Pumpkin Granola

Today is the beginning of December. A month that lot of people look forward to mainly because of holidays.  The best thing I like about December is the chance to bake a lot of things to give as gifts. And today marks the beginning of Bake-A-Thon 2012. I am sure some of you might not agree with the name since I am not posting everyday, but still I want to call it by the same name. Some of my blogger friends wanted to join me in this venture. I am happy that I have company because with the busy office work, it is easy to stop blogging unless you have some motivation. So, thanks go to Preethi, Veena, Priya, Srivalli and  Sumana.

One Year Back - Cranberry Corn Muffins
Two Years Back - Holiday Gift Ideas
Three Years Back - Cake Decorating Basics - II

Ingredients: 
Rolled Oats - 5 cups
Brown Sugar - 1 cup packed
Canola Oil - 1/4 cup
Pumpkin Puree - 3/4 cup (I used homemade)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 tsp
Cloves - 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg - 1/4 tsp
All Spice - 1/4 tsp
Dried sweetened Cranberries - 1 - 1 1/2 cups (Or your favorite dried fruits like raisins or chopped dates)
Walnuts - 1 cup chopped (Pecans make another delicious addition/variation)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 325 F.  Line two large baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray with vegetable oil spray. Set aside. In a bowl, take rolled oats and chopped walnuts. Toss gently. In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, canola oil, pumpkin puree, salt and other spices. Heat stirring occasionally till brown sugar melts a bit and combines with the rest of the ingredients in the pan. It doesn't have to boil. Pour this on to the granola and walnut mixture and stir to combine. There will be lot of lumps, leave them as is or break them into smaller lumps. Spread on the two baking sheets and bake for 50 minutes to an hour stirring once midway and rotating the baking sheets. If you have spread it thin enough, it should be ready in 50 minutes. If you have too many big lumps, it will take up to an hour. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. I would suggest you to break the lumps into smaller ones since it will add texture uniformly through out the cereal. Add sweetened dried cranberries and mix. Once cooled completely, store in an air tight container. This should be good for two weeks if not eaten by then. I prefer to eat this with warm milk instead of cold milk.

Notes:
You could reduce the spices if you don't like the spices or omit them altogether. In that case, add about 2 tsp of vanilla to pumpkin mixture.

Enjoy.