2 point pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

What part of that post title is not to like?  2 points?  Cupcakes?  Cream cheese frosting?  What if I said the cupcakes take exactly only two ingredients to make.  I'm serious.  Two.  Ingredients.

Now that fall is officially here, I've been starting to get my bake on, and make a double batch of perfect banana bread yesterday.  But fall is  never complete without an assortment of pumpkin baked goods.  When I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I had to try it.

The verdict?  Moist, fall-ish, and delish!  And rumor has it, the cupcakes are 2 Weight Watchers points (without the frosting).  A 1/2 cup serving of pumpkin has 5 grams of fiber, 2 grams of protein, and only 4 grams of sugar. And only 40 calories for a whole 1/2 cup! 0.5 grams of fat, no cholesterol. The list goes on and on.

So what do I need to do, you say?  Buy a box of yellow cake mix, and a 15 oz. can of pumpkin:

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Get out your electric mixer, and line a cupcake pan with liners.  I didn't find this recipe made 24 cupcakes, but rather 15 or so ample, fluffy ones.

 

Next, mix the cake mix with the pumpkin. Don't add another single thing.  Whip it together at a nice quick speed to really fluff it up.

 

 

Once its all mixed together and fluffy, spoon it into the muffin liners, 2/3 full.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes.  These do not take as long to bake as cupcakes with eggs/oil in them since the batter is much thicker to begin.

 

Once they've cooled, you can sprinkle with powder sugar for more of a breakfast muffin, or frost with cream cheese frosting for dessert (store bought or home made*).  Heck, you could even smooth the batter into a loaf pan and make it into bread.  Or try mini-muffins.

 

 

These taste like cake with a pumpkin flavor to them - not overwhelming in your face pumpkin.  Its sometime hard to stay focused on eating healthy in the fall what will all the thousands of pounds of candy laying around, and the cider doughnuts and the pumpkin spiced lattes and, and, and... 

 

So at least this is one treat you can make for your family that you don't have to feel guilty eating.

 

Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.