I’m not walking away from the holidays without a fight. We finally took our tree and decorations down last weekend. I always love decorating for the holidays but it flies by and then its a little disappointing once it is over.
One of my favorite things about the holiday season is gingerbread. I love gingerbread cookies. I love the spicy flavor. It evokes all of the aromas of the season for me.
I could seriously eat this guy up!
I also love granola, but if you have ever looked at a nutrition label for most granolas you will find that they are loaded with fat and sugar. Don’t get me wrong, fat isn’t the culprit we once accused it of being. However, I don’t like starting the morning off with a cereal that is full of unnecessary fat and calories. I like to eat mindfully.
So I set about to make a granola that tastes like gingerbread but is also full of healthy fats and far less sugar. This recipe is full of fiber and antioxidant rich dried fruits.
Ingredients:
3 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup dried apricots (chopped)
1/2 cup dried cherries (chopped)
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon dark molasses
I tablespoon ginger
1 teaspoon clove
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Directions:
Preheat oven to 250ºF. Combine butter, syrup, and molasses in a small bowl. Add oats to a large bowl and stir in the butter and syrup mixture. Add in fruit and nuts. Thoroughly stir in spices until well covered.
Place granola mix on a large baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to dry for at least one hour.
What is your favorite holiday flavor? Do you like granola?
Running On Healthy 
I love all of it – but agree gingerbread is a fave! We made a couple of batches if gingerbread cookies, but also love peppermint so we make cookies called ‘peppermint pinwheels (flatten normal sugar cookie dough and colored flavored cookie dough and roll into a log then slice … amazing). Same for flavored coffee and so on … yum 🙂
You are speaking my language. All of it! I love peppermint too and I believe I made the same (or similar) cookies this year. I told everyone to enjoy them though because they were too much work and I am not doing it again. Odds are by next winter, I will be ready to make them again. And flavored coffee is what might be getting me through this chilly and snowy winter!
Haha – they ARE a lot of work, and worse still we made the first batch early and there were none left by the time Danny came home, so we did ANOTHER batch! Whew – they’re an annual bake for us.
I LOVE granola! I’d never admit it in public though. I’m a Republican. LOL!!!
Haha. It’s okay. It’s our little secret 😉
😆
Spiked egg nogg! I tossed our tree Monday night. Decorations came down a week ago.
Oh I love egg nog. Now you have me craving that too!
Gingerbread and peppermint are my favorites!! Love the addition of the dried fruits in this granola.
Thanks. The dried fruit adds a little sweetness where I took out the added sugar. I think it was w nice trade off.
We put our tree out a few days ago with much reluctance. If it wasn’t a fire hazard and source of many pokes, a tree would occupy our living room year round. I love gingerbread, too! Our recipe is easy (with the exception of dealing with the molasses) yet I only make it once a year. ? More must be made. More pumpkin pie and pumpkin chocolate chip loaf, too. You’ve awoken my sweet tooth!
I’m with you. I love those holiday spice flavors. Gingerbread and pumpkin are the best. I would keep a tree inside year round too. I saw our neighbor still has theirs up and admire it when I drive home at night.