For some Reason I feel like a Hippy…Pumpkin Granola

I have no idea why, but for some reason after I made my granola I felt like a peace sign holding, nature loving hippy! :)  And that’s fine by me!

I have never even thought about making granola before.  I usually just buy Nature Valley or Kashi granola bars and call it a day.  But for some reason when I saw pumpkin granola on Pinterest I had this urge to make some.  And today I did just that!

Warning if you make this you will be addicted to home made granola and you’ll never think about buying it again.  Or maybe not, it could have just been me.  I seem to get addicted to things fairly easy. Chocolate, coffee, Blogging, Facebook, Pinterest <------  See the pattern here? 

Anyways, y’all are not here for my hippy feelings or addiction stories..you want the pumpkin granola recipe!

What do you need?

• 5 cups rolled oats
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup pepitas

What do you do?

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl combine oats, spices and salt. Mix well.
3. In a med bowl whisk together brown sugar, pumpkin puree, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla extract.  Whisk until smooth.  Pour wet ingredients into oat mixture and stir until the oats are evenly coated. They will be moist.  Evenly spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and stir. Bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until the granola is golden and crisp. Remove from oven and stir in dried cranberries and pepitas. Allow to cool completely.  Store in an air tight container.

Serve with yogurt, milk, or just eat it by the handfuls like I have!

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This recipe is pretty forgiving.  First off, I just mixed all the wet ingredients together and threw in the other stuff, mixed it together and put it on the baking sheet.  I even added the dried cranberries because I was on the phone making this and not giving it my full attention. Ha!  And I didn’t add in the pepitas because I had no idea what they were or how to pronounce it. {j/k about the pronouncing}  But I really didn’t know what they were because I have never heard of pumpkin seeds referred to anything other than “pumpkin seeds”!  Learned something today.  Guess you do learn something everyday!

I can’t wait to try making other granola at home.  Have y’all ever made it before?