Pumpkin Gingersnap Chocolate Chip Granola

Sweet crunchy homemade granola with intermingling tastes of pumpkin, gingersnap cookies, and chocolate, inspired by Simply Gourmet’s Gingerbread Granola.

I’m travelling today with my daughter who is supposed to be at a dance workshop all day, but instead she is here in the hotel feeling yucky and dizzy, so I’m pondering what to do for her … I think I will walk up to the drug store in a bit and see what I can get to help her feel better enough to dance. The hotel room we are in is big and has some nice windows, so I decided to try a little food photography while I’m here, since I have this granola along that I’ve been meaning to blog. It’s one of my favorite granolas so far.

Pumpkin Gingersnap Chocolate Chip Granola

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
• Yield: over 2 quarts of granola 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 4 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
• 2 cups mixed seeds and/or nuts ~ I used 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup pecans, 1/2 cup peanuts, 1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 –4 Tablespoons maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want it … I used 2 T because I don’t like it overly sweet)
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional … skip this part if you’re watching your sodium)
• 1/4 cup flaxmeal
• 1 Tablespoon peanut butter
• 3/4 – 1 cup mini chocolate chips (or you could substitute dried fruit of your choice)

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the oats and nuts. Set aside.
2. In a separate small bowl, mix the pumpkin, vanilla, molasses, maple syrup, spices, salt, flaxmeal and peanut butter. Microwave on high for a minute, stir, and then microwave 30 seconds more until the mixture is good and hot. (Or heat the mixture in a saucepan. Either way will work.)
3. Pour the hot pumpkin mixture over the nutty oat mixture in the bowl. Stir it all up until it’s well mixed.
4. Spread all this wonderful stuff out into a thin layer on a large jellyroll pan (or other big flat baking pan with an edge to it).
5. Set it in the oven and bake for about an hour and 30 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. It should be browned to a lovely brown color and smelling fantastic. You can taste a little sample to see if it’s crunchy enough. If it’s not, bake it a little longer.
6. Here is the hard part:Let the granola cool COMPLETELY before stirring in the chocolate chips. Store in an airtight container. It will keep for about a month or so.

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This recipe was shared at Weekend Potluck, Manic Monday, Totally Tasty Tuesday, Wicked Good Wednesday, Thursday’s Treasures and Foodie Friends Friday.