Healthy Date and Tahini Granola (Whole-food sweetened and oil-free)
Mix and match your favorite grains, nuts, seeds, and addends to this crunchy, scrumptious granola base—whole-food sweetend, oil-free, and delightfully flavorful just as it is!
Guess what, guys? Two years and two months ago, I face planted at the end of a casual run with a friend, chipped and cracked a tooth and managed to misalign my whole bite (kudos to me for supreme multi-tasking). But that’s not what the “guess what” was for. Here’s the fun part—I’m finally out of braces! Woohoo! Go ahead and guess how I celebrated —yes, for one thing, I made this superb, healthy, exceptionally crunchy granola.
You don’t need oil or refined sugar to make this versatile, tasty whole grain snack. Oats, quinoa and/or millet, plus nuts and seeds of choice will bind, crisp up, and cluster thanks to luxurious tahini combined with Medjool dates blended with either water for (date paste) or unsweetened plant milk (date caramel). I like to add a solid shake of cinnamon and zest of an orange into the dry mix, too. Press the sticky mixture in one tight layer on a tray lined with parchment paper and bake. Once the tray is baked about 30 minutes and cooled, sprinkle in dried fruits and any other addends of choice, then crumble, keeping some sizeable chunks. There’s so much room for variation, you probably won’t ever replicate the exact same batch, but then again, you’ll likely never go wrong.
I’ll be honest, this isn’t my yummy go-to granola when it comes to eliciting smiles and appreciation from my family. That honor goes to essentially the same recipe but with maple syrup in place of the date mixture, upped to half a cup. That version, with toasted coconut flakes and maybe even a few mini chips added at the end “tastes like a cookie”, according to Felix. This version, while yet to be described as cookie-like, is nevertheless how I planned for weeks to mark the exit from braces. This version is my go-to for me—happily, the rest of the household enjoys it, too.
Medjool dates have a rich, sumptuous sweetness, on their own and whipped up into a paste or caramel. The one-third cup of spread mixed into this granola bakes up into a subtler sweetness than pure maple syrup does, however. The whole food sweetener is packed also packed with fiber, potassium, and antioxidants, offering a low-glycemic option all the more worthy of delight. The cinnamon and orange zest further lift up the flavor with bright, warm notes. The crunchy contrast to smoothie bowls, porridge, yogurt, and fruit is fabulous. If your sweet tooth craves a little more, though, add some smooth date caramel or paste (you’ll have leftovers from making a batch of granola) for a true, wholesome dessert.
No need to face plant yourself into braces in order to take joy out of this healthier granola topping. I sincerely hope that’s not anyone else’s experience. Do have fun getting playful with mix-and-match flavor combinations, however. Let me know your favorite addends, and enjoy! xo
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Easy Oil-Free, Whole Food Sweetened Date and Tahini Granola
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 Cups oats
- ½ Cup uncooked quinoa or millet
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1/2 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ⅓ Cup chopped walnuts or raw nuts/seeds of choice
- 1/3 Cup runny tahini
- 1/3 Cup date paste or caramel (See note)
- 1/2 Teaspoon vnilla extract
- ½ Cup raisins and/or dried cranberries (I loveTrader Joe’s unsweetened cranberries)
- Any additional addends of choice (unsweetened coconut shreds or flakes, slived almonds)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mix the oats, quinoa or millet, orange zest, cinnamon, and nuts/seeds and stir to combine. Add the tahini, date paste/caramel, and vanilla and stir to evenly coat.
- Transfer the mixture onto the prepared baking tray and pree with a spatula or back of a spoon into a firm-ish single layer.
- Bake for 25 -30 minutes, turning the pan midway.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the granola to cool and harden before breaking up and adding in the dried fruit(s) and any other addends of choice. Enjoy!
Notes
To make a date paste, blend 1 Cup soaked, pitted Medjool dates with approximately
1 Cup water until smooth. For date caramel, use unsweetened vanilla almond milk instead of water.