I have been reading up on great ways of sweetening treats without having to resort to using agave or honey, depending on what you are making and the end result you would like to achieve.

Food should be enjoyed and not seen as the enemy. This has always been my mantra, well usually… if all is going well and everything turns out perfect! Anyway, the latest thing I’ve been really enjoying is rosewater, with its intoxicating aroma that leads you to think of distant lands and romance. That is all well and good if you get the measurements right. This being said I took inspiration from Heidi Swanson’s Rhubarb and Rosewater Syrup and turned it into something I can happily graze on all day.

 

You probably think I have such a sweet tooth, right? Well, nope! I was brought up believing it was a good day, when mama brought home fizzy drinks ( soda, to our American cousins). Yes, sad times my friends, or so I thought. So one day, I thought, to hell with this, I was going to be all rebellious incarnate and use my tuck money to buy myself a coke. Yes, I was living on the edge in those days. Downed the damn thing like it looked at me funny and…my heart wanted to jump out of my chest, I was jittery and giggly at the same time. I kid you not. Well, needless to say my dance with danger was short-lived and every time I was told to drink water instead of juice, I thanked God that my mother was a miser

 

Now, the joys of making sweet delectables using natural sweeteners blow me away every time.

The Rose & Strawberry Granola, is sweet, crispy, slightly chewy with a caress of rose and the best bit is the sweet gooey tang of the raspberries and the little tickles of strawberries ( Note to self, ‘don’t watch Nigella before entering the Kitchen’ ). Really quite pleasurable, bringing forth a slight hip sashay. This means, it is good.

 

Rose water is basically a by-product of rose oil through distillation of pure fresh rose petals. Amazingly rosewater can be used for any skin type in your beauty regime without causing much skin irritation. One of the benefits of rose water is it can be used to make very nutritious drinks rich in flavonoids, anti-oxidants, tannins and essential vitamins like A, C, D, E and B3. Lovely with nut milk when you need a hug in a glass.

 

 

Now to the juicy part, the eating.

Rose & Strawberry Granola

4 Cups raw oats

½ Cup desiccated coconut

½ Cup date paste

1/4 Cup maple syrup

Juice of ½ a lemon

1 Tsp vanilla extract

2 Tsp Rosewater

Pinch Sea Salt

 

• Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl by hand or spatula until oats start to clump together.
• Place in the dehydrator and dehydrate 6 hours to overnight, till crispy and raspberries have started getting gooey and sticky. You could mix them in maple syrup before hand and dehydrate for an 1-2 to get them even more gooey and sticky.
• Enjoy with nut milk or sprinkled over a chia Pudding

 

Date Paste

1 Cup pitted dates

½ cup water

• Blend until smooth, should make a cup

 

Strawberry crisps

1 Punnet of strawberries, chopped

• Dehydrate over night or until desired crispiness.

 

Snack-a-licious tip

Why not turn this into breakfast squares?

• Double the recipe
• Half of the recipe press into a brownie pan top with some more date paste and crumble the rest of the granola on top. Dehydrate 1-3 hours and enjoy. ( or you can put it in the fridge to ‘set’ for a more moist bar. Bonanza!