The combination of kale, oats, and nuts is crunchy and satisfying. Everyone likes to munch on this as a snack—it doesn’t even seem to last until breakfast to top yogurt, mix with fruit, or serve with milk. It’s easy to vary the nuts and the dried fruit with your favorites.
Ingredients
- 5 cups curly kale (stripped from stalk, chopped or torn into large bite-size pieces, rinsed, and dried well)
- 6 tablespoons virgin coconut oil, divided
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup broken pecans, broken walnuts, or sliced almonds
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup sesame seeds
- 1 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup dried apricots, chopped into ¼-inch pieces
- ¼ cup raisins, roughly chopped
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 300°F.
- Make sure the kale is well dried. Place the kale in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of the coconut oil and ¼ teaspoon of the salt. Knead or massage with your hands until the coconut oil is rubbed on all the leaves. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 5 tablespoons of coconut oil, brown sugar, maple syrup, and remaining ½ teaspoon of salt. In another, larger bowl, combine the oats, nuts, and seeds.
- Take 2 tablespoons of the wet ingredients and combine with the kale. Rub it over the leaves. Pour the rest over the oat mixture and mix very well until incorporated and the oats are completely covered.
- Line two 12 × 17-inch baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Place the oats on one sheet, spreading them out evenly, and the kale on the other sheet. (The kale seems to crisp up better separately, but you can mix the kale and oats together and it will work.) Bake all for 25 to 30 minutes, mixing two or three times to prevent the outer edges from burning, and also rotating the pans. I sometimes switch the oven setting to CONVECTION BAKE if the mixture doesn’t seem to be crisping up. Remove the kale when it is crispy, but not browned. Remove the oats when they are crispy, or nearly crispy, and before the nuts are burned. Both will get crispier once they sit on the counter to cool.
- When cooled, combine the kale with the oats. Add the dried fruit. Pack into mason jars for storage.
