple and versatile