Pumpkin Granola

Granola is one of my favorite things to munch on. It's great on cereal, yogurt, and even by itself. I haven't tasted any granola that's as good as this recipe. The spices along with the pumpkin and dried cranberries give the perfect flavor for this season. I've already made two batches. I added pumpkin seeds to the first batch, and omitted them on the second batch. I prefer the batch without the pumpkin seeds the most.

This is what my breakfast looks like in the morning. Greek yogurt sprinkled with pumpkin granola and then drizzled with a little maple syrup. Mmmm. Heaven!


I also packaged some up and mailed it to my sister and brother-in-law in Kansas City. I hope they enjoy it.

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

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine oats, spices, and salt. Mix well.

In a medium 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.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and stir. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the granola is golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and stir in dried cranberries. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Source: Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod ... originally from Baking Bites

Nutritional Info** I added up all of the fat grams and calories as I added each ingredient. I came up with the following nutritional information:
For 1/4 cup granola, there are 1.2 grams fat and 94 calories