Pumpkin Spice Granola

  

As soon as I saw this recipe I just had to make it.  I love pumpkin and I love granola, so I knew it would be great!  The recipe calls for nuts and dried fruit; I used pecans and dried cranberries and the combination was just right.  I also added dark chocolate covered raisins to it to give it more of a dessert feel.  To go with this granola, I made a pumpkin yogurt; used equal parts canned pumpkin and honey flavored Greek yogurt.  Then I added a little pumpkin pie spice to it.  Add this granola to the pumpkin yogurt and you have a yummy parfait!  Even though I added chocolate raisins to mine, the granola is delicious enough on its own and would be perfect for breakfast.

Pumpkin Spice Granola

Source:  Annie's Eats

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups rolled oats

2 1/2 cups puffed rice cereal

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

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

up to 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts

up to 1 cup dried fruit

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, combine oats and puffed rice cereal. 
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin pie spice, salt, brown sugar, pumpkin puree, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla extract.  Whisk until very smooth.  
• Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until the oat mixture is evenly coated.  Spread on the prepared baking sheet in an even layer.
• Bake for 30 minutes.  Then turn over the granola using a large, wide spatula.  Sprinkle the nuts into the granola and bake for an additional 15 minutes, until crisp and golden.  
• Cool on pan or on a fine wire rack. 
• Break up granola as desired and toss with dried fruit.  Store in an airtight container.