Gluten-Free Pumpkin Granola

It's pumpkin season again!

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Granola


Ingredients:

• 4 cups gluten-free old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup gluten-free buckwheat groats (optional)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 cup raw pepitas
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or slivered almonds
• 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• 1.5 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, mix together the first 9 (dry ingredients).  Set aside.
• Place honey, coconut oil and pumpkin purée into a microwave safe bowl and heat on medium heat until the coconut oil is melted (about 45 seconds).  Whisk until blended.
• Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon.
• Spread the granola onto a large baking sheet (I used a half-sheet pan) lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
• Bake for 35 - 45 minutes until golden brown, stirring the granola every 10-15 minutes to ensure even browning. 
• Remove from oven and stir in the cranberries.  Let cool completely.  The granola will be soft while it's hot, but once it cools completely it will be nice and crunchy.
• Store in an airtight container.

PBJ Granola

PBJ Granola

Ingredients:

• 4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 3/4 cup dry roasted peanuts
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup all natural, no sugar added peanut butter
• 1 cup all natural preserves (I used strawberry)
• 3/4 cup raisins

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, peanuts and salt.  Set aside.
• Add the peanut butter and preserves to a separate microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 20 - 30 seconds, just to warm and loosen everything up to make it pourable.  Whisk until well blended.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry and toss until evenly coated.
• Spread the granola onto a Silpat-lined baking sheet and bake for 25 - 30 minutes, stirring it halfway through to promote even cooking.  
• Remove from oven and toss in the raisins while granola is still hot.  Let cool completely.  The granola will be soft while it's hot, but once it cools completely it will be nice and crunchy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola

Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola

Ingredients:

• 4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup all natural, no sugar added peanut butter
• 1/3 cup all natural, no sugar added applesauce
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

•  Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, cocoa powder, sugar and salt.  Set aside.
• Add the peanut butter, applesauce, honey and vanilla to a separate microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 20 - 30 seconds, just to warm and loosen everything up.  Whisk until well blended.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry and toss until evenly coated.
• Spread the granola onto a Silpat-lined baking sheet and bake for 25 - 30 minutes, stirring it halfway through to promote even cooking.  
• Remove from oven and let cool completely.  The granola will be soft while it's hot, but once it cools completely it will be nice and crunchy.

To make it more fun, add 3/4 cup dry roasted peanuts and 3/4 cup chocolate chips once the granola is completely cooled.

Sweet and Salty Granola

ETA on 1/24/13:  I've made this several more times since the original post.  Yes, I do realize it's only been 5 days.  But yes, my family loves granola.  Anyway, I made one modification that gives it a little extra kick.  Instead of mixing the entire teaspoon of salt into the dry ingredients, I only mixed in half.  Then when the batch is done cooking and I'm ready to stir in the cranberries, I also sprinkle on 3/4 teaspoon of Kosher salt and stir that in.  That way once the granola is cool and you eat it, you get nice little pops of salt on your tongue.  :-)

We are planning on taking the kids out for a hike on Monday, so I decided to make some granola to bring along.  Lately I've been more into salty snacks than sweet, so I decided to compromise (the kids like sweet) and make a sweet and salty version.  I threw this together based on what was in my pantry.  The house smells awesome while it's baking, and it turned out really good. 

Sweet and Salty Granola

Ingredients:

• 4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 cup raw pepitas
• 1 cup raw slivered almonds
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, mix together the first 5 (dry ingredients).  Set aside.
• Place honey and coconut oil into a microwave safe bowl and heat on medium heat until the coconut oil is soft (about 45 seconds).  Whisk until melted.
• Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon.
• Spread the granola onto two baking sheets lined with Silpats.
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until lightly browned, stirring the granola every 10-15 minutes to ensure even browning. 
• Remove from oven and stir in the cranberries.  Let cool completely.  The granola will be soft while it's hot, but once it cools completely it will be nice and crunchy.
• Store in an airtight container.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Granola

I find commercially-packaged granolas way too sweet, so I end up making my own.  Granola is really easy to make, and very versatile, you can add whatever fruits and nuts you like to it.  Use Splenda and agave nectar in place of the sugar and honey to make it SBD-friendly.

I have been craving oatmeal raisin cookies all week, so I came up with this.  All the flavors of an oatmeal cookie in a crunchy granola.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Granola

Ingredients:

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 cup raisins

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients together (the dry).
• In a separate bowl, mix the next 3 ingredients together (the wet).
• Pour the wet into the dry and combine well.
• Line a baking sheet with a Silpat.
• Spread the granola mixture over the Silpat.
• Bake for 30 - 45 minutes until lightly browned, stirring a couple times to ensure even browning.  Sprinkle the raisins onto the mixture towards the last 5 minutes of baking.
• Remove from oven and let cool completely.  The granola will be soft while it's hot, but once it cools completely it will be nice and crunchy.
• Store in an airtight container.

Crunchy Buckwheat Granola

Love love love this recipe!  Love the crunch.  Love that it's not overly sweet.  Love that it's healthy.  And oh, did I already mention that I love the crunch?  :-)  The tangy dried cranberries go perfectly with the slightly sweet crunch.  It's great as a yogurt topping, or with milk in the morning in place of your normal cereal, or just eaten straight from the container.

I can't seem to find my 9"x9" square metal pan -- I think it's still in one of our storage boxes somewhere.  So I just used my bundt pan; worked just fine.  I could have used my sheet pan, but opted against that since it would have been a little difficult to stir thoroughly without the stuff going overboard the shallow sides.

Crunchy Buckwheat Granola
From this recipe here.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups uncooked rolled oats
• 1/4 cup whole almonds, roughly chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked buckwheat groats
• 3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the dried cranberries.
• Spread loosely into a 9"x9" metal baking pan (or in this case, a bundt pan)
• Bake for 1 hour, stirring thoroughly at 30 minutes.  (I stirred again at 45 mins.)
• Remove from oven and stir in cranberries.
• Stir occasionally while cooling to reduce clumping.
• Cool completely before putting into an airtight container.

Tip: After you add the oil, use the same measuring cup for the honey.  The residual "lube" from the oil will help the honey slide out of the measuring cup much better, no scraping required.