no grain granola

My pregnant protein needs combined with my youngest daughter's recent gluten sensitivity diagnosis led me to creating this recipe tonight. It makes a nice alternative to puffed cereals and sugary granolas, which seem to be about the only things that consistently sound good all throughout every pregnancy. It has a very high protein content for a "cereal" and it's 100% gluten free.

Ingredients
1 lb. almonds
1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 Tbls. vanilla extract

Directions
Add everything to a large capacity food processor (we use and love this one).

Pulse several times until the nuts and seeds are minced into tiny pieces and the mixture starts to cling together. If it never clings together, add more maple syrup or honey until it becomes a little sticky. It should not cling together like a dough. You should be able to form a little test ball with your fingers and have it hold together.

Press the mixture into a 9" x 13" baking pan and bake for 2 hours at 225 degrees.

Gently break apart the mixture until it resembles granola and divide it equally onto two baking sheets. Bake another 1-2 hours at 225 degrees until it just starts to turn brown. Let sit uncovered for at least 6 hours. It will be soft when it first comes out of the oven, but will be crispy by the end of the 6 hours sitting time.

Add craisins, raisins, or any other favorite dried fruit to the mix.

We did not have any dried fruit to add tonight, but it was still good. Dried fruit would have made it excellent. It stayed crispy for over 10 minutes in a bowl of milk. I didn't test past that because I was hungry!