Fall pumpkin baking!! November 12, 2014

So I posted the recipe for the Pumpkin Almond/Maple Muffins (find the recipe here) I made this weekend, and here is the recipe for the bars - 

Pumpkin Granola Bars

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups quick oats
• 1/2 cup olive oil (or coconut oil)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1&1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or mini dark chips)
• 1/4 cup raisins or dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 2 Tbsp ground flax seeds 
• 2 Tbsp hemp hearts
• 2 Tbsp chia seeds

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a square baking pan with parchment paper. 

2. In a large bowl, mix together your oats and oil. Add the pumpkin, brown sugar, honey and mix thoroughly. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

3. Press the mixture tightly into your prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.

4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before cutting up. As a special treat, you can ice it with cream cheese (I recommend apple cinnamon!) and store it in an airtight container. 

MY RESULTS:

Again, I doubled the recipe and got a HUGE pan (9x13) of the mixture. There was so much I just cut it into squares like a dessert rather than having the traditional thin rectangular granola bar. Next time I think I will do just a single recipe in the large pan so that it will be thinner, and more like a traditional granola bar.