I have been making this granola every weekend for over a year now. I could do it in my sleep. I haven’t changed anything, or tweaked it since I got it “just so”. It is perfect: just the right balance of sweet and cinnamon, with extra pecans thrown in.

But this week was different. I have been craving fall; fall weather, fall flavors, fall smells. And while September in SE Texas is decidedly not fall, I still start to crave the season right when September begins.

So this week I’m diving in and breaking out my fall recipes. I’m still cooking light for summer, but there are a lot of “extras” I make for fall that I’m starting to make now. Because my internal season gauge and TX weather don’t jive yet.

The first thing I did was mess around with my granola recipe to make it more “fall-ish”. I’m not going to post a full recipe, because it’s still mostly the same; I just made a few substitutions.

Instead of olive oil and honey for the liquids, I used 1 C. of pumpkin puree, 1/4 C. of honey, and 1/4 C. of maple syrup (okay, I used the fake stuff, so sue me).

I dialed down the cinnamon, but shouldn’t have. Keep it the same. I also forgot to add the coconut, but that was an accident. Don’t be like me.

The end result was very maple-y. It was darker in color than the other granola, and the pumpkin taste didn’t shine through as much as I would have liked. Next time I’m going to up the pumpkin and dial back the maple just a touch.

But it was still very tasty and reminded me of pancakes.I am now determined to find a “fall” flavor for my granola, so this might not be the last you hear of it.

It definitely won’t be the last you hear of fall flavors, either.

Can September 1st be the official start of fall? Please?

The Wife