Granola is a breakfast mainstay around our house. Usually I make my stock Granola Recipe to keep my grown/growing boys well-fueled throughout the day, but today a freshly-baked pumpkin lured me into some experimentation. I was also inspired by this recipe for Pumpkin Granola by Two Peas and their Pod (and the author of that blog got her inspiration from THIS blog.) Since I am simply unable to actually FOLLOW a recipe, I did a lot of tweaking and inventing as I went along and eventually came up with my own moderately low-fat recipe for Pumpkin Granola.
I’m particularly excited about this recipe because it does NOT involve peanut butter. Most of my granolas involve a LOT of peanut butter. Everyone loves peanut butter around here so that’s not a real problem, but it’s nice to have a little variety sometimes.
Pumpkin Granola
I started by stirring together the dry ingredients:
- 8 c. rolled oats
- 1 1/2 c. almonds, chopped
- 3/4 c. walnuts, chopped
- 3/4 c. pecans, chopped
Then, using my food processor, I whirred together:
- 1 c. pureed pumpkin
- 1/2 c. applesauce
- 1 1/2 c. brown sugar
- 1/4 c. molasses
- 1/4 c. real maple syrup
- 1 T. cinnamon
- 1 t. ground ginger
- 1/4 t. ground cardamom
- 1 1/2 t. salt
- 2 t. vanilla
- 1/2 t. ground cloves
- 1/2 t. ground allspice
- 1 1/2 t. salt
- 1/4 t. ground nutmeg
- 2 t. vanilla
I poured this spicy pumpkin mixture over the dry ingredients and stirred it all until the nuts and oatmeal were completely coated. I divided the granola into two big aluminum roaster pans.
I baked the granola at 325° for 45-50 minutes, stirring halfway through. After the granola was finished in the oven, I stirred in the dried fruit.
- 1 c. chopped dates
- 1 c. raisins
- 2/3 c. dried cranberries
I was tickled with how delicious this granola turned out to be. I actually held out a few cups of the granola when I added the dried fruits because I have one kid who doesn’t like raisins, cranberries, OR dates. Compared to my standard granola, this version is pretty lowfat which tends to work better for the people in our family who are no longer growing…or aren’t supposed to be growing, at any rate!
Barb 
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What is cardamom and can I just leave it out?
Yes, you can leave it out. It’s a spice used in Indian cooking and a couple of Swedish pastries. I like the little edge it gives but it’s definitely not necessary.
Barb
You’ve got salt twice and vanilla twice. Was that a typo?
Yes. A type. Blush.
Barb
mmmmmm…i was just thinking about granola! i’m going to try this recipe this weekend. i already know that everything that comes out of barb’s kitchen is amazing so looking forward to it!
soooooooooooooooooooooooo goood!!!!!! thanks barb
So glad to help, Ginger!
Barb, I am so glad to see this recipe. I have five more sugar pumpkins to use and I was running out of pumpkin ideas. Thanks!
That’s a LOT of granola, Heidi! Be sure to check out my Perfect Pumpkin Bread recipe. I LOVE this bread, it takes a lot of pumpkin, and it freezes beautifully for Christmas gifts!
Hi. I have been wanting to make granola and never have. yours looks intriguing. I also read the normal one but my daughter is allergic to peanuts. could I sub Sun nut butter? any thoughts?
Yes, for the original recipe, substituting a butter that your daughter is NOT allergic will work just fine. Of course, the pumpkin granola doesn’t have peanut butter in it and doesn’t NEED to have nuts at all if you want to leave any or all of them out. Homemade granola is SO MUCH tastier than store-bought!
Whoa, this looks amazing! I wish I had a food processor!