pumpkin spice granola

pumpkin!  can’t stop, won’t stop!  i warned you earlier this fall that we had lost time to make up for and i’m no liar.  i want to make sure 2016 goes down as the year that i remedied the lack of pumpkin recipes on this site.  (also the year that i changed jobs, bought a house, sold a house, and moved two states away.  but mostly, the year that i shared more pumpkin recipes with my internet friends.)

this pumpkin spice granola is modeled after my ginger granola.  i managed to convince myself to tone down the ginger a *little* bit (ginger and pumpkin are neck and neck for best foods ever…) and then i swooped in with a cadre of pumpkin spices, plus some actual pumpkin puree.

i read a tip recently in cook’s illustrated that said it improves the flavor of pumpkin puree to cook it a little bit before mixing it with the other ingredients so i gave that a try here, since i figured getting rid of some of the moisture would also be a good idea.  no soggy granola here!

ok, here’s where we (once again) discuss how i’m a bit of a food-saving nut.  actually, let’s back up even farther to college and why i don’t buy fresh pumpkins.

so.  senior year of college. my roommate and i (ambitiously!) decide to make a pumpkin coconut curry (yum, right?!).  from scratch.  like whole pumpkins and whole coconuts scratch.  i know.  we *all* already know where this is heading…

at the time, i think we owned one sharp-ish chef’s knife.  cut to us out on the sidewalk, barely scratched coconut in a plastic shopping bag, us picking the bag-wrapped coconut up over our heads and repeatedly smashing it down as hard as we could onto the sidewalk in a desperate and largely unsuccessful attempt to gain entry to the inside of the coconut.  ::sigh::

we fared only marginally better with the thick skinned (still raw) little sugar pumpkin.  so now it’s nothing but cans for me.  (although lately opening those has been a bit of trial too, but that’s a story for another day…)  i totally intend to try roasting and then using (in that order, please and thank you) a fresh pumpkin someday but… not today.  not when we’re waiting to make pumpkin spice granola.

speaking of, i think i was supposed to be telling you about the seeds i used in this granola.  ok, so now that we know why i don’t buy fresh pumpkins, maybe this next part will seem 1% less weird.  to review, things i buy never:  fresh pumpkins.  things i buy frequently:  whole butternut squashes.  which are also orange and have seeds…

so yes, i used butternut squash seeds in my pumpkin spice granola, and you should feel free to as well, if you happen to have those but not pumpkin seeds.  use what you’ve got, right?  (and yes, i googled it; they’re not poisonous.)

alright, enough stories about how i’m a weirdo.  you’ve got pumpkin spice granola to make!

pumpkin spice granola

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Ingredients

• 269 g. (1 cup / 9 ½ oz.) pure pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
• 396 g. (4 cups / 14 oz.) old-fashioned rolled oats
• 50 g. (1/4 cup / 1 ¾ oz.) millet, optional
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• a tiny pinch of ground cloves
• ½ cup (4 fl. oz. / 120 ml) extra light olive oil
• 1/4 cup (2 fl. oz. / 60 ml) real maple syrup, preferably grade b or grade a: dark color & robust flavor
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 170 g. (scant 1 ½ cups / 6 oz.) raw pumpkin (or butternut squash) seeds (also known as “pepitas”)
• 170 g. (1 ½ cups / 6 oz.) raw pecans, broken into pieces
• 64 g. (1/3 cup / 2 ¼ oz.) diced crystallized ginger

Instructions

1. heat the pumpkin puree in a small skillet over medium heat. stir occasionally and cook for 7 – 8 minutes, to reduce a bit of the moisture and cook off the tinny flavor. set aside to cool.
2. preheat the oven to 350° F. line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
3. in a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, millet, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. stir to combine. stir in the pumpkin, oil, maple syrup, and vanilla. taste to see if you want to add any more of any of the spices (they won’t get stronger when you bake them so no need to worry about that). once all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined, spread the granola out in an even layer on the lined baking sheet.
4. bake the granola for 20 minutes, then take it out of the oven, sprinkle the nuts and pumpkin seeds over the top, and toss it all around (especially the bits along the edge). put the granola back in the oven for 10 more minutes.
5. remove the granola from the oven and set the pan on a rack to cool. add the crystallized ginger and carefully stir it into the mixture.
6. let the granola cool completely. it will also dry out a bit as it cools.
7. once cool, store the granola in an airtight container. it will stay fresh for 2 weeks, longer in the refrigerator or freezer.

Notes

if your pecans and/or pumpkin seeds are already toasted, add them in after baking (at the same time as the ginger) so that they don’t burn.

if you need to avoid gluten, make sure your oats are labeled gluten free.

adapted from my ginger granola.

Nutrition Facts

pumpkin spice granola

Serves: about 7 cups

Amount Per Serving:
Calories		251
% Daily Value*
Total Fat		0
	Saturated Fat	0
	Trans Fat
Cholesterol		0
Sodium		0
Total Carbohydrate		0
	Dietary Fiber	0
	Sugars
Protein

Vitamin A		Vitamin C
Calcium		Iron

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

tasty seasons

Category breakfast dairy free fall gluten free vegan vegetarian winter

Tags

allspice,

cinnamon,

cloves,

dairy free,

easy,

fall,

ginger,

gluten free,

granola,

maple syrup,

nutmeg,

oats,

pecans,

pumpkin,

pumpkin spice,

snack,

vegan,

vegetarian,

winter

November 3, 2016

by tasty seasons

© 2024 copyright tasty seasons

nutrition facts are for a 1/3 cup serving