Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Just In Time For Thanksgiving - Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins 

To this day I still get excited when Starbucks has the pumpkin cream cheese muffins on hand. I LOVE THEM. I'd be lying if I didn't say I treated myself to one earlier in the season. But you see the thing about them is they are not so good for you. It packs a punch with 420 calories. Thats a lot for one serving. What's almost as worse is that it has 47 grams of sugar in it. YIKES. This recipe only has 161 calories per muffin and 3 grams of sugar. Much better in my book. This one isn't as sweet as the Starbucks muffins but it won't give you a muffin top like the Starbucks one will either. 

Here is what you will need:

2 oz of cream cheese 

1 tbsp pure maple syrup 

1 large egg, lightly beaten 

1 cup canned pumpkin puree 

1 tsp of vanilla extract 

1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon 

1 1/2 cups of almond flour 

3/4 tsp of baking soda 

1 dash of pink himalayan salt 

Instructions 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees 

Prepare nine muffin cups with muffin liners

Combine cream cheese and maple syrup in a small bowl. Mix well then set aside 

Combine egg, pumpkin and vanilla in a medium bowl. Mix well then set aside. 

Combine almond flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in another bowl. Mix well 

Add almond meal mixture to egg mixture, mix until blended. 

Spoon batter into each prepared muffin tin cup, filing a little less than 1/2 full 

Spoon 1 teaspoon of cream cheese mixture into the center of each muffin. Evenly fill muffin cups with the remaining batter. 

Bake 16 - 18 minutes or until golden brown. 

Cool on a baking rack. 

Cranberry Apple Crisp

Cranberry Apple Crisp

This weekend I was wanted to come up with a fall dessert that not only tasted great but also was mostly “clean.” Here is what I came up with.

In order to like this dish you need to enjoy the flavor of cranberries. I enjoyed the tangy flavor but my husband was wishing it were a bit sweeter. This turned out great as a hot dish but also tasted delicious when I had it as a morning snack today!

It would make a nice side for a Thanksgiving of fall gathering. Here is what you will need:

3 medium to large crisp red apples, peeled and sliced
1 dry pint of fresh cranberries ( I used organic )

1 lemon

¼ cup of brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon
2 cups of old fashioned oats

¼ cup

2 – 3 small pads of butter to put on the top for baking

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine the apples and cranberries and pour into an eight inch-square baking dish.

Squeeze lemon over mixture

Sprinkle pumpkin pie seasoning, cinnamon and brown sugar over mixture and stir.

In a small bowl combine oats, flour and another teaspoon of cinnamon as well as pumpkin pie spice. Mix and then coat mixture with this. Add butter pads over the top to be melted into mixture.

Bake for 40 – 45 minutes uncovered until bubbly and fruit is soft.

Serves 4 - 5