a very special breakfast

Granola, is the twenty first century champion of supermarket healthy eating campaigns and government initiatives. I just don't get it.

Making granola consists of smothering oats in golden syrup, maple syrup, and oil. Things that should really carry a health warning. Okay - oats and dried fruit are good for you, but so is the banana in banana fritters, or the chicken breast in a tub of KFC. Having come to this cereal based epiphany I decided to embrace granola's naughty side full on, throw hell to the wind and make an unnecessarily indulgent bowl of morning debauchery.

This is my very special breakfast, serve it before fry ups on birthdays to shorten life expectancy by several months per bowl!

Ingredients
Oats about a hundred grams
Oil two tablespoons of coconut or sunflower, this is what makes things crunchy
Golden Syrup dollop in about two tablespoons
Acacia Honey a tablespoon gives the granola floral notes
Maple Syrup you may as well glug a bit of this in, about a tablespoon?
Macadamia Nuts a handful chopped in half, only these smooth fatty nuts will do
Hemp Seeds let's keep things vaguely sophisticated with a few of these
Golden Raisins a handful for beautiful colour
Toss in some Sultanas
and a few chopped Dates
Maybe some dried blueberries
Could we get away with some milk chocolate chips?
And you'll need a big bar of your favourite dark chocolate to use instead of milk and some fresh blueberries.

It's really easy, like all indulgences should be.

Preheat the oven to about one hundred and eighty degrees. Combine all the ingredients except the dark chocolate and fresh blueberries in a large bowl and stir until thoroughly mixed together. Put the mixture in a fairly thin layer on a baking tray, and toast in the oven for about twenty five minutes, turning every five.

Remove from oven and leave to cool thoroughly. The granola will be soft when you first take it out, but will go crunchy as it cools.

Melt a decent amount of dark chocolate in a bowl, crumble a handful of granola over the top and toss in a few blueberries. Done!

Yes, I'm using melted chocolate as a substitute for milk. It's fine, it's dark chocolate...

Hamilton