Christmas Granola

This warmly spiced granola is filled with cranberries and pistachios. Orange zest and mixed spice flavor this crunchy Christmas Granola. Step-by-step photos teach you how to make this tasty granola recipe. A perfect homemade gift your friends and family will love this Christmas Granola! 

I was feeling Christmasy what can I say? It's December after all so no one can give me crap for that. Like people do in November...

I am all about Christmas. I love it. It truly is the best time of the year. And since I love Granola, it was only natural for a Christmas Granola to be made.

This came together in a cinch. I used my favorite Maple Almond Granola Clusters recipe and tweaked it for Christmas.

This literally takes all of 5 minutes together and in the words of my mother "You need to package this up and sell it" it is that good. Perfect for Christmas Gifts.

What makes this Christmas? Cranberries, Pistachios, Mixed Spice & Orange. To me that is Christmas. The flavors anyways.

Fair warning, you will need to hide this in the cupboard so it is out of sight otherwise you will eat the whole batch within a day.

For another delicious cranberry recipe try my oatmeal cranberry cookies.

Let's get to the recipe.

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• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Looking for more granola recipes
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Ingredients

For this cranberry and pistachio granola you will need:

• Coconut Oil. The oil helps bind everything together and give the granola a crispy texture. You'll need melted coconut oil.
• Brown Sugar. We don't use a ton but this and the maple syrup will lightly sweeten the granola
• Real Maple Syrup. Use the real deal maple syrup! I get a good size bottle for a great price at Costco.
• Real Vanilla Extract. Don't use the imitation stuff!
• Orange. The combination of warm spices and orange is a Christmas tradition for me. You can't beat it! We will use the zest of the orange in this recipe, the oils from the zest really give the granola a nice light orange flavor.
• Mixed Spice. This delicious spice blend screams Christmas to me. You can make your own at home, here is a recipe for homemade mixed spice mix
• Sliced Almonds. You can use slithered almonds too, I often do a combo of both if I have them both on hand. You don't need to use roasted nuts because we will be cooking them.
• Rolled Oats. I don't suggest using quick oats as you won't get the same chewy texture of a full rolled oat, they'll also cook a lot quicker.
• Unshelled Pistachios. I like to give them a rough chop. We'll add these to the last ten minutes of the granola baking so the nuts are lightly toasted. Trust me always toast your nuts!!
• Dried Cranberries. If you add the cranberries to the granola to bake you will end up with crunchy cranberries, trust me to add them at the end!

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325F/162C and line a baking sheet with a Silpat liner or parchment paper.

You're going to want to zest a full orange, make sure not to zest the white part of the orange. I absolutely love this Microplane zester, makes zesting so easy!

In a medium bowl mix together the maple syrup, brown sugar, coconut oil, vanilla extract, mixed spice, and zest of a full orange. Make sure everything is evenly combined.

In a large bowl mix together the oats, almonds, and mixed spice then pour the liquid ingredients in and mix until everything is evenly coated. 

Add the granola to the baking sheet and use a spatula to press down the granola so it is in a compact even layer. Making this compact layer helps create granola clusters.

Bake for 20 minutes then sprinkle pistachios on top and bake for an additional 10 minutes, the granola should be golden brown, the nuts will still look green.

Take out of the oven and set aside to cool for one hour. Add the cranberries and use clean hands to break the granola into chunks

Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Because of the long shelf life this cranberry pistachio granola is perfect to package up for a delicious edible Christmas gift!

Looking for more granola recipes

• Banana Nut Granola
• Cookie Butter Granola
• Homemade Maple Granola

★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!

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This recipe was originally published December 12, 2016 as of November 20, 2020 the recipe and photos have been updated