We 
Stacey’s granola.
Do you get the message 🙂
Remember the Promenade Guest Blogs while I took a little country break? I’m finally getting round to making the recipes my friends posted, a) it would have been rude not to, b) I am the curious kind and most of all c) I wanted to !
I know granola may not be at the top of your priority list right now, but for a simple healthy breakfast it’s a winner. We tried a couple of shop-bought versions a while ago and actually ended up taking them back to the shop to get our money back – way too sickly sweet for our taste. I don’t need a massive sugar hit in the morning, but I do need caffeine 🙂 So Stacey’s recipe was well timed and as it turns out well and truly supertastic.
I’ve made the recipe a couple of times now, the first trial I made the whole mixture but only cooked half of it – the rest went into a biscotti style biscuit. The second time I made the whole amount, we’re hooked on homemade granola.
Mind you the second time I made it I realised (too late) I’d only added 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree and not the half needed, plus I completely forgot to include the vanilla essence, oh and I only used 1 teaspoon of the pumpkin spice mix. So let’s say it’s a forgiving recipe
The other great thing about making your own granola is that you get to add what dried fruit and nuts you like, your choice. You could make a Tropical Granola with dried mango and coconut, an English Granola with dried apples, berries and hazelnuts, or an International Fusion Granola of walnuts, raisins, almonds and cranberries. We love sunflower and pumpkin seeds in ours so they are in, along with raisins and a handful or two of nuts like shredded / silvered almonds, whatever you have to hand that you like is the way to go. After cooking and cooling the oats I emptied them into a big bowl and then started to add the fruit and nuts, mixing them by hand until I had got the right balance.
Cooking notes and Pumpkin puree for the Brits –
I don’t have the convenience of buying canned pumpkin puree but I do grow my own pumpkins (it was a shocker of a year, a truly poor crop) and this recipe seemed like the perfect opportunity to use some of the under-developed pumpkins, but you could use a piece of butternut squash instead. From one small pumpkin, which weighed 350g when peeled and de-seeded I made enough pumpkin puree for 3 batches of granola (approx 270g when cooked). All I did was chop the pumpkin up into small chunks and then into the microwave for a few minutes and finally mashed smooth.
I also made some apple and pear sauce, by peeling and coring, chopping and popping into the microwave – no sugar needed. Simple and tasty. I used one apple and one pear – enough for 2 to 3 batches of granola. If you don’t want to use pumpkin (but why wouldn’t you?) you could add 1 cup of apple sauce instead to the granola mixture.
Another ingredient I had to make as it’s not sold here was the pumpkin spice mixture – a blend of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and all spice. If you don’t want to make a spice mix just add a teaspoon of ready-made ground allspice. It is just enough spice for my taste buds.
The recipe and Stacey’s wonderful photos are here, and if you want to pop over and say hi her blog is a very welcoming place. She’s getting ready for Christmas, decorating and making charming wreaths and all sorts of clever things! I think her home and garden will be a magical place this Christmas.
Homemade Granola
Ingredients ~
- 5 Cups Oats
- 1 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice or ground all spice
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 Cup Pureed Pumpkin
- 1/2 Cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 Cup applesauce
- 1/4 Cup Maple Syrup or Golden Syrup
- 2 Tsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla
Optional to add ~
Nuts: Almonds, Walnuts, Pecans, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Hazelnuts, Walnuts
Fruit: Dried Cranberries, Raisins, dried fruit
Method ~
- Pour wet ingredients into dry, and mix well to coat all of the Oats.
- Spread out on a large baking sheet/I use a sheet of parchment paper.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.
- Use a spatula to turn the oats, and bake an additional 15 minutes.
- Allow to cool, without touching the Oats. You want to have some chunks of Granola.
- Once cool, add nuts and dried fruit of your choice.
- Store for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.
—————————————————————————-
Yum!!! Maggie and her man are both huge granola nuts (ha! 😉 ) so I’ll be showing her this for sure!
