Thursday, September 17, 2009

Pumpkin Granola




We're back in the kitchen! After a couple of weeks of illnesses with symptoms much like those of N1H1 (was it or wasn't it?) we are all coming along and I stepped back in the kitchen today and it felt great. I woke up this morning with a hankering for granola. Pumpkin granola, to be exact. I thought I had read on Facebook that one of my friends had gone off to Trader Joe's to get some. But I found none there. So I decided I would make my own. I already had the oats at home. I picked up some pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), more Pumpkin Pie Spice, some dried cranberries, raisins and, for the pumpkin touch Pumpkin Butter which is a blend of pumpkin and lemon and honey and maple syrup and spices. I picked up a few ingredients for dinner and made my way home.


This recipe is delicious and could not be any easier to make!


You'll need:

18 oz. of Oats (not the quick cooking kind)
1/2 cup of canola oil
2 cups of pepitas
1 cup of raisins
1 cup of dried cranberries
(optional, semi sweet chocolate chips)
1 tbs of pumpkin pie spice
1 jar of Pumpkin butter


Preheat oven to 275 degrees

In a medium sized bowl add the pumpkin and the oil and mix well, set aside

In a large bowl add all the other ingredients, except for the spices. Toss to mix well.

Pour the pumpkin mixture over the oat mixture and mix well.

Line a brownie pan or jelly roll with wax or parchment paper.

Pour in oat mixture and press firmly into all corners.

Bake for 1 hour. After 1 hour increase the heat to 300 and bake another 20 minutes until nicely golden brown.

Remove pan from the oven onto a cooling rack for 20 - 30 minutes to let the oatmeal harden.

When cool break off into chunks into your large bowl. Sprinkle the Pumpkin Pie Spice, more or less, as your tastes prefer. I love the flavor of the granola. It's pleasantly pumpkin-ny, just a hint, without being too much so.

We love to snack on granola. We eat it with apple sauce, yogurt and ice cream. Eating it plain is good too. For a sweet treat add some chocolate chips to it!

2 comments:

Marie said...

I love granola too. The pepitas, are they like a nut? I really don't like actual pumpkin seeds...are these different?

Jessica Ryan said...

Marie the pepitas you buy (I get them roasted and salted) are really quite different than the seeds you get out of the pumpkin yourself. If you are still hesitant I think slivered almonds would be delicious in this. I need to keep this nut free as it's a good after school snack that the kids can munch on at the playground there and our school is nut free.