One of my many annoying food issues as a child was that I hated cereal. I simply would not eat it, and no one could make me, no matter how sugar-filled or colorful it happened to be. But sometime around college, I discovered that I loved granola.

I still didn’t eat it with milk, like a normal person, and I never became a cereal lover of Seinfeld proportions. But I do enjoy granola, and I particularly like how easy it is to make. Did you know that all you have to do is stir together some ingredients, dump the whole mixture on a baking sheet, and bake it? You do need to stir it every 15 minutes or so, so it doesn’t burn, but seriously: that’s it. You don’t even need to be wearing Birkenstocks, if you don’t want to.

This version is special because it’s chocolatey and full of coconut and macademia nuts, so it’s crunchy, simple and not too sweet. Try it with strawberries, bananas, peanut butter, yogurt… or even ice cream, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Chocolate-coconut granola (Adapted from The Vintage Tea Party book)
2 1/4 cup steel-cut oats
1 cup roughly chopped macademia nuts (or slivered almonds)
1/2 cup unsweetened flake coconut
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
6 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 250F. Stir the oats, nuts, coconut and brown sugar together in a large bowl. Stir the cocoa powder, honey, coconut oil, cinnamon and salt together in a small bowl. Add the cocoa powder mixture to the oat mixture and stir well (untill all the oats are coated in the cocoa mixture). Pour the mixture out onto a rimmed baking sheet (or two) and bake for an hour and 15 minutes, taking the pan out of the oven every 15 minutes to stir. Don’t let the granola burn!

Allow to cool, then store in an airtight container.