It’s finally Fall here in Lancaster County and with the crisp air and changing of the leaves, I’ve been inspired to play with fall flavors while creating breakfast. When Fall rolls around, the fall flavors I think of first are pumpkin, cranberry, apples & pears. My first thought was pumpkin granola – but I already have a very, very good granola recipe that I’ve shared and I wasn’t sure I really wanted another. So first I googled pumpkin granola and printed out a bunch of recipes – which I then compared to my original granola recipe. This is what I ended up with:
Pumpkin Crunch Granola:
Ingredients:
- 3 3/4 Cups oatmeal
- 2/3 cup unsweetened coconut
- 1/3 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1/3 cup wheat germ
- 2/3 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1t pumpkin pie spice* – I made my own
- 2 egg whites
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 3T packed dark brown sugar
- 1t vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup dried cranberries
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 325*. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine oats through pumpkin pie spice.
- In a second bowl, whisk the egg whites. Add in pumpkin, syrup, oil, brown sugar & vanilla – whisk until smooth.
- Pour wet over dry ingredients and mix until fully combined. Spread onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, making sure to stir every 10 minutes to prevent burning.
- Allow granola to cool for 20 minutes. Gently add dried cranberries. Cover tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
This was served layered with plain greek yogurt and cranberry curd. It was amazing – if I do say so myself. Please let me know if you try it.
I have actually been thinking about the flavors of Fall for a few weeks now. Earlier this summer, I made both lemon and lime curd [but not lemon/lime curd, hmmm] and I could stop thinking about what else I could curd. Cranberry would not leave – so I made that as well. I will share that recipe later – but it was amazing!
*I had a guest staying with us who has a cinnamon allergy – so I had to make my own cinnamon free pumpkin pie spice. There are many recipes available for pumpkin pie spice – I used nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves & mace.