Pancake Cupcakes with Maple-Bacon Buttercream Frosting………….yes, bacon.

A recipe I HAD to try! I saw bacon and I saw cupcake and knew it was going to be a match made in heaven.  Check out my attempt by clicking on the picture above! Enjoy!

After constantly searching for different “diet friendly” dessert creations, I came across this gem!  Only calling for three ingredients:  spice cake mix, 15 oz. of pumpkin, and h2o, I really couldn’t resist.  I’ve heard of recipes that call for cake mix + apple sauce or cake mix + a can of diet coke (yes, some people have claimed it’s delicious….), but for whatever reason, these three ingredients were much more appealing.  So, I thought I’d give it a try…

I stopped by the market on the way home from work, and found my spice cake mix and my pumpkin puree…however, I picked up a can of pumpkin pie mix.  Oops!  I’m sure this has a little more sugar than just plain ol’ pumpkin—and probably tastes a little better too—but after doing some comparing, there really