Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

I was once told “the things you like, you like A LOT.” Pumpkin is one of those things. These granola bars were way easier than I expected to make. After they came out of the oven I declared that I would never store-buy them again. The one downside is that they use a lot of honey and honey is pretty expensive.

(not a picture of mine below)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Highly adapted from: The Comfort of Cooking

3 1/4 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup white chocolate chips

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-Spray an 8 x 8 baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
-In a large bowl, whisk oats, spices, and salt together. Set aside.
-In a medium bowl, whisk brown sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, honey, and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour over oats and stir well, until all of the oats are moist. Stir in chocolate chips.
-Evenly press oat mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown.
-Remove from oven and let cool completely. Using a sharp knife, cut into bars.

Note: I cooked mine in a 9in circular cake pan, you can basically press them into anything and also cut them into whatever shapes you want. The white chocolate chips were a really nice touch to this.