What could be better on a winter morning than crunchy granola made with healthy pumpkin seeds? Although we harvested our pumpkins more than two months ago, I still had three hanging around the house, so I decided to cut them open today and show you… and I just happened to have a great recipe for some crunchy pumpkin granola. 
These are styrian pumpkins, their primary use is for their seeds, and the oil that is made from them. They’re so neat because the have no white hull, see.
You just reach in, pull them out, rinse them and roast them or if you’re like us, and like to maximize their health benefits, you can dry them in the oven on low or use a dehydrator.
According to http://realrawfood.com/pumpkinseeds-styrian-health-benefits-and-nutritional-info some of the health benefits of eating them are helping to maintain a healthy prostrate, help with irritable bowl syndrome, and parasite control, but mostly we just like their crunchy great taste. If you want to see how we grow and harvesting styrian pumpkins you can go here http://sowingfortheharvest.com/. We’ve been growing them for years now, and probably use them most in granola; a nice winter staple. This time I thought I would throw a twist on my usual granola recipe, and throw in some pureed pumpkin as well, I think it turned out rather nicely. Naturally sweetened and wholesome goodness.
Mix all your ingredients together (except your fruit of course), I like to leave it a little clumpy, as it helps with that final crunch. After baking it on 325 for one hour I left it to continue over night in our wood cook-stove on low, basically dehydrating it. A dehydrator actually works really nicely with granola. In the morning it’s nice an crunchy, ready to add your favorite dried fruit.
This time we used raisins and dried currants, but cranberries are really nice too!
Change it up play around and see how you like it best, ENJOY!
Ingredients
- 1 c. dates
- 3/4 c. water
- 1/2 c. pumpkin puree
- 1/4 c. olive oil
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. cinnamon substitute (recipe to follow)
- 2 tsp. vanilla (The Spicery vanilla contains no alcohol only glycerin, water and vanilla beans)
- 2 c. rolled oats
- 5 c. quick oats
- 1 1/2 c. pumpkin seeds
- 1 c. walnut or pecan pieces
- 1 1/2 T. ground flax (optional)
- 1 c. raisins
- 1 c. black currants
- 2 Tbsp. coriander
- 1 1/2 tsp. anise seed
- 2 tsp. cardamom
- Grind in a coffee grinder
Instructions
- Place first 7 ingredients in your blender and blend until mostly pureed, a few chucks of date are o.k. (we kinda like it that way).
- In a large bowl place the last 7 ingredients and stir to combine.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry.
- Use your hands to work the wet ingredients thoroughly into the dry, I like to leave clumps, it adds to the crunch.
- Spread granola evenly in two large casserole dishes or two large cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Bake at 275, stirring every 15 - 20 minutes until it's done.
- When it's golden brown and sounds dry when you stir it, it's done baking. Remove it from the oven and let cool.
- Add in the dried fruit and store in a large glass jar. Feel free to switch up the fruit, cranberries or diced apricots are nice too! Enjoy!
