Spent Grain Granola Hack - Using Our Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix!

Looking for fresh and exciting ways to repurpose ingredients is baked into the cake, so to speak, of our company ethos. That’s why we rescue spent grain from local Vancouver breweries and turn it into delicious, healthy, and eco-friendly baking mixes. And it’s why we love to get feedback from happy customers, letting us know how they’re using our mixes in new and exciting ways. 

Our new favourite healthy cookie hack is using our high fibre cookie mix to make granola. Yup, you heard right… one amazing customer shared this awesome tip. By swapping out just one ingredient, you can whip up tasty homemade granola from a mix in no time. How’s that for upcycled fun?

Homemade Granola From Our Very Own Cookie Mix

If you want crunchy, tasty granola that’s sweet, but not too sweet, then look no farther than our Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix. This mix has a 3:1 sugar to fibre ratio, balancing taste, health, and sustainability all in one little bag. The first ingredient had to be chocolate (dark chocolate, thank you very much!), and we use barley flour made from spent grain, as well as oats, for the base. 

You can use this mix to make chocolate chip cookies that are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside (ie.: just the way everyone likes their chocolate chip cookies!). For those who don’t have any nut allergies, and enjoy a little extra protein and healthy fats, you can 1-2 tbsp of almond butter while mixing together your cookies for a soft and nutty chocolate chip cookie too. There’s nothing like the smell of cookies baking, and mixes are a great way when you’re pressed on time—which is why  (it also cuts down on the clean up time). 

Our cookie mix calls for ½ cup of butter. But we’ve just learned a great hack from a customer—by using coconut oil instead of butter, you’ll get cookies that are much crispier. And if you break those crisps into crumbles, you’ve now got a homemade granola that’s oh so delicious!

Make sure to store your homemade granola in an airtight container, and you can use it on your yogurt in the morning. We tried this out ourselves combining Living Tree Foods Vanilla Yogurt (made from cashews), our granola and Chiwis Kiwi Chips. SO GOOD!! Or enjoy it however else you enjoy granola—you do you. 

Because barley flour is so healthy, this homemade granola will already have both soluble and insoluble fibre, as well as protein, and many critical nutrients like vitamin B6, folate, iron, zinc, and magnesium.

And you can bump up the health factor like you would any other homemade granola, by adding mix-ins like nuts, seeds, coconut, berries, or anything else you enjoy. Again, you do you!

Recipe: Homemade Granola from Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

Ingredients:

1 cup Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

1 egg

½ cup coconut oil, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, until a soft dough forms
3. Form cookie dough into balls 1 inch in diameter and place on a baking sheet
4. Bake for 15 minutes, or until edges begin to brown. It’s ok if the cookies start to bleed into each other.
5. Remove from the oven and let cool
6. Break cookies into smaller pieces and store in an airtight container. 

That’s it! Your go-to hack for simple and delicious homemade chocolate chip granola from a mix—we hope you try it! You’re going to love how your home smells while your granola is baking, and you’re going to love the way it sweetens up your mornings. 

Of course, if you’re an always-from-scratch kind of baker,  we’ve also got you covered with this basic cookie recipe that uses our upcycled barley flour.

As always, we hope you’ll let us know about any successful experiments with our mixes in your own kitchen. Happy (and healthy) baking!