I don’t know about you, but I find myself still craving gingerbread-flavoured things long after Christmas has finished.  While I’m an odd person in that I’ll gladly listen to Christmas carols in June, and have no qualms about drinking apple cider in the summer (it’s a comforting drink, what can I say?) – gingerbread and anything molasses-y is something I save for this time of year only.  So I can’t limit myself to only enjoying it during the few days of the Christmas season – really, I have no choice.

But because eating gingerbread cookies can get dull after a while, I was delighted when I stumbled upon this recipe from I ♥ Vegan for gingerbread flavoured granola — and while I’m not a vegan myself, it’s so nice to have this as a resource.

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Gingerbread Granola (based off of I ♥ Vegan Recipe)

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats
• 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 tbsp crystallized ginger
• 2/3 cup soy protein isolate
• 2 T ground flax seed
• 1 t: cinnamon, ginger
• A small pinch of both allspice and cloves
• 1.5 T molasses
• 1 T apple sauce
• 2/3 cup packed soft pitted dates
• 2 T nondairy milk
• 1/2 T canola oil

Directions

Set the oven to 300°F.  Mix together the oats, walnuts, ginger, protein isolate, flax seed and spices. Chop up the dates into very fine pieces.  Blend together the molasses, apple sauce, milk and canola oil, and then add all of the ingredients together.  Use your fingers to break the granola into little chunks, and then sprinkle it onto a cookie sheet.

Bake the granola for 10 minutes, then stir it.  Bake it for another 10 minutes, and stir it again.  Bake it for ten more minutes or so (until it’s toasted and crunchy), and then take it out and let it cool.  Once it’s cooled, keep it in an airtight container and enjoy!

My favourite part about this granola?  The fact that it turns your milk a toasty, honey-ish colour from the molasses – it feels indulgent and holiday-like all at once.  I tried to go down a more home-made path with my gifts this year, and snuck this recipe into some presents I used for family and friends – the only problem being that when I sampled the recipe, I actually contemplated just shrugging and saying, ‘Oh, whatever,’ and driving to Winners for a last minute gift replacement and keeping the granola for myself instead.  But rest assured – I held out and didn’t do it!

Hopefully those that ended up with a little jar of this enjoyed it – and hopefully, if you end up making it yourself, you’ll enjoy it too.  Happy prolonged holiday season, everyone – remember, it’s vacation-time as long as you think it’s vacation-time.