Dark Chocolate, Pistachio, and Cherry Granola (+ a giveaway!)

Let's talk about Izy. 

If you're not familiar with Top With Cinnamon, I'm feeling terribly sorry for you right about now. Izy's blog is preeeeettty badass. (Okay, much more than just pretty badass, it's totally, absolutely, one hundred percent badder than all of the asses ever. Including Kim and Nicki and Iggy and J.Lo's.) Izy's also British.... and I have this fantasy that if/when I ever meet her IRL, I'll instantly objectify her accent (out of pure love) and probably hound her about whether or not she knows a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend who knows a One Direction boy. 
Best of all, Izy's freaking EIGHTEEN and just released the most equally as badass cookbook!!! File under: life goals slash productive-things-I-could-have-been-doing-at-18-but-I-was-too-busy-doing-this. 

I bought Izy's book, Top With Cinnamon, on my trip to New York and spent the whole three hour flight home reading and rereading each and every recipe until I forced myself to call for more blue chips out of pure hangry rage. (Thanks jetBlue, you are bae.) Seriously y'all, this cookbook is LEGIT. The pictures. The words. The food. THE EVERYTHING. I keep it out in my kitchen to flip through it whenever I need some inspiration or try to figure out what an 'aubergine' is. Spoiler alert: it's an eggplant. 

I love Izy's book so so so much, that I'm giving away a copy today! You can enter through the widget below and by commenting on this post telling about one of your personal favorite cookbooks. I want to hear all about the ones that you swear by, because that's exactly how I feel about Top With Cinnamon. (This is in no way sponsored, I'm just a really excited fangirl.) 

The cookbook is full of so many amazing recipes. Luckily for me, it's pretty sweet heavy, but there's a good chunk of savory in there too — I like to call this real food, pre-dessert. No but really, I would do naughty things to this halloumi, quinoa and pomegranate salad, y'all.

I'm not the biggest breakfast person, but Izy's granola recipe got me hooked on having a supercute yogurt parfait almost every morning before school because it's that damn good. Screw all of the oven madness, her granola is made by toasting oats and almonds on your stovetop for a hot minute, mixing in some coconut oil and a natural sweetener like agave or honey, et voila! Granola in ten minutes flat. After making her original mixture, I used that same process and made my own wintery mix, complete with pistachios, dried cherries, and chopped dark chocolate because chocolate for breakfast is the ultimate morning win. Cop the recipe below and I'm sure you'll be joining me in my usual granola happy dance I do every morning. 

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Dark Chocolate, Pistachio, and Cherry Granola 

(adapted from Top With Cinnamon) 

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup roasted salted pistachios, coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• 3 tablespoons agave nectar or honey 
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional, but #health) 
• 1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped
• half a bar (1.75 oz or 50g) quality dark chocolate, chopped

Directions

Place the oats and chopped pistachios into a pan. Toast over high heat for for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Make a well in the center of the pan and add in the coconut oil and agave. Stir until the whole mixture is evenly coated. 

Remove the pan from heat and let the granola cool for 5-10 minutes. Once slightly cool, add the chia seeds, dried cherries, and dark chocolate. Stir the mixture quickly to combine. (The chocolate will begin to melt, but this coats the granola with extra chocolatey flavor.) Once thoroughly mixed, serve the granola or transfer to a tightly-sealed container to store. 

Balsamic Roasted Cherry Brownies

I have a really guilty conscience.

Since high school, I've routinely found myself feeling guilty over silly things, important things, pretty much all of the things. When I was younger, I used to feel an excessive amount of guilt about anything and everything that didn't go 100% the way I would want it to. Everything was my fault. Unsurprisingly, this was also the period in my life when I personally diagnosed myself with OCD. During my sophomore year of high school, I was so wrapped up in my obsessive-complusiveness that my days were made so unnecessarily more difficult by the random routines I would force myself to complete. Every morning, after brushing my teeth, I would brush my tongue a minimum of 300 times. Whenever I would wash my hands, I would mentally sing happy birthday to whichever Facebook friends were having a birthday, in alphabetical order. Fun times! 

As time passed, my OCD gradually disappeared. But still, the feeling of guilt was a constant. It wasn't until last year that I made an effort to rid myself of all negative forces and energies holding me back from happiness and serenity. I know I sound like one of those crazy spiritual hippie types right now. (Maybe I am one?) I discovered chakra meditation and even though everybody makes fun of me when I tell them that I'm "breathing in green to open my heart chakra," I like it and it makes me feel better. That's all that matters, right? Since starting meditation, I've found myself much more in tune with myself, my actions, and those of the people surrounding me. And luckily, the guilt is gone. 

Well, most of it. 

Sometimes, I still feel a little guilty about stupid things, like seasonal produce. I had all of these plans to go blueberry picking, fig picking, strawberry picking over the summer, but they never really materialized. So here I am, rushing to post summer fruit recipes. I'm making it my personal mission to not repeat my stupidity this fall. Instead, my blog is going to be nothing but sweet potatoes and pumpkins. (What if!)

In the meantime, these roasted cherry brownies are my last hurrah to summertime. And no lie, they're one of my favorite things I've ever baked. This brownie recipe comes from Alice Medrich and is one of the best and easiest – there's no actual chocolate, just cocoa powder. But don't worry, the chocolate flavor is still insanely rich and deep. The balsamic roasted cherries (and a dash of cherry liquor) add the most complimentary of flavors and provide extra moistness to the crumb. I'm not feeling guilty anymore. 

Balsamic Roasted Cherry Brownies

• 1 cup cherries, pitted and halved
• 1-1/2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 450 F. On a parchment-lined baking tray, place pitted cherries and sprinkle with sugar and balsamic vinegar. Roast until the cherries start releasing their juice, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and refrigerate while making the brownie batter. 

• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar 
• 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 F and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment. 

Add the butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt to a medium sized bowl. Microwave on high power for 45 seconds. Stir. Continue with 10 second bursts until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. Add the vanilla and eggs and stir, stir, stir. Stir until the batter becomes thick and shiny. Mix in the flour until just combined. Fold in cherries. 

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake until set, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in pan. Dust with icing sugar before serving.