I don’t think I’ve shared on this blog how amazing Pierre Hermé is. He’s a French pâtissière whose macaron flavours will blow your mind. He has a shop in Covent Garden which is one of my ‘happy places’. Every month, he has a new macaron flavour, so there is always a reason to go there. One of his favours from his permanent collect is Ispahan. This is a combination of rose, raspberry and lychee.

The last time I was in his store I saw that he also did Ispahan jam and granola. Now, my mum loves granola and makes the most fantastic granola herself, so when she came to visit, I wanted her to have something special for breakfast. The recipe comes from Red Magazine (November, 2014) and is one that PH wrote exclusively for them.

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Ingredients

90g almonds

35g pistachios

40g pecans

100g honey

230g rolled oats

100g sunflower seeds

45g pumpkin seeds

50g shredded coconut. (I bought flaked roasted coconut from Holland and Barrett)

200g dried raspberries. (I bought these online)

30g rice crispies (I didn’t use these)

2 drops rose water (I found I needed much more and would recommend at 2 teaspoons)

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• Preheat oven to 150°C/130°C/ gas mark 2
• Cut the almonds into thin strips. Spread evenly on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper with the pistachios and pecans which you can also slice, if you like. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
• Heat the honey in a saucepan until it becomes very runny, add the oats, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and coconut. Spread evenly in a baking tray with greaseproof paper. (At this point, I would add the 2 teaspoons of rose water, though this is not in the original recipe). Bake for 20 minutes, turning around every 5 minutes to ensure even baking.
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Add the nuts, raspberries, rice crispies (if using) and at this point, the original recipe adds the 2 drop of rose water.
• This will keep in an air tight container for 3 weeks.