This is the granola I made especially for my postnatal pal. I figured it had oats in which are good for milk supply, and dark chocolate, which not only tastes like a treat but is full of iron (to help with energy levels what with all those sleepless nights). Add the calories from the honey and some dried fruit to help with, ahem, the inevitable constipation a lot of women suffer with after birth and really, this is a winner of a gift.
In fact, I reckon even non-postnatal pals would like a jar of this for Christmas. Go on, you know what you need to do…
More recipes like this in my book, Recipes from a Normal Mum, out now… on Amazon, at Waterstones, WHSmith, The Book Depository and many smaller outlets.
Last December: My slow cooker beef bourguignon pie and Crumble topped mince pies and a very ugly but delicious cranberry & raspberry traybake
Two years ago: Mini Yorkshire pudding canapes and Christmas pudding fizz and Brandy butter icing and Rudolf morsels
Three years ago: Lime meringue pie with chocolate pastry and Christmas scones and Ginger cake with Christmas cottage and Hot chocolate on a stick
Four years ago: Moonuts and Cheese biscuits and Parsnip soup and Inauthentic chicken tagine
Chocolate hazelnut granola
Makes a large kilner jar that holds 3 litres of liquid
Ingredients:
- 80g brown sugar
- 100g honey
- 15g cocoa
- 65g butter
- 200g porridge oats
- 30g sesame seeds
- 40g linseed
- 100g hazelnuts
- 200g dark chocolate
- 120g raisins
Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3 and spread 2 baking sheets with non stick baking paper. Melt the brown sugar, honey, cocoa and butter in a large saucepan until just molten. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the oats, seeds and nuts, then spread carefully over the baking sheets in one thin layer.
Bake for 15 minutes then turn the granola mixture over using a slice/spoon and bake again for another 20 minutes, checking for any burning periodically. You are looking for a golden brown colour to develop. Take the trays from the oven and press the granola down with a potato masher then return to the oven for 5 – 10 minutes until a lovely brown slab of granola has developed.
Remove and leave to cool for 5 minutes. In the meantime chop the chocolate into chunks about 1/2 cm big, then sprinkle evenly over the cooling granola. Don’t start mixing it up – just leave it to melt over the oaty mixture. It takes ages to completely cool and set, be warned – about 3 hours all in. When cold break the granola up into bite size pieces and mix with the raisins. Pour into jars and enjoy with yoghurt/milk/fresh fruit or whatever you fancy.
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Holly Bell 
Just made this. OMGoodness delicious. I’m on chemo, and need more fibre, more iron, more magnesium, more protein and just something decent for breakfast. I couldn’t find the hazelnuts I bought the other day especially for this, so subbed some pecans, and I added some pumpkin seeds (and didn’t have linseed). Anyway, delicious!! Only slight query was that 200g oats doesn’t seem anywhere near enough. I used rolled oats and 500g of them. Means I get more! Oh, I also used panela instead of brown sugar. So I changed it all a fair bit in the end, but was totally inspired by this and thank you for posting it.
Hi Esther, you can defo add more oats! I think I kept it quite lot initially as it was a real treat for my pal – so I wanted lots of choc and nuts and less oats. But it’s a very flexible recipe as you have found out. I hope you are feeling okay and are on the road to recovery. xx