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So here’s the thing. I love munching on granola. Peanut Butter Cup Granola, Nutella Granola, PB&J Granola, the list goes on. Anyhoo. What I love MOST about eating stuffing my face with the sweet, yet seemingly healthy oaty goodness are the huge CHUNKS. Those big crunchy clusters that take up an entire spoon? Ohhhhh yeah. They’re my fave!
When I’m having my usual bowl of granola, those big chunks are the first to go. The rest of the tiny granola crumbies just sink to the bottom of my bowl and then I whine…. and then I grab more clusters from the batch and throw them back on top. And then I’ve eaten all of the big chunks from my granola recipe. And then I have to make more. It’s a vicious cycle, I tell ya.
Soooooo in order to solve all of my granola woes, I decided to bake up a granola CLUSTER recipe chock full of my beloved big chunks. (that totally sounds just…wrong… but stay with me here.) By adding in some whole wheat flour + almond flour, I was able to bind the oats together more. I threw in some slivered almonds for texture and some sticky stuff: maple syrup, brown sugar, + vanilla extract. And bonus! They are completely vegan.
I baked the oat mixture as if they were regular granola bars – pressing down in a baking dish rather than spreading on a baking sheet – and broke the bars into clusters as they were finishing in the oven. 50 minutes later the clusters were crispy and made my kitchen smell like a bakery.
These clusters are AMAZING with some almond milk or regular milk. Or sprinkled on top of vanilla greek yogurt. Try them in a parfait with sliced strawberries and more slivered almonds. Or just pull a Sally and munch on them plain all day long. Either way, you will LOVE the big chunky clusters. The BEST part of granola. 
Maple Almond Granola Clusters (vegan)
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup almond flour (I made my own. See below recipe for easy instructions.)
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup slivered almonds
- 1/4 cup canola oil (or melted coconut oil)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (I used dark, but light brown sugar will work too)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 300F. Line 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
In large bowl, toss together oats, almond flour, whole wheat flour, slivered almonds and salt. Pour canola oil evenly over the mixture and stir. Set aside.
Combine maple syrup and dark brown sugar in a medium pot over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Pour sugar/maple mixture over oat mixture and stir until everything begins to come together. Break up any lumps and make sure the wet ingredients are evenly coating the dry. The granola will be VERY sticky.
Press into prepared baking pan, flattening the top so it is perfectly even. I used the bottom of a spatula (sprayed with nonstick spray) to flatten down the top.
Bake for 40 minutes, rotating the pan every 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for a couple minutes. Cut into squares and break up into smaller cluster pieces – the granola will be hot so be careful! Throw the clusters back into the baking pan and bake the clusters for 10 more minutes at 300F.
Remove from oven and let the clusters cool completely – make sure they are cooling uncovered because the air will help give them a nice crunch. Enjoy!
Homemade Almond Flour
- Pour 1/2 cup almonds into a food processor or blender. Pulse a few times until they are finely ground. Do not let it grind for too long or the nuts will release too much of their oils and get pasty (which is what you would want if you were making almond butter.)
- Once the nuts are ground, pass them through a sifter. Any larger pieces that didn’t make it through can be ground up again.
*1/2 cup of almonds = a little more than 1/2 cup almond flour. Any leftover flour can be eaten – I threw mine into a smoothie! 
RECIPE SOURCE: SALLYSBAKINGADDICTION.COM
© Sally’s Baking Addiction. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.
Related Recipes:
While my Peanut Butter & Jelly Granola doesn’t have just as many clusters, it is chock full of huge nuts, dried fruits, and a ton of peanut butter + jelly. This is by far, my FAVORITE homemade granola.
With its giant dried apple pieces, crunchy pecans and loads of cinnamon, my Apple Cinnamon Granola is an easy favorite of mine. I love cinnamon and apples together!
If you like the maple flavor of the clusters from today, you will FLIP for my Maple Pecan Pie Granola. Seriously…. tastes like pie… and is healthy…and vegan…and has a SUPER short ingredient list. Love that!
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{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
i love the clusters the best too! did you know trader joes makes a granola cereal “just the clusters”? it’s pretty good, but i’m pretty sure homemade is better!
Sarah K. @ The Pajama Chef recently posted..Sweet-Tart Quinoa Salad
Sarah, I didn’t know that! I will have to take a trip to TJs and find it!
LOVE granola. These look amazing. love the flavors you chose too!
I love big chunky hunks…I love it when it sticks together and you get those big pieces. This looks awesome!
Averie @ Averie Cooks recently posted..Thursday Things
So do I! the big chunks are my fav!
ahh, i totally know what you mean! i’m HUGE (haha no pun intended) with the large chunks. they go first and they’re always the ones i snatch up. the small ones just don’t do it for me…although, i love granola in any and everything, especially greek yogurt and atop some parfaits!! mmm this looks and sounds so good!
Julie @ Table for Two recently posted..PW Wednesday’s: White Chicken Enchiladas
the clusters are always the first to go when i’m eating granola too Julie! lol I always leave the crumby ones til the end.
Gotta make this for my other half,he loves granola! Looks pretty damn good too!
Shirley@bells-bakery recently posted..Raspberry Doughnut Muffins.
Thanks Shirley! My boyfriend loves the big clusters too, we loved this recipe!
So awesomely delicious!
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust recently posted..Chocolate Cake Ball Stuffed Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Okay, confession time: I have never made homemade granola because I’ve always been so stupidly intimidated by it. I don’t know why either! Just one of those scary things, like using the stair-master at the gym or swimsuit shopping. Gah! But this looks so EASY and I am SUCH a huge fan of the granola chunks and do the same top-off process, too, so this looks perfect for munching on anytime without the teeny little oats that straggle about in the bottom of the bag.
Hayley recently posted..Circus Animal Cookie Rice Krispy Treats
jump on the granola bandwagon Hayley! I am obsessed wiht homemade granola! It’s so easy.
I love the clusters the most too. I really need to try your method.
Barbara @ Barbara Bakes recently posted..Berry Parfaits
Oh my, look at those awesome chunks of granola! Mine always come out so crumby but these clusters are exactly what I need in my life!
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious recently posted..Bang Bang Shrimp
I love the big clusters! the chunks are just the best.
Hey is it possible to substitute the almond flour for other kinds of flour and maple syrup for honey?
I would substitute the 1/2 cup of almond flour for 1/4 cup whole wheat flour. You can always make your own almond flour, which I did. Just grind almonds up in a food processor until they become a loose flour – and then sift it through a sifter to get rid of the larger chunks. And I am sure honey would be a good sub for maple syrup. Hope they turn out well! Thanks Cher.
I love Granola – this looks delicious! Would love you to share this at Breakfast Ideas Monday – http://www.yummyinspirations.net/2012/06/rhubarb-french-toast-breakfast-ideas.html
Jolene @ Yummy Inspirations recently posted..Rhubarb French Toast & Breakfast Ideas Mondays #7
Jolene, Thanks for hosting! I just linked up.
Oh yes please!!! I LOVE those big clusters of granola and they’re obviously the first ones to go into my mouth! Do you think I can susbtitute flaxseed meal or ehole wheat flour for almond meal? And applesauce for Canola oil?
Catalina recently posted..Galletitas muy saludables
Hey Catalina! I love the big clusters as well! Yes, you may sub whole wheat flour for the almond meal and apple sauce for the canola oil.
I made them yesterday and turned out great!!!! Thank you!
LOVE it Catalina!! I <3 these granola bites.. I should make them again soon!
Catalina,
mmmmmmmmmmmmm-azing.
Sub: coconut butter (melted with everything else) for canola oil.
Sub: 1/4 apple butter for 1/4 brown sugar.
Tastes like a lovely fall day.
Thanks!
Love your suggestions! Thanks so much Theresa!!
I made this with 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour instead of almond flour, honey instead of maple syrup, and reduced the sugar and oil just a smidge. As I was stirring it, it looked dry rather than sticky so I decided just to make regular granola rather than try to make clusters. I just put it all in a sheet pan and stirred it around every 10 minutes for 45-50 min. It was delicious! But next time, I want to make this for real (with the almond flour and maple syrup) and have those deeelicious crunchy clusters!
well, that does sound like darn good granola! I’d love to make your version sometime. Let me know how the clusters go if you make them!
I loved this recipe and am sharing it with my readers on my Healthy Eats Friday post. I’ve referenced the link to your recipe and cited it as my inspiration. You have such a great set of recipes and I can’t wait to try them all.
Kimberly
Kimberly recently posted..Baked Cotton Balls
How perfect! I can’t wait to read about them. Thanks Kimberly!
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