This Chunky Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Granola uses a secret ingredient to keep it chunky, and is the perfect guilt-free DIY holiday gift! This granola is gluten-free, delicious, and perfect over yogurt in the morning.

This Chunky Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Granola uses a secret ingredient to keep in chunky, and is the perfect guilt-free DIY holiday gift!

We’re taking a quick break from holiday cookies for a healthier, yet still totally giftable treat: chunky chocolate cranberry pecan granola! Phew, long title, but it still doesn’t describe everything I want you to know about this granola. We’ll get into that.

For a long time, variations on this coconut macadamia nut granola and this coconut pecan granola were my go-to granola recipes. But, then I fell in love with dried cranberries and started wanting to cover everything in chocolate, so I tweaked things to create this new favorite, and discovered a new fun trick for making granola extra crunchy and clustery: egg whites.

This Chunky Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Granola uses a secret ingredient to keep in chunky, and is the perfect guilt-free DIY holiday gift!

I don’t know about you guys, but I love when I get chunks of oats and nuts and coconut all stuck together…and while I definitely favor homemade granola, I find it’s a bit harder to create these clusters when you’re cutting out refined sugars (the caramelizing sugars in white and brown sugar help make them cluster!). Egg whites, though, when whipped until foamy and then folded into your granola as the last step, help glue your oats together and give you those big crunchy clusters! Now, I confess, my granola doesn’t look very clustery, but I promise most of it was – those parts were in the jar, and the scraps were what I garnished with. Oops. :/

The chocolate chips are added at the end, left to sit until melty, and then folded into the granola, also helping things get even more clustery. This granola has been a definite favorite this fall and winter, and I’m currently on my third batch of the stuff. I love it stirred into yogurt with fresh berries (uhh…it’s my breakfast every. single. morning.). I thought it was finally time to photograph and share!

This Chunky Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Granola uses a secret ingredient to keep in chunky, and is the perfect guilt-free DIY holiday gift!

In addition to the egg whites, and chocolate, this granola uses pecans (my favorite nut, use whatever yours is!), dried cranberries, oats, coconut flakes (I love these), with maple syrup to sweeten and cocoa powder to add a little bit more cocoa to the mix.

There will definitely be a fourth batch being made just for me, and some more batches to be made and gifted in cute mason jars gussied up with ribbon and tags. It’s the perfect guilt-free gift for people to enjoy post holiday cookie binge eating!

This Chunky Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Granola uses a secret ingredient to keep in chunky, and is the perfect guilt-free DIY holiday gift!

Also, in prep for the holidays, I’ve partnered up with some of my favorite food blogging friends (linked up below the widget!) to give one of you a $300 Amazon gift card! Use it for gifts, use it for yourself, use it for whatever makes you happy! Enter using the widget below for your chance to win, and then enjoy some granola! Happy holidays! xxx

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Chunky Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Granola (GF)

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Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 cups 160 grams old-fashioned rolled oats (GF if necessary)
  • 2 cups 120 grams unsweetened shredded or flaked coconut
  • 1 cup 100 grams pecans, coarsely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons 28 grams coconut oil
  • 2 tablespoons 10 grams cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg white
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 300ºF. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except for the egg white, chocolate chips, and dried cranberries. Stir to combine evenly. Whisk the egg white in a small bowl until it is frothy and bubbly. Fold into the granola mixture. Spread the granola in an even layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
  2. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes. About halfway through the baking time, use a large spatula to turn over the granola, breaking the pieces up as little as possible. Rotate the pan to ensure the granola bakes evenly. When it is browned and feels dry to the touch, remove from the oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Let sit for about 2 minutes until chocolate chips have melted, and gently fold in the chocolate chips and cranberries. Let the granola cool completely.
  3. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

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