Fab! We’ve really got into making our own granola now we have a great recipe, hope Maggie enjoys it as much as we do
mmm – i’ve been looking for a good granola recipe and this looks like a must try! 🙂
I hope you do give it a try
It certainly looks delicious!
Now this is a fantastic granola – I would munch on this the whole day.
🙂 Mandy
You’ve found me out 🙂
I can see where this could be rather addictive. Storing it in jars, as you did in the last photo, would only invite pilfering throughout the day. It would be a great day, though. 🙂
You and Mandy have both outed me John 🙂
I’ve been making my own granola for a few years now, slightly sweetened. For about 12 cups of ingredients, there is 1/2 cup of maple syrup or honey, and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. I thought I was too hooked on that flavor mix to change, but I tried this recipe with the natural sweetness of pumpkin, and enjoyed it, too. Thanks, Claire!
I might have to give reducing the sugar and syrup a go Cindy, the pumpkin has a touch of sweetness to it, hope you do give it a go
Granola recipes can be so over the top rich, but Stacey’s is just delectable! Very much like the addition of pumpkin or apple sauce to bind the mixture together, a terrific recipe!
For me it was certainly a novel way of using pumpkin Deb, but now I’ve made it a couple of times I can see I’m going to have to grow some more 🙂
How often do I have to see a granola recipe before I try it myself? The danger for me is that I adore granola and I may not have the will to resist eating it! I have some home made apple sauce in the freezer, I should get off my butt and do it!
Ha ha I know what you mean! But thanks to Stacey I finally did get round to it 🙂
Am not a big cereal eater, but when I do this is just what I would eat! (or porridge 😉 )
Me neither really, in fact I used to be really pants at the whole breakfast thing until I got into smoothies
Great recipe- we love homemade granola!
Its a new discovery for me Stewart, wonders will never cease 🙂
I’ve just started making my own granola and love it not only because it tastes good but because it’s easy to make. New header photo is good!
Thank you, I’ll let you into a secret ….. it was taken with the camera on my phone
Munch, munch, crunch, crunch.
I can hear you from here 😉
Lord, that sounds fantastic! Never thought of mixing pumpkin with granola.
Neither did I and the bonus is that it works brilliantly
I ❤ this granola recipe it looks insanely delish 😀
Cheers
CCU
We’re hearting you Uru! In fact I need to give your chic chip cookies a go soon 🙂 oh the hardship of blogging 🙂
This sounds great!! My husband has been asking me to make granola for him and this looks like the perfect recipe!
Kenley
I love homemade granola and haven’t made any in years. I’m intrigued by the use of a puree and a sauce and am sure it adds so much flavor!
Lovely recipe! I’m going to give it a try over the weekend!
I’m eager to try this, Claire. Last year I made a pumpkin granola and the recipe didn’t state to add the fruits and nuts after the granola had cooled. I baked the oats and pumpkin with the nuts and fruit, and they were scorched. It was not a good outcome, and I had spent so much money on the ingredients. I’m going to try again…thank you for emphasizing the method! I love granola, and I’d like to try several of the others, too! 🙂
I’m so pleased I shared this recipe Debra, the one thing I realise I did was I gave the last bit o fcooking about 10 minutes as opposed to 15 because I think it cooked a bit too much the first time, got a bit too crunchy if you know what I mean. I also let the granola cool a bit an dthen started to pull it about into smaller chunks before it set too hard. Fingers crossed it works for you!
Love making granola, but have never made it with pumpkin puree! I’m officially intrigued, and will definitely give this a go Claire!
Hi there, we just made another batch the other day, officially addicted 🙂
My daughter has been asking for granola–wonder if she’d eat homemade…
Hi Inger, I wonder if she will, it’s certainly no where near as sweet as commercial ones, and having made another batch I can safely say it’s popular around here !
I had to read this twice to make sure I understood. You do put pumpkin in! I would never have thought to do that. Now I am curious.
I know it’s not the first thing you think of adding to Granola is it! But it does work, I suppose pumpkin has it’s own natural sugars so add’s those to the granola quite neatly. If you didn’t fancy the pumpkin you could go for more apple/pear sauce