Pumpkin Cupcakes

I love these cupcakes, and I love making desserts in the Fall with pumpkin (especially when they are this easy!) They are really moist because of the pumpkin, and made healthier by a few substitutions. For example, applesauce is used instead of oil and lighter versions of ingredients are used in the frosting (light butter and Neufchatel). Both of these substitutions cut down on fat in the recipe. These are great to make anytime in fall, not just around Halloween! People will be asking for the recipe and it’s so easy that you almost do not want to tell them! I hope you enjoy these amazing cupcakes as much as I do!

Ingredients

·      1 package of yellow cake mix

·      1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

·      ½ can of pure pumpkin (half of a 30 oz. can)

·      3 large eggs

·      ½ cup applesauce (plain or cinnamon, cinnamon just adds more flavor)

·      1/3 cup water

·      1 package Neufchatel Cheese

·      ½ stick of Light Butter

·      2-3 cups of powdered sugar

·      1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1.     Preheat the oven to 350* F.

2.     Line 24 muffin tins with cupcake cups (paper liners or silicone).

The cupcake papers were too cute, so I had to share them.

Both of these came in a pack together and I could not pass them up.

3.     In a large bowl or electric mixer, mix cake mix, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin, eggs, applesauce, and water until moist.

I always crack eggs into a separate bowl, this way egg shells do not get into the ingredients.

4.     Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

The batter comes out a little thicker than normal cake batter.

Filling a bag with the batter works very well to fill the cups without the mess!

5.     Pour the batter into the muffin cups, filling them ¾ full.

Try not to fill the cupcakes too little or too much.

6.     Bake the cupcakes for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cupcake.

7.     Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then remove from pan and cool completely.

8.     For the frosting, cream together Neufchatel and butter.

I let the butter and cream cheese (Neufchatel) come to room temperature before creaming.

I think next time I make this I will add more powdered sugar to make the frosting a little thicker.

9.     Add the vanilla to the frosting mixture and mix.

10. Slowly add powdered sugar to the frosting.

11. Once frosting is complete, frost each cupcake.

The cupcakes come out this beautiful orange color. 

12. Decorate with sprinkles if desired.

I really liked these sprinkles; one had pumpkins and bats, the other had tombstones and then I put little ghosts on both of them!

Greta in her lobster costume!!!

Let's just say she was not a huge fan of the costume...

Fruit Pizza Tarts

Growing up my sister would always ask for fruit pizza for her birthday instead of a cake. Fruit Pizza is sugar cookie dough topped with cream cheese frosting and then finished with your favorite fruits. This past weekend my sister and I had a Halloween party and the snacks were all finger foods. I thought of making mini fruit pizzas and putting them into muffin tins. After tweaking the recipe and simplifying ingredients, I came up with these bite size delights. These are very customizable since you can put whatever type of fruit on them that you like.

(I made these at my sister's apartment, sorry about the picture quality.  I took them all with my iPhone, so the lighting may be off.)

Ingredients

• 2 packages premade sugar cookie tubes (cut and bake)
• 1 package of Neufchatel Cheese (1/3 less fat cream cheese, look for it with the cream cheese)
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 stick of light butter
• 1 tub of light frozen whipped topping (thawed)
• Fruit of your choice. I used:
• 1 quart of strawberries
• 1 pint of blackberries
• 1 small can of mandarin oranges

Directions

1.  Set the cookie dough, neufchatel cheese, and butter out to start warming to room temperature. 
2. Take a small amount of the dough (approximately 1 1/2 inches or so) roll into a ball and then flatten it out so that it is relatively thin (if it is too thick the tart will just have more cookie and less room for filling). 

The rolled cookie dough

My sister decided to get in the Halloween mood with this dough by making a skeleton face.

The flattened cookie dough, I used my hands, but a rolling pin would work.

3. Spray the muffin tins with cooking. Take the flattened out cookie dough and put it into the muffin tin. If need be cut the edges so that the tarts lay flat. 

A butter knife can just be taken around the edges to even the dough.

3. Gently roll the edges of the dough into the cup to prevent the dough from sticking to the top side edges of the tin. 

Gently roll the edges of the tarts inwards, this allows the tarts to come out of the pan easier.

4. Bake for the shortest time recommended on the cookie dough package. (I cooked mine for 7 minutes at 325*).

The tarts will come out of the oven very puffy, so don't worry.

5. After baked, let the tarts cool in the pan.  Make sure to cool completely. 

This tart turned out a little thick, so initially thinner is better and will make the final tart lighter.

6. For the frosting, cream together the Neufchatel cheese and butter with an electric or hand mixer.

Cream the butter and Neufchatel together evenly.

7. Add the vanilla and mix together with the frosting.
8. Slowly add the powdered sugar while mixing on low.
9. Once the frosting is mixed, fold in the entire container of whipped topping and put into a quart size bag. When ready to fill the tarts cut the corner of the bag to easily allow you to fill the tarts. 

Make sure to fold in the whipped topping, otherwise it can lose its shape.

Putting the filling into a bag makes it really easy to fill each cup without the mess.

10. Fill the cups 3/4 (or more) full with the cream cheese frosting/whipped topping.

You could add some food coloring to the filling to make these really festive for any holiday.

11. Add the desired amount of fruit to each cup.

Choose which ever fruit to fill the cups with. These have fall colors, so they were perfect.

 

Makes about 24 cups

I was out of town so Greta was not in the Kitchen with me, but I have many pictures of here to share.