Mini Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes!

Happy Halloween morning!!

I love seeing what everyone dresses up as every year, and I also love to see all the different ways people use pumpkin flavoring! Pinterest is overflowing with pumpkin!

For my part, I opted for mini cupcakes. I love small serving sizes, because you can have a taste of something decadent, but you don't need finish a large serving. And if you want more, have another! At only 50 calories a pop, these delicious little cakes will satisfy your pumpkin craving without crashing your diet!

Here's The Skinny:

Each cupcake has about 50 calories! Sweet!  

 Recipe:

Makes about 40 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups canned 100 percent pure pumpkin
2 cups vanilla cake mix (I recommend French vanilla)
1 1/2 cups nonfat milk, at room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable oil or coconut oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

For the frosting:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup 1/3 less fat cream cheese, at room termperature
1/4 (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons low fat sour cream

Preheat oven to 350, and line a mini muffin tin with liners.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the cupcakes and mix together with a hand mixer, until the batter is smooth. Mix on high speed for a minute or two at the end, to make the batter light and fluffy. Spoon about a tablespoon of batter into each liner, or use a cookie scoop. Depending on the size of your tin, you may need to make several batches.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the cupcakes are light and golden, and bounce back if you touch the top.

Let the cupcakes cool for at least 30 minutes before frosting them, to ensure they won't break apart.

The frosting is just as easy as the cupcakes to assemble! Just throw everything into a bowl, and mix on high with a hand mixer, until fluffy. Then use a small knife, and spread on top of the cooled cupcakes.

Decorate with sprinkles, and enjoy!

We used these as a birthday cake to celebrate Heather's birthday last weekend. So cute!

Happy Halloween everyone! Stay warm, stay safe, and have a fun and spooky day!!!

Almond Bread

Ok guys, after a long time away, I'm back!

Although I haven't been posting, I have still been busy in the kitchen! Also check out the upcoming recipes Sesame Quinoa Spring Rolls and Mexican Bean and Quinoa Pilaf!

But, for now, we're going to start with the most important part of the meal: dessert!

My friend Clare came over for dinner, and I wanted to put together a dessert for her, but didn't have the time to do anything extravagant. This took me only about 10 minutes of hands-on time, and I got a huge pay-off! Clare said it was one of her top three favorite breads/cakes, and said it may even be #1! Sweet!

I got this recipe from the magazine Cooking Light, and I'm so glad I gave it a go! It's incredible, and closely resembles a pound cake where almond paste replaces the butter that normal pound cakes have. I plan to replace the all purpose flour with oat flour to make it gluten free, and in the future I'd love to try some almond flour just to bring it to the next flavor level! I'm also interested to try almond milk to replace the nonfat milk!

Here's The Skinny:

Each slice (Recipe makes 16 slices): 195 calories. Compare that to your favorite 500 calorie sweet bread from Starbucks! Yeah, go ahead, have another piece!

 Recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 (7 oz) package almond paste (easily found in the baking section of your grocery store)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon nonfat milk, divided
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Dash of salt


1)Preheat oven to 350
2) Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside.
3) In a large bowl or a stand mixer, combine sugar, butter, coconut oil and almond paste until well combined.
4) Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then beat in the vanilla.
5) Add flour mixture and 1/2 cup milk alternately to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; beat just until combined.
6) Scrape batter into a greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, and then sprinkle with almonds.
7) Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
8) Whisk together the remaining 1 tablespoon milk and 1/3 cup powdered sugar and the dash of salt. Drizzle the glaze over the almonds and let stand until set.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free and Vegan Chocolate Cake with Cocoa Peanut Butter Sauce

Wow. Just wow. There are no other words ... I'm a chocolate fanatic, and this recipe totally satisfied my cocoa cravings!

This is another adaptation of a Bethenny Frankel recipe, and she has not led us astray! So crazy delicious!

Here's The Skinny:

Each generous slice (serves 6) has 417 calories, 6.1 grams fiber, and 10.4 grams protein! Pretty dang good for a piece of chocolate cake if you ask me!

Recipe:

For the cake:

1 1/4 cups oat flour
1 cup raw sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1 teaspoon warm water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1) Preheat oven to 350
2) Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, and stir until combined.
3) Pour into a bread pan, and bake for 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.

For the cocoa peanut butter sauce:

1/3 cup raw sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 1/2  tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons original almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan, and heat until the crystals from the raw sugar are dissolved. Then drizzle over the chocolate cake for an incredible experience!

This recipe is a MAJOR keeper! SO SO delicious, and not a bad calorie count for the size of the piece of cake! You could easily cut the cake into 8 and still have a good serving size!

Next time, I'm planning to bake the cake in ramekins instead of in a bread pan, because the cake was pretty crumbly and hard to get out of the pan and serve. I think serving this cake in ramekins with the sauce over top would be perfect!