Healthy Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting
December 5, 2013
5 Comments
I love the Holiday season. Chocolate peppermint, gingerbread, and eggnog! But I always get a little sad when the trees are bare and the apple and pumpkin flavors start to fade. After enjoying delicious pumpkin and apple pies with family on Thanksgiving I decided to hold on to autumn a little longer with these delicious, healthy pumpkin muffins covered in a sweet, tangy, cream cheese frosting.
I usually make these delicious little guys using pumpkin puree straight from the can, but I decided to up the fall factor by making my own pumpkin puree from a roast sugar pumpkin. Roasting fresh pumpkin definitely concentrates the flavor of the pumpkin and adds a little something-something. This simple muffin recipe can be made using any type of pumpkin puree, so I’ve wrote about how to make the pumpkin puree in a separate post, How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Puree – It’s Simple and Easy!
It worked so well for my apple cake that I again substituted applesauce for the oil. This simple and delicious substitution cuts the calories and fat drastically! For every 1 cup the difference is astonishing!
By substituting the 3/4 cups in this recipe you cut 1365 calories and 168 grams of fat! That means since this recipe makes 12 generous muffins there is over 100 calories and 14 grams of fat less per muffin than if you made the original recipe!!! They really are healthy!
These muffins are certainly healthy enough to eat for breakfast, but the delicious cream cheese frosting also makes them a yummy mid-afternoon snack or dessert. I absolutely love sweet, tangy, cream cheese frosting and pretty much think life is better when things are topped with it. I always make extra so I can taste it and it’s a beater I enjoy licking myself…sorry Chris 🙂
These pumpkin muffins are a perfect way to usher out the fall season with a bang or bake anytime you have a craving for wonderful fall flavors. Enjoy!
Healthy pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting
Ingredients
MUFFINS
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1 cup brown sugar packed
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¾ cup applesauce
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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1 cup 100% pumpkin puree
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2 eggs
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1 cup all-purpose flour
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1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
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1 teaspoon baking soda
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1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
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½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
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¼ teaspoon salt
FROSTING
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8 ounces low fat or regular cream cheese
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2 tablespoons butter
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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¾-1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tin by buttering and then coating each muffin compartment with flour *.
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Cream sugar and applesauce together in stand mixer or using hand mixer. Add vanilla and pumpkin, then add one egg at a time until combined.
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In a separate bowl combine (preferably by sifting) all dry ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients to sugar-applesauce mixture until fully combined. Pour batter into muffin tin.
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Bake in oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
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Once muffins are cooled, cream together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar until frosting reaches desired consistency and sweetness. Frost each muffin with desired amount of frosting. Lick the frosting beater and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*I don’t recommend baking these muffins in muffin liners since they are so moist that they tend to stick to the liners.
Sara
These muffins sound yum yummy!!! I am definitely gonna make these as an alternative to just pies for dessert on Thanksgiving. Thanks too much for sharing Karen!!!
Karen
Thanks Sara! I hope they are a hit on thanksgivings:-)
Tiffany Arceo
What is the calorie count for this recipe? I really want to make this recipe tomorrow. Thanks.
Karen
Hi Tiffany, I’m happy to hear you’re interested in making the pumpkin muffins. Unfortunately I don’t calculate the calorie count for the recipes on the site at this time. These definitely have less calories than a typical muffin, since substituting applesauce for oil cuts 100 calories out of each muffin.
Dorothy Hogan
Do you use natural applesauce which is unsweetened,or sweetened?