This recipe for Maui Island Granola with Macadamia Milk was given to me years ago by a friend who brought it back from Maui. It was served every morning with breakfast at the tiny inn on the east coast of the island where she spent her honeymoon. I don’t know how she pried it out of the mistress of the house, but I’m so glad she did, it’s been enchanting us for years.
It seems simple enough, but there’s something about the combination that wows me. It’s made with rolled oats, flaked coconut, dried tropical fruit like papaya, mango, and pineapple, and lots of macadamia nuts for crunch. The only flavoring it needs is lots of pure vanilla…both the extract and the seeds. I swear it’s the most luxurious granola I’ve ever eaten. The inn served it with thick coconut milk, but I like it with my own raw macadamia milk. Keep on reading, you’ll swear you’ve died and gone to Maui.
Ever since I made my own ALMOND MILK I’ve been itching to try other varieties. Macadamias are so rich and creamy to begin with, I knew they would make an incredible milk, and I was right. You only need one cup of nuts to make a quart of the stuff. It’s the exact same process as with the almond milk — grind up a cup of nuts in the blender, add a quart of water, and process for a minute to get it all blended. Then strain it through a muslin bag or several layers of cheesecloth and you’ve got yourself delicious macadamia milk. If you like the idea of making nut milks, do yourself a favor and buy an inexpensive, reusable nut milk bag, you can find them on AMAZON. They are basically little fabric drawstring bags that are the perfect texture for straining the milk; the milk flows through and the nut solids remain behind. You just squeeze with your hands to get every last bit out. It’s fun, trust me!
Making nut milks has been one of the most exciting kitchen experiences I’ve had this year. Each one has been better than the last, with the clear but subtle flavor of the nut itself coming through. I find them so much more appealing and cleaner tasting than cows milk. What makes them such a successful project is that they are relatively cheap to make, completely quick and easy, and the result is delicious. I can’t think of a better pairing for this granola, either.
It’s crazy, isn’t it, how much it looks like dairy milk? But this has the fresh clean taste of macadamia with a hint of coconut.
For the granola, most stores carry dried tropical fruit now, either in the dried fruit section, or sometimes in bulk bins. I used coconut flakes that had already been toasted, but if you use un-toasted coconut you can toast it along with the oats.
Maui Island Granola with Macadamia Milk
Ingredients
granola
- 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1/4 cup oil, use your favorite vegetable, coconut, or nut oil, I like canola or safflower
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- seeds from 1 vanilla bean
- 1/4 cup dried pineapple
- 1/4 cup dried mango
- 1/4 cup papaya
- 1/4 cup banana chips
- 1/4 cup golden raisins
- 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, raw or roasted and salted
- 1/3 cup toasted flaked coconut
macadamia milk
- 1 heaping cup of raw macadamias, use only raw nuts
- 4 cups water
Instructions
- Set oven to 350F
- Chop the dried fruit into small, uniform chunks
- Give the macadamia nuts a rough chop if they are whole.
- Put the oats in a mixing bowl. Stir together the oil, honey, and vanilla extract and seeds. Drizzle over the oats and toss really well to coat all the surfaces of the oats.
- Spread the oats out on a baking sheet and bake for about 15-20 minutes, until the oats are golden. Stir the oats several times during the baking.
- Let the oats cool on the pan.
- Stir the fruits and nuts into the oats and package in an airtight container when completely cooled. I like to store my granola in the fridge if I'm not going to eat it all within a couple of days.
- To make the macadamia milk, put the raw nuts in a blender and blend until they are finely crushed. This will just take a few seconds, don't blend so long that it becomes nut butter.
- Add 4 cups of water to the blender and blend for about 30 seconds to a minute until everything is well blended and milky white.
- Pour the mixture into a muslin nut milk bag, or, if you don't have one, use several layers of cheesecloth lining a mesh strainer. Push or squeeze as much of the milk through as possible, leaving the nut solids behind.
- Keep the milk refrigerated and be sure to give it a good stir or shake before using because it will separate upon standing.
Notes
This would be a nice breakfast to keep around for visiting family and guests during the holidays.
Hi Sue, I found your blog recently I’m loving it! I’ve already made at least half a dozen of your recipes, but I have a question about this one: Have you ever tried making granola with steel cut oats instead of rolled oats? I know the texture/consistency would be different, but do you have any reason to think it wouldn’t also work?
Thanks and keep up with great work!
Ketti
Thanks Ketti, I’m so glad to have you join us 🙂 You actually can make granola with steel cut oats, and your question has got me thinking that I should do that for the blog. Personally I don’t like the texture as much, but that’s a matter of taste.
These tropical flavors make me want to hop on a plane to Hawaii – love!
Delicious and healthy! A great breakfast dish.
Cheers,
Rosa
Thanks Rosa!
Now this is the way to add some tropical flavor into my wintry mornings!
Wow! I can just imagine how delicious this tastes. I gave up drinking dairy milk several years ago and have been exclusively using almond milk for my smoothies, oatmeal, etc. I’ve never tried making the nut milk, but you’ve definitely inspired me. Pinning for later.
I’m so glad I inspired you Andrea — the first time I tried almond milk I loved it, but when I actually made it myself, it was even better —- check out my almond milk post, I do a taste test of all the brands, too. You will love making your own, I promise!