“When You’re Grain Free and Feeling Like A Nut, But Can’t Eat Tree Nuts or Peanuts!” - this is the theme for the "Go Ahead Honey it's Gluten Free" event hosted by Shirley of GFE - Gluten Free Easily this month. I'm always ready for a challenge and this recipe came about by accident when some cookies I'd created failed! I adjusted the recipe and created a crunchy cereal or topping or snack which is rather addictive so be careful you don't eat too much!
This recipe is really quite simple and takes no time at all to mix together but if you like to soak and dehydrate your seeds you will need to prepare them the day before you make this.
If you are following the SCD, seeds are an advanced food so be careful! I made two batches of the recipe and the nuggets filled up the large 1.5 litre Kilner jar in the photos with some left over for munching!
Grain & Tree Nut Free Crunchy Cereal GF SCD
50g organic hulled sunflower seeds
50g organic hulled pumpkin seeds
50g organic unsweetened dessicated coconut
60ml honey (or other liquid sweetener for vegan diets - maple syrup would work well)
15ml extra virgin olive oil (1 tblsp)
1 tsp organic vanilla extract (no sugar added)
⅛ tsp bicarbonate of soda
⅛ tsp ground sea salt
* for a chocolate version add 50g plain chocolate chips (not SCD)
Set the oven to 140°C. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Measure out the dessicated coconut, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl then tip the pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds into a processor (I use a mini chopper).
Pulse for a few seconds until the seeds are roughly chopped.
Take out 2 tablespoons of seeds and tip into the bowl with the other dry ingredients. Continue to process the rest of the seeds until they are finely ground.
Tip the seed flour into the bowl. Mix all the dry ingredients well with a fork or spoon.
Measure the honey, vanilla extract and extra virgin olive oil into another bowl and mix well together.
Add the wet ingredients to the seed mix and stir until the mixture comes together, it may seem ever so slightly dry but don't worry about that.
It's green! I thought I'd end up with green cereal!
Tip out onto the baking tray. It drops out in bits just make sure there aren't too many very large or very small bits of mixture.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden, it does spread a bit! This batch took exactly 25 minutes in the fan (convection) oven. Leave to cool then break into pieces.
Store in an air tight jar.
There are so many ways you can eat these crispy, nutty nuggets. We like them straight out of the jar but you could break them into smaller chunks or grind into small crumbs. Here's a few ideas :
- as a breakfast cereal with milk or dairy free milk
- on top of fresh fruit
- on stewed fruit for an instant fruit crumble
- with dried fruit
- with chocolate chips
- as an ice cream topping
