Big, crunchy chunks of granola! These Walnut Granola Clusters feature walnut halves coated in a granola crust for amazing crunchy large lumps of granola!
These massive granola clusters are simply walnut halves coated in a granola crust and baked in the oven.
A combination of oats, pumpkin seeds, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and flaked coconut is what creates the granola mixture.
The key to crispy, large clusters of granola is using an egg white coating. This mixture enables ingredients to stick together easily, leaving us with large lumps. Win!
Simply toss everything in a bowl, spread it on a baking sheet, and you’re looking at the most satisfying lumps of granola of your lifetime!
The Inspiration for This Recipe:
You’re looking at the mother of all clusters.
You have been there, you have experienced the frustration, you have admitted defeat. You have felt the disappointment of non-clustering granola.
While homemade granola is dandy with or without cluster, a granola that just doesn’t cluster is a real heart sinker. No matter how hard you stare at the bright side.
Well I’m done with all that. Deb Perelman’s recipe (from Smitten Kitchen) for Granola Crusted Nuts has given you, me, the world the gift of the largest clusters on the planet.
You can be certain of this because if my calculations are correct, any time you wrap an entire nut in granola, you’re bound to have clustering. Deb calls the recipe “Granola Crusted Nuts”…I call it granola. Because I ne’er will I make granola in any other way again, praise be.
I upped the ante on Deb’s recipe because I happen to have a superb bounty of walnuts. Plus I made the recipe naturally sweetened with coconut sugar.
How to Make Walnut Granola Clusters:
Here’s how it works. You take the ingredients (minus the nuts) you would normally use for granola and add them to a food processor.
Pulse the walnut granola ingredients in a food processor to give them a little chop.
Toss the whole walnuts (or pecans or nut of choice) in an egg white, water and some oil. This step is what generates the crispy texture!
Mix the walnuts in the granola mixture until they are well coated. This is the granola crust that encapsulates the walnuts to create clusters.
You bake. We cluster. You conquer.
And that’s it! The secret to large clumps of delicious walnut granola. If you love making homemade granola, also try my Paleo Granola recipe!
This formula will win you the gold at the World’s Largest Cluster Competition. And you’re in it to win. Now go. Go cluster like you ain’t never clustered!
Walnut Granola Clusters
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- 3 tablespoons pepitas pumpkin seeds
- ½ cup flaked coconut shredded works too
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar * or brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 egg white
- 1 teaspoon grapeseed oil
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 cups walnuts
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine the oats, pepitas, flaked coconut, coconut sugar, salt and cinnamon. Pulse until you have a rough chop but do not pulse until you get a flour.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg white until foamy (but not stiff). Add the water and oil and whisk to combine.
- Add the walnuts to the bowl of liquid and using your hands, make sure the walnuts are all completely drenched.
- Pour the oat/pepitas mixture into the bowl with the walnuts and use your hands again to coat the oats. The original recipe says not to mix too much or else the oat mixture will fall off of the walnuts, so I heeded this instruction.
- You will end up with more of the granola mixture than you need to coat the nuts. This is perfectly wonderful, because it adds little bits of heaven to the granola.
- Spread the coated walnuts out on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes, carefully stirring the granola half-way through.
Notes
Nutrition
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I have to share this story with you regarding this delicious recipe. I make a batch or three weekly so that my kids and their friends have something healthy to grab and snack on when they play at ours. Two days ago my neighbor comes over and asks me what I have been feeding her kids because her son keeps asking her for those nut crumbs! So from now on your recipe is going to be referred to as nut crumbs in our home. Also, just want to share that the first 100 times or so I battled with trying to make the ‘dough’ part stick to the nuts, now I just mix everything together, press it firmly down on the baking sheet and when it’s done, it breaks into perfect sized chunks when it’s lifted it off the baking sheet.
LOL, Madeleine, that is too precious!! I’m so happy you, your kids, and their friends have been enjoying the nut crumbs. They really are so addicting! In fact, I may just have to whip up another batch this weekend to share with friends. Thanks so much for sharing your story.
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Here is my web page gluten free udon noodle recipe (http://www.pinterest.com)
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I’ve adapted it slightly to make hazelnut clusters to top a homemade rhubarb ripple ice cream and oh my, it’s delicious!
Ooh, I love yummy clusters of granola. Totally the perfect snack food!