Maple Pecan Applesauce Granola

Once you make homemade granola, you may never go back!  Maple Pecan Applesauce Granola is the perfect breakfast, loaded with oats, pecans, walnuts, maple syrup and that delicious combination of cinnamon and applesauce!  Use it to top yogurt, oatmeal, plain cereal like Cheerios or Chex, or just eat it by the handful!

Why We Love It!

• Homemade Granola is so delicious! - If you haven't tried it, try it!  Maple Pecan Granola with it's apple cinnamon flavor is perfect for fall baking!  It's a staple in our house, try our other favorite Almond Vanilla Granola with Big Clusters!

• Better for you! - Fresh from the oven, that apple pie smell, homemade applesauce granola is made with real, better for you ingredients.  In many baking recipes, applesauce is a substitute for oil. So this Applesauce Granola is healthier because it reduces the amount of oil needed. There is still some coconut oil, but it's far superior to its store-bought counterpart, with no refined sugar or preservatives! 

• Customize it to make it your own! - You need to keep the wet to dry ingredients proportioned the same.  But, from there you can try different nut and seed combinations, honey instead of maple syrup, different dried fruits (adding dried apple chips would be amazing!), make it your own! 

• Let the kids help! - Homemade granola is one of my kid's favorite things to help with in the kitchen.  They've been making granola since they were two, they love to measure, stir, smell, mix, and sample!

Ingredients & Substitutions

Packed with protein, this healthy granola is full of good quality ingredients like oats, nuts, seeds and applesauce.

• Regular Rolled Oats - Use regular rolled oats, or anything labeled thick cut oats or old fashioned oats. Not steel cut or quick oats.  I like to get these out of the bulk bin at the store for the best quality, price and to reuse my bags over and over.

• Pecans & Walnuts - You can leave the nuts whole or chop them, and sub any nuts you like including almonds or cashews.

• Seeds - I like to use any combination of pumpkin, sunflower, flax, or chia seeds.

• Shredded Coconut - Adds a hint of sweetness.

• Cinnamon & Salt - Don't leave out the salt!  This salted maple granola gives you that salty sweet combo and brings lots of flavor to the granola! If you are watching your salt intake, you can use half.

• Applesauce - Applesauce gives you that autumn harvest apple flavor, which marries perfectly with the cinnamon and maple syrup. It is also healthier, cutting the amount of oil needed in the recipe. In the fall we love making our own Freezer Applesauce!

• Coconut Oil - Can be melted in the microwave. I've used olive oil when I'm out of coconut oil and it works great!

• Maple Syrup - Be sure to use real maple syrup, not pancake syrup, as the sweetener for the granola. You could also substitute honey or use a combination.  The maple pecan granola flavor is truly my favorite!  It has such a rich depth to it that store-bought granola, sweetened with sugar, just doesn't have.

• Raisins - Don't bake the raisins!  Add them after the granola is baked and cooled.  Any dried fruit will work here such as cranberries, cherries, sliced apricots, golden or regular raisins.  Or try apple chips or any form of dehydrated apples, added when the granola is cooled.

Instructions

Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 250°. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl (not the raisins). 

Add the wet ingredients in a small glass measuring cup and whisk together (coconut oil can be microwaved and then measured).

Step 2 - Add your wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Step 3 - Spread your granola on two large baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 75 minutes without opening the oven or stirring. When the time is up, turn the oven off, but leave the granola in the warm oven until cooled.

A few hours or even overnight, do not open the oven or stir it!

Step 4 - When cooled, add dried fruit and store in a jar.

Tips for the Best Granola

• Use two large sheet pans to spread the granola out evenly. This will allow the granola to dry out and crisp. 

• Bake it on parchment paper, which really helps your nice big clusters stay intact and keeps your cinnamon pecan granola from sticking to the pan.  You can reuse your parchment paper several times just for making granola (go green!).

• Don't open the oven or stir as your granola slowly bakes for 75 minutes.

• When the timer is up, just turn the oven off and leave the granola in for a few hours to cool and dry out. 

• Chopping the Nuts - You can decide whether you want to chop the nuts or leave them whole. I like the large pieces, plus not chopping the nuts makes granola super quick to throw together so I often don't chop them.

• If you want to use less nuts to make the granola recipe more affordable, just sub extra oats.  Or, if you want to use more nuts to make it healthier, again, just sub less oats.  

• Storage - Store granola is a jar or airtight container at room temperature. It will last at least a month or more. A jar of homemade granola makes a great gift!

Ways to Serve Granola beyond Yogurt

We use our cinnamon applesauce granola as a topping for lots of different breakfasts and snacks:

• Yogurt Topping with berries
• Crockpot Steel Cut Oatmeal or Homemade Instant Oatmeal - add a scoop of granola to sweeten oatmeal instead of or in addition to brown sugar!
• Cold Cereal - Add a scoop of granola to sweeten and add protein to a bowl of Cheerios, Chex or other plain cereal.
• Trail Mix - Make a quick trail mix with a few handfuls of cereal, peanuts, raisins, M&M's or chocolate chips and a few scoops of granola.
• Ice Cream Topping - Vanilla ice cream with strawberries, whipped cream, granola and a cherry on top is one of our favorites!
• Applesauce - My kids love an applesauce parfait (instead of yogurt) topped with berries and granola.
• Kid's Snack - Sprinkle granola over sliced bananas or apples and peanut butter.
• Eat it by the handful for a sweet and semi-healthy protein snack! 

If you made this recipe, I'd love to hear how you liked it!  Leave a star rating by clicking the stars in the recipe card, or leave a comment below!

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