Honey & Cinnamon Granola

Goodbye store-bought granola – hello homemade.

You'll never want to go back to store-bought granola after making this fool-proof, super easy and super quick granola, trust me!

The best thing about it, is you can add whatever you like to make it your own!

Treat this recipe as a base for your very own granola.

---

INGREDIENTS

2.5 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

2 tbsp runny honey

Cinnamon

A pinch of salt

OPTIONAL ADDITIONS

Chopped almonds (or any other chopped nut)

Coconut flakes/Desiccated coconut

Dark chocolate bits (add these once the granola has completely cooled)

Sunflower seeds

Flax seeds

Raisins/goji berries/dried fruit (add these once the granola has completely cooled)

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 145ºC fan and prep a baking tray with a sheet of greaseproof paper.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, cinnamon and salt. TIP: You can add as much cinnamon as you like – I like it quite cinnamon-y so I add about 1-2 tbsp.

3. Add in the coconut oil and mix until well combined. Then add in the honey and mix again, making sure there aren't any lumps of oats and honey stuck together.

4. Once everything is mixed, pour the oats onto the baking tray and spread it out evenly.

5. Bake for 13-14 minutes (no longer than this or you'll burn the granola!), then allow the granola to cool completely before transferring to a sealed jar or container. The granola should keep for about 2 weeks at room temperature.

Garlic Baguette

Guaranteed to give you garlic breath.

I have only met a handful of people who have rated garlic bread as 'okay' or 'not that great'. I just don't understand. How can you not love garlic bread?!?

It's the perfect starter, side dish, snack, breakfast, lunch... Garlic bread can be anything you want it to be.

I hadn't made garlic bread before this. However seemed pretty straight forward to me – bread, butter, garlic, and parsley. How hard could it be?!

It's not. It's dead-easy and you'll want to eat the entire loaf.

---

INGREDIENTS

5 tbsp lightly salted butter (I use Lurpak)

2 tbsp parsley, chopped

6-7 garlic cloves, chopped finely

2/3 of a baguette

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt

METHOD

1. Leave the butter at room temperature for about an hour before you start making your garlic bread.

2. Preheat the oven to 200ºC fan, and prep the baguette by cutting it through the middle lengthways. You should have two halves of a baguette. Places these baguettes onto a baking tray with greaseproof paper – put aside.

3. Chop up the garlic and parsley into small and fine pieces.

4. In a large bowl, mix butter, olive oil, salt, garlic, and parsley. When well combined, put into the microwave for a maximum of 10 seconds on medium power (not on high!). You don't want to leave it any longer than that as the butter will start to melt and be too liquid-y to put onto the baguette.

5. Using a brush or spoon, spread the garlic butter onto the baguettes evenly. Bake for 12 minutes.

6. Once the garlic baguette is out of the oven, sprinkle a little more salt over them whilst they're still piping hot.

7. Chop into your desired slice sizes and enjoy!

Chewy Chai Spiced Cookies

A.k.a Christmas in a cookie.

Sugar, spice and everything nice!!!

If you know me, you'll know I love chai. Anything chai flavoured will go down a treat with me.

These chai spiced cookies were so yummy and I was genuinely quite surprised at how perfect they turned out!! I didn't expect them to be so soft and chewy.

These babies make the perfect addition to an evening cuppa or even a little snack in the afternoon. But just a heads up – once you start, you can't stop at just one. They're extremely moreish.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

---

INGREDIENTS

2 cups (250g) plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cornflour

1/2 cup (115g) lightly salted butter, softened or melted

3/4 cup (150g) light brown sugar

1/4 cup (50g) white caster sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cardamom (or you can extract the black seeds from cardamom pods and use a pestle and mortar to crush the black seeds into fine grains – see step 2)

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/4 ground black pepper

FOR ROLLING COOKIE BALLS IN BEFORE BAKING

2 tbsp light brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC fan and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

2. This step is dependent on whether you are grinding your own cardamom seeds. If you're doing this, extract the black seeds from about 15 cardamom pods and crush them in a pestle and mortar until they're fine grains. Once you've crushed them as much as you can, sieve them to get rid of all the larger bits. Discard the bits that are left in the sieve and make sure you have 1 tsp of the ground cardamom seeds.

3. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cornflour. Put aside.

4. In another bowl, mix together the light brown sugar and caster sugar. Then add in the melted/softened butter and whisk thoroughly. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix through once again until well combined.

5. Add the cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice, and black pepper to the sugar mixture. Mix well.

6. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and combine with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Mix until it forms a dough.

7. In a small dish, mix together the ingredients to roll your cookie balls into.

8. Roll the dough into small to medium-sized balls and dip into the sugar and spice mixture. Place onto the baking tray and repeat with the entire batter.

9. Bake for 10-11 minutes and allow the cookies to cool completely before devouring.