Pumpkin Cupcakes

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Happy (belated) Halloween!  This time of year, pumpkin spice is everywhere. Grocery store shelves are filled with pumpkin coffee cakes, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin cookies, even Cheerios are now made in pumpkin spice flavor. So of course I have to post yet another pumpkin recipe.  These are cupcakes I made for a Halloween party last year, and are very similar to my recipe for Maple and Chia Pumpkin Bars. They use a whole can of pumpkin, so they are very moist, full of real pumpkin flavor, and super simple to mix together.  They are great in donut form as well, eaten without frosting as a healthy morning meal, or decorated for Halloween festivities. If you are like me and have a lot of left over candy corn now that Halloween is passed, they will make a fantastic treat to surprise your kids with even after the sweetest of holidays has passed. Maybe I'll even make them today, since it is officially my half birthday, and I should at least eat (half) a cupcake!

Chocolate Cashew Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate Cashew Butter Cupcakes

Halloween season is here, and since I never got around to posting this deliciously spooky dessert last year, I figured I might as well get it out there before the holiday passes me by. I actually cannot believe I haven't made them again since last year.  Too many new recipes to try and not enough people to eat everything, so I often don't make things twice. But after rereading the ingredients and jogging my memory with the photos, I think I'll have to make an exception.  These cupcakes are made without any flour, so they are gluten free, and because the base is cashew butter (you could definitely use any other nut butter you prefer) and eggs, they are high in protein. They are still a dessert, with a good amount of pure maple syrup, and some sugar. The Nutella frosting and skeleton decoration make them a extra sweet treat, but this is Halloween after all, and I did save some of the plain cupcakes for a semi-healthy, pre-workout, morning meal. The coolest part about this recipe was that I decorated the cupcakes at home and then transported them almost two hours to a party, and only one of the skeletons' arms fell off. They were a huge hit and so cute to look at.  And terrifyingly tasty to eat!

Halloween Candy Brownies

Brownie Jack-o-Lantern

As a lover of all things healthy, Halloween is definitely my least favorite holiday.  Sure the dressing up is fun, but the amount of candy my kids consume during all their holiday parties and of course the bags of candy they collect drive me crazy.  I usually let them eat whatever they want that first night, within reason, and then portion out the rest to about one or two pieces a day. But sometimes that can last for weeks and I hate feeding them junk and having the candy around to tempt me. One solution?  Use the candy in a slightly healthy brownie recipe that provides a bit of fiber and protein so that you can feel a little better about eating all those sweets.

Some of my favorite combinations are Reese's peanut butter cups or Reese's pieces baked into a peanut butter brownie like the one below, although using mounds candy bars or almond joys with either coconut oil or almond butter in the place of some of the butter would be delicious.  Peppermint patties also make a good brownie mix in as well as good old M & Ms like I used here.  Granted, this is not a health food, but it is slightly better for you and more satisfying than just eating piece after piece of left over candy. For a special Halloween day treat, it can even be fun to frost the brownies with a light cream cheese frosting and decorate with melted chocolate jack-o-lantern shapes.  Happy trick or treating!!!  (Just remember to eat a salad first!!)