Granola Parfait with Manuka Honey

sheryl's kitchen

Welcome!

Paul and I started Steens Honey nearly 40 years ago, and we're still just as passionate about our bees as we always were. I love using our deliciously raw, grainy honey to create recipes with ingredients fresh from our garden in Papamoa Hills.  

Paul and I are such breakfast folks and we couldn’t imagine starting our day without a healthy, hearty one.  To be honest overnight soaked oats are our regular breakfast but there’s a jar of this delicious, homemade granola in the cupboard for the weekend and special days. I break it into quite big chunks and it makes for a healthy snack anytime of the day. It's great for kids in their school lunch box and the best thing about homemade is you know exactly what you’re eating and there is a wonderful satisfaction about making it yourself.  It makes a nice gift and I bag it up to give to friends for special occasions and those who might just need a bag of homemade goodness to brighten their day. 

Our plum trees went crazy last summer so there was plenty of fruit to bottle and always in honey.  It’s the very beginning of Spring here in New Zealand so there’s not much seasonal fruit available other than citrus and kiwifruit, so happy days to these bottled Black Doris, they worked out perfectly in the parfait.  Thankfully the plum trees are clothed in beautiful blossoms again and there are hundreds of industrious bees all over it, so fingers crossed for another bumper crop.

 

 

INGREDIENTS

4 cups of organic wholegrain oats, or use rolled oats – whatever you have in the pantry. If you’d like this to be a gluten free recipe, use gluten free ones. 

1 1/2 cup of nuts, I use organic activated almonds, brazil nuts and pecans but any will do. 

½ cup of activated buckwheat – this is actually gluten free despite the name! 

½ tsp sea salt 

1 tsp of ground cinnamon 

½ cup organic sunflower oil but any light tasting oil is fine 

3 hearty tbsp Manuka honey – the best for cooking is our MGO 85+ 

1 tsp pure vanilla  

1 cup dried fruit, organic cranberries in this one – again, whatever dried fruit you have in the cupboard will be great or omit them all together. 

Fruit of your choice...I had bottled plums on hand. 

N.B. This is a really versatile recipe and is easily changed up, so experiment away!  I also like to use pumpkin seeds when I can buy locally produced ones and coconut threads are great. 

1

You will get sticky hands here!  Add the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl, then add the wet ingredients. 

 

2

The best way to combine it all is to get in there with your hands and really work the mixture until it’s all combined. 

It shouldn’t be dry and crumbly so add more oil or honey if you prefer it sweeter.   

Line an oven tray with baking paper and spread the mixture out evenly and not too thick, press it firmly. 

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C /350 F for 20 or so minutes until it is lovely and golden. 

 

3

Leave to completely cool before you break it up into chunks. 
I do big chunks,  some smaller and then crumbly ones, it’s really tempting to do this while it’s still warm but if you can reserve the temptation to leave it alone it works best when cold. 

 

4

Now for the the fun part! Layering the parfait... 
I went with layers of granola and Greek yoghurt (try coconut yoghurt for a dairy free alternative) then added the fruit with a sprinkling of buckwheat, cacao nibs and chopped cashews to finish, with a little mint leaf and a drizzle of UMF24+ Manuka for an extra health boost.

 

5

This not only looks great and delicious it’s pretty darn good for you, the perfect breakfast treat!  Just to note I use organic everything where I can.