Homemade Apple Pecan Granola

Maybe it’s the change in weather or maybe it’s all the fall baking I’m seeing on social media, but here’s a fact: I’m hungry! My appetite is more than healthy these days, and instead of scarfing just anything I’ve been making an effort to eat something nutritious. Granola has been my go-to snack lately, but if you’re not paying special attention at the grocery store, you’ll come home with a bag of granola made with high fructose corn syrup. I’m sad to say this happened to me recently.

Lucky for us, homemade granola is super easy to make! I’ve been SO into this version we whipped up using oats, dried apples, dried white mulberries, quinoa, and pecans. It’s warmly spiced and could not be more season-appropriate.

The dry granola mixture is coated with a combination of applesauce, apple cider, and maple syrup. As you mix you will see nice big clumps form and tiny quinoa pieces will disperse into every nook and cranny. Spread the granola on a couple of parchment-lined sheet pans and and bake until dry and crisp.

You can see the difference in granola color between the two pans in the lower right hand picture. The darker pan gets very toasty, so if you use dark pans keep an extra sharp eye on them so they don’t burn.

I love how each bite is different. You’ll find chewy dried apple pieces crusted with oats, crunchy quinoa clinging to toasty pecans, delicate white mulberries – oh yes, the mulberries!

Dried white mulberries are becoming more widely available in grocery stores, but if you can’t find them, use golden raisins instead. If you have the opportunity to try the mulberries, then I encourage you to do so! They are less sweet than raisins and have an almost fig-like flavor. I prefer them.

The above picture is a true representation of what I’ve been eating for the past two weeks – for breakfast, snacks, and pretty much any time between meals when my stomach growls. My favorite granola parfait consists of plain Greek yogurt, a drizzle of maple syrup, and apple granola on top. It’s so satisfying! I hope you’ll try it.

Apple-Pecan Granola

Heather Baird

This recipe calls for uncooked quinoa. We used I HEART KEENWAH toasted quinoa, an organic heirloom Bolivian tricolor royal quinoa sent to us by Fair Trade USA. Any uncooked quinoa will work, but tri-color looks pretty.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 55 minutes mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Servings 6 cups

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 3 1/4 300g old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup 95g uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup 113g pecan halves
• 1 cup 88g diced dried apples
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup 100ml light olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup 127g unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tablespoons apple cider
• 1/3 cup 100ml pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup 36g light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup 80g dried white mulberries or golden raisins

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Line two large baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, toss the oats, quinoa, pecans, apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt together until combined.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, vanilla, applesauce, cider, maple syrup and brown sugar. Pour into the large bowl over dry ingredients, and mix until everything is moistened. Spread mixture onto the two baking sheets and bake for 45 minutes, making sure to stir the granola every 10-15 minutes to prevent burning. Allow granola to cool for twenty minutes on the baking sheet, or until it becomes firm and crunchy. Pour into a large bowl and stir in the raisins or mulberries.
• Cover tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Notes

if you use the darker baking sheets, the granola will get toastier more quickly, so you might want to keep an eye on it!

Keyword apple sider, granola, maple syrup, olive oil, unsweetened apple sauce

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!