I love fall. I love pumpkins, I love the color, I love getting away from summer foods and movinginto fall foods. Any way I can make our fall meals healthier without relying on an overly processed boxed food, even better! Any way I can incorporate pumpkin into my food is a win!
This granola is great because we can snack on it, eat it as a cereal, use it as a yogurt or ice cream topping, or just look at it in the pretty jar and admire how full of awesome goodness it is. Don’t you ever do that with your food?
And what makes granola even better, it can easily be made without a trip to the store if you have a well-stocked pantry.
Nutty Pumpkin Granola with Dried Berries
As with any recipe, leave out what you don’t like, add more, do less. Use this as a stepping stone to your own version that your family will love and eat. You might even toss in some coconut flakes!
In a large bowl mix:
- 4 C Old Fashioned Oats [Find it here]
- 1/4 C uncooked Quinoa [Find it here]
- 1 C chopped pecans (or other nut of your choice – I just happen to love pecan)
- 3 TB sesame seeds
- 1 TB poppyseed
- 1/4 C Lightly Ground Flax seed (I don’t use fully ground flax seed, but I do like the seeds broken up more, so I throw them into my grinder and give them a few whirls to just break them up)
- 4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp salt
In another bowl mix
- 2 egg whites, lightly beaten (if you don’t want to use egg whites, add about 4 TB of oil in it’s place).
- 1/4 C coconut oil, melted (or other oil that you prefer to use)
- 1/2 C pumpkin puree
- 1/3 C honey (you could use maple syrup)
- 3 TB dark brown sugar (or other full bodied sweetener of your choice – no splenda, if you please)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Other
- 1 C Peak Season Dried Berries* of your choosing [find it here]
Directions
- POUR your second bowl into your first bowl and mix well.
- SPREAD out on 2 cookie sheets.
- BAKE at 325F for about 40 minutes, turning every ten or so to get things crispy! I prefer this done on my stainless steel baking sheets rather than my stoneware one. My granola didn’t get as dark as quickly.
- COOL for a bit out of the oven. Once cooled, add 1 C of dried berries.
- STORE in an air tight container for up to two weeks, if you can make it last that long. As with other pumpkin products that are shelf stable, you might find that it begins to get a little soft. If so, throw it back on a sheet pan, and crisp it in the oven. We’ve only had it happen once when I made a triple batch that we couldn’t eat in time 🙂
This stuff is great on top of some yogurt with a little honey drizzled over!
*I used about 1/4 C of the Mixed Berries and 1/4 C of the Aronia Berries from Peak Season. They sent me a sample package to try out and I’m loving all of these new flavors in our granola! Blackberries, pomegranate, acai berries – these are the kinds of fruits that aren’t as easy to dehydrate for me, and so these having them at the ready for our food storage needs is handy! Dried pomegranate arils are to die for! But be warned – they are really good, and your family may end up snacking away on them, and you won’t have enough for baking! Ask me how I know?
Here is the Aronia Berry. I hadn’t ever heard about it until I received the packet from Peak Season. They look a lot like blueberries, are also known as chokeberries, and are super tart, but make a great compliment against something sweet, like this pumpkin granola. You can always leave them out if it’s not something you have – or substitute it with something different.
Next up – Dried Blueberry Powder yogurt & other uses!
And yes, I do use stainless steel cooking sheets. You can find them at some restaurant supplies stores or here on Amazon.
This granola is really yummy with and without the dried fruits. And it’s perfect for the fall!
Becky is a wildlife enthusiast and pet and livestock care expert with a diploma in canine nutrition. With over a decade of experience in animal welfare, Becky lends her expertise to Simple Family Preparedness through insightful info about pets, livestock, bee keeping, and the practicalities of homesteading.