Pumpkin Spice Granola, An SRC Bonus

I am a summer person at heart. Sunshine, warm weather, bare feet, playing outside... there is nothing better than summer. For most things. But for some reason, many of my favorite flavors are actually Fall related.

When it was announced that a few posts were missing from this week's Secret Recipe Club, of course I volunteered to help.  The hostess sent me over to Sweetly Serendipity, an awesome blog that I can't believe I've never visited before... that I can remember. I mean, seriously, Taryn was also a member of the Daring Bakers Challenge. How in the world am I not familiar with this awesome blog? And talk about some delicious recipes. Everything looked great.

But for some reason, everything that really spoke to me was pumpkin related. Well, no, an apple recipe spoke to me, too, but still - Fall flavors.

But I have been mulling over the idea of making granola again, so when I saw Taryn's recipe for pumpkin spice granola, I knew I had my recipe.

And then the hostess sent me a message saying that the missing post was found, Taryn was no longer an orphan.  I said no problem, but I think I am going to make this recipe anyway!!

Granola is pretty easy to make - it's basically just rolled oats, coated in some kind of syrup, dried out in the oven.  This version used a pumpkin-pie inspired spice mix - yum.

This recipe also included spiced nuts to be included. With little man's nut allergy, I omitted those, and decided to include a couple of tablespoons of chia seeds and a couple hands full of raisins instead.

The syrup is simply a combination of maple syrup and coconut oil, which is brought to a boil and then simmered for a couple of minutes.

Stir in the syrup...

Then stir in some pumpkin puree...

Then just bake, stirring things up every few minutes.

And that's it!

What a delicious afternoon snack this made - so flavorful and hearty!  I bet it will make a great breakfast tomorrow morning, too!

Pumpkin Spice Granola
(only slightly adapted from Sweetly Serendipity)

Spice Mix Ingredients
2 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon allspice

Granola Assembly Ingredients
4 cups old fashioned oats
Prepared spice mix
½ cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons coconut oil
2/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chia seeds
a few handsfull of raisins (or dried cranberries)

Mix together all spice mix ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
Place the oats, spice mix, salt, chia seeds and raisins in a large bowl. Mix well, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Combine the maple syrup and the coconut oil in a small saucepot over high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for two minutes. Very carefully, pour the hot syrup over the oats. Toss well. Fold in the pumpkin puree, and mix until completely incorporated.
Spread out granola on two large sheet pans. Bake for about 25-35 minutes, tossing every five minutes. When done, remove granola from the oven and let cool.
You can store this granola in an air-tight container at room temperature for a week or two.

Enjoy!