nut-free, black sesame granola

- snacks, breakfast -

after making homemade sunflower seed flour for nut-free macarons, I was left with a lot of sunflower seed meal that i didn't want to go to waste. i decided i would make some granola. after having black sesame seed ice cream in NYC, i knew i wanted to play around with that because of how nutty its flavor can be. it is pretty hard to find a nut-free granola that isn't packed with sugar, so i decided that i wanted to use only honey. from there i just used what i could find in my pantry: oats and pepitas. if you don't have one of those, however, you could easily substitute it for some whole sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, or nuts if you aren't allergic. 
​

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of shelled, raw, unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup black sesame seeds
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup pepitas
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp dutch-process cocoa powder
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup local honey
1 tsp avocado oil
​

DIRECTIONS

1. pulse the sunflower seeds in a food processor until they form small pebbles. make sure to not over-process, or you will create sunflower seed butter!
2. place the sunflower seed bits on a small sheet tray and place in the oven. preheat the oven to 350 degrees. roast the seeds for 30 minutes, pulling them out every so often and tossing them in order to roast them evenly. 
3. once they are out of the oven, immediately toss them with the black sesame seeds, oats, and pepitas on the hot pan. allow them to cool on the pan.
4. throw the seed mixture in a bowl and toss it with the cinnamon, cocoa powder, ginger, and salt. once combined, stir in the honey.
5. pour the avocado oil onto the sheet tray you used to roast the sunflower seeds. using a paper towel or your fingers, spread it evenly across the bottom and the edges of the sheet tray. pour the seed mixture out onto the tray, spreading it into an even layer with a spatula or your fingers.
6. bake at 350 for 15-25 minutes, or until a deeper golden color. pull it from the oven and allow it to cool. 
7. once cool, dump it onto a cutting board or into a bowl and break it up with your hands into your desired size pieces.
8. serve on its own or with yogurt.