Maple Spice Peanut Butter Granola

With the holidays here, it seems that there is far too much sugar around and no matter how strong my will power may be the other 10 months, it sucks from October 31st to January 2nd.  What normal person can really resist all of the deliciousness that comes around the end of the year? The smells, the flavors, the perfectly decorated cookies are far too much for me to ignore, so I taste and nibble while trying to ignore the voices in my head that tell me not to.  But I haven't ignored them completely, in fact I created something just for them: wholesome maple spice peanut butter granola.  It's filling, it's satisfying, it's good for you.  Throw it on top of some greek yogurt or eat it with milk.  Pile some on your ice cream and drizzle with caramel.  See how you are imagining other ways to eat this right now?  It's a powerful little recipe.  Plus making granola yourself is A: cheaper and B: better for you because you get to control what's in it. Clearly there is no way you can go wrong with this simple, easy, and quick to make granola, so what are you waiting for? Get to the kitchen and whip some now to pack for your kids' lunches and for your breakfast or mid day snack, your tastebuds and stomach will thank me....and this sweet little blog!

Maple Spice Peanut Butter Granola
(From: little bitty bakes)

INGREDIENTS:

        1 3/4 cups rolled oats
        1 1/2 tablespoons chia seeds (optional but so much better for you with it)
        1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
        1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
        1/3 cup smooth (or crunchy) peanut butter, melted
        1/3 cup light maple syrup (the real thing! (cant't harp on that enough sorry))

        1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a small bowl, combine the oats, chia seeds, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice, give a quick stir.  Stir in the melted peanut butter and maple syrup, and vanilla and mix well.  Dump onto a cookie sheet and smooth out into a fairly even layer and bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp and light brown.  Make sure you keep your eye on it, it will brown pretty quickly before you know it.  Cool the granola completely before storing in an airtight container. A quart Mason jar, or reused (cleaned) spaghetti sauce jar does the trick just nicely. 

Now forget about those chocolate covered oreo's that you just ate hoping no one was looking and eat something that you don't have to feel guilty about. You're welcome.

Life's better homemade,

LL