Spice Up Your Breakfast With This Nutrient-Dense Apple Pie Granola

Granola can be a great addition to many of our favorite breakfast options: sprinkled on top of some yogurt or a bowl of oatmeal, it's a perfect bit of texture to contrast a creamy base. And even though there's plenty of truly wonderful granola available on market shelves, making your own means using all those nutrient-packed favorites.

This particular recipe, from the new cookbook Tasty Adulting, is the perfect one for fall because it draws on the flavors and spices of a classic apple pie—and what's more fall than that! Not only that, but it includes some super nutrient-dense nuts: cashews, which are a good source of magnesium and copper1, as well as pecans. "Pecans are chock-full of nutrients—containing about 19 different vitamins and minerals as well as antioxidants," Britni Thomas, R.D., told mindbodygreen.

This mix also relies on healthy ingredients for binding the mix together: a blend of dates for sweetness with tahini and spices gives a super-flavorful final product. You may know tahini as one of the base ingredients in hummus, but it's also a great ingredient to include in baked goods—it enhances the nutty flavor and contributes good fats2 to the dish.

That apple pie flavor is largely thanks to the inclusion of dried apples (which prevent the mix being too damp, as it would be with fresh ingredients) and the spice blend: cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Cinnamon also contributes to the healthiness of the dish: It's got inflammation-fighting compounds and has been linked to supporting the immune system, too.