It's no secret that most store-bought granolas are packed with ridonkulous amounts of sugar. As I always love to sneak a vege into my brekkie, I’ve used pumpkin as a base here – with a bit of honey for sweetness. While you’ll have to adjust your expectations away from a super crunchy crispy granola – the excess sugar helps to create that – you will get clusters of nutty nutritious goodness.
Recipe
Pumpkin pie granola
Squeezing a vegetable into a sweet yet nutritious breakfast can be as easy as (pumpkin) pie.
Pumpkin pie granola
- 3 cups x rolled oats (gluten-free if necessary), buckwheat or quinoa
- 1 cup x macadamias, walnuts, pecans or peanuts
- ½ cup x raw pumpkin seeds
- ½ cup x dried coconut
- ¼ tsp x vanilla extract or ground vanilla
- 1 TBSP x pumpkin pie spice (or use 1/2 TBSP of ground cinnamon, plus 1/4 TBSP of both ginger and nutmeg)
- 1 good pinch x ground sea salt
- 3 TBSP x coconut oil, room temperature
- 3 TBSP x raw unpasteurized honey
- 1 cup x pumpkin puree
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
In a large bowl, combine rolled oats, buckwheat or quinoa, nuts, pumpkin seeds, coconut, vanilla (if using dry ground), spices and salt. In a separate bowl add coconut oil, honey, vanilla (if using extract) and pumpkin puree. Mash until completely smooth (or use a blender).
Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry mixture and combine well, using your hands, for about a minute, so all is well-coated and clumpy. Turn out and spread the granola in an even layer on the baking tray.
Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the granola browns and crisps up, checking every 10 minutes and turning the granola over with a wooden spoon.
Allow to cool completely before serving, and store the rest in an airtight container. Serve with full-fat yoghurt or your favourite non-dairy alternative.