Chocolate Hazelnut Granola
“Best ever! Love the rich chocolate flavour without lumps of chocolate. Lots of nuts too!”
Review by Elyse L.
This customer summed up what I wanted to achieve with my Chocolate Hazelnut Granola: a rich, chocolatey flavour (without adding chunks of chocolate) and a generous quantity of hazelnuts.
As with most of the other flavours on the granola menu, this one also took time to develop. In fact, it started out as a Chocolate Brazil Nut Granola, which some of you may remember? Customer feedback for this combination was fairly lukewarm, though: Brazil nuts, it seems, are not everyone’s favourite nut!
It was also simply a Chocolate Granola at one point, but this seemed too plain for most people. It should have been obvious to me from the start that hazelnuts would be the best nuts to use in this granola, given the sheer quantity of other chocolate hazelnut goodies on the market. And so it became Chocolate Hazelnut Granola.
To make this granola, I use Scottish wholegrain jumbo oats from Aberdeenshire. These lovely, big oatflakes hold their shape throughout the mixing and baking processes and provide a creamy texture in the finished product.
I add desiccated coconut, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds to the jumbo oats. Over this oaty, coconutty base, I drizzle a blend of warm honey, organic cocoa powder, coconut oil and a little rapeseed oil. This produces a lovely, chocolatey base and means I don’t need to add chunks of chocolate to the finished granola. I then slowly toast it all to a nice, chocolatey crunch.
The reason I use a combination of oils is because coconut oil on its own can taste and smell a little cloying, in my opinion. I think I have got the balance right here, as the granola definitely tastes chocolatey and a little coconutty, but not excessively so.
I buy raw hazelnuts and gently hand toast them to a nice crunch. When the hazelnuts are cool, I hand chop them and mix them into the chocolatey granola. And then it’s ready to pack.
In 2023, I won a Great Taste 1-Star award for my Chocolate Hazelnut Granola. The judges gave this feedback: “This granola is superb! A delightfully chocolate filled aroma entices you immediately. The crunch is fabulous, the creamy feel from both the oats and coconut rolls around your mouth and creates a great feeling of satisfaction. We enjoyed the honey which hummed along in the background and was well judged - the sweetness is spot on. Special mention for the nuts - crunchy, fresh and full of nutty toastiness.”
If you try this granola, I hope you agree with the Great Taste judges! You can find it in my online shop in two sizes, a 150g bag (ideal for munching at work) and a 400g bag, which contains ten servings.
Chocolate Hazelnut Granola goes well with a variety of fruits, such as fresh berries, bananas, oranges, stewed apple or stewed rhubarb, and a nice, thick, tart natural yoghurt.
