Gingerbread Granola
Gingerbread granola is made with sweet dried cranberries, warm Christmas spices and sweetened with honey and molasses. You can enjoy this Christmas granola plain, with milk, on top of pancakes or in yogurt!
This time of year is perfect for baking! I love all the spices and aromas that fill my kitchen. Gingerbread is one fo my favorite holiday flavors. Spice up your holiday with a few of my favorite gingerbread recipes — gingerbread waffles, gingerbread whoopie pies, gingerbread cookies, and gingerbread bundt cake.
Why This Recipe Works
- Gingerbread flavor in granola form. This is the ultimate Christmas granola recipe! It seriously tastes like Christmas in granola form. The delicious spices all pair together so well. My favorite is the gingerbread milk leftover in the bowl!
- Baked for extra flavor and crunch! I love that this recipe bakes the gingerbread granola. It gives it a nice crunch to it and helps the flavors come together. The molasses and honey caramelize and the result is SO good!
Ingredient Notes
- Honey: Adds a delicious natural sweetness while also providing a sticky aspect to help create the granola clumps.
- Molasses: If you don’t have molasses, I would recommend using more brown sugar and honey. The molasses provides a nice, deep amber flavor to the gingerbread granola recipe.
- Dried Cranberries: The dried cranberries give the granola recipe a nice texture difference and provide added sweetness. Cranberries remind me of the holidays, too, so I think it’s a nice flavor note as well.
- Rolled Oats: Rolled oats hold their shape and texture better than quick oats.
- Spices: The combination of ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and allspice is a Christmas gingerbread spices masterpiece!
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Mix the oats, nuts, and dried cranberries together in a large bowl.
- In a saucepan over medium low heat, add the oil, honey, molasses, and brown sugar. Cool, stirring frequently, until the mixture is combined and the sugar has dissolved, about 5-7 minutes. Once heated and smooth, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves.
- Pour the mixture over the dry oat mixture and mix until combined.
- Spread the granola mixture evenly onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 325°F for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to prevent edges from browning too quickly and to ensure even cooking. Bake until the granola is golden brown and fragrant.
- Once the granola has browned, remove from the oven and let cool on the pan before transferring to an airtight container or bag for storing.
Recipe Tips
For the nuts, feel free to use a mixture of pecans, walnuts, almonds etc.
If you want a gluten free gingerbread granola, just make sure to use gluten free oats!
For an enhanced ginger flavor, add chopped candied ginger.
If you don’t have molasses, I would recommend substituting more honey and brown sugar. Brown sugar is granulated sugar with molasses, so using a bit more fo that will bring in more of the molasses flavor, whereas additional honey will provide more of that sticky molasses texture.
Storing and Freezing
Store the Christmas gingerbread granola in an airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months. Granola can also be frozen and kept for longer. To freeze, store in a Ziplock bag and try to remove as much of the air as possible. Consume within 3 months for best flavor.
FAQs
Yes! Ginger is the staple spice in gingerbread. It isn’t the only spice though! Gingerbread also has allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
Depends! I love soft gingerbread cookies. However, if you are making a gingerbread house, you’ll want those to be really hard.
Again, it depends! If you are making granola with fructose corn syrup or tons of sugar, then it won’t be healthy because of all the refined sugar. But this granola uses mostly honey as the main sweetener, and honey is a more natural form of sugar. As with all kinds of food, if you are putting a lot of unhealthy ingredients in it, then it won’t be healthy. This gingerbrea
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Gingerbread Granola Recipe (Christmas Granola)
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 4 cups rolled oats - not steel cut oats
- 1 1/2 cups raw pecan halves - roughly chopped
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
Wet Ingredients
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil - or canola oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar - packed (can use light or dark brown sugar, I used dark).
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Spices
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
- Mix the oats, nuts, and dried cranberries in a large bowl.
- In a saucepan over medium low heat add the oil, honey, molasses, and brown sugar. Stir frequently until the mixture is fully combined and the sugar has dissolved, about 5-7 minutes. Once heated and smooth, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves. Stir to combine. Pour mixture over the dry oat mixture. Mix to combine.
- Spread the granola mixture evenly onto the parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to prevent edges from browning too quickly and to ensure even cooking. Bake until granola is golden brown and fragrant.
- Once the granola has browned remove from the oven and let cool on the pan before transferring to an airtight container or bag for storing.
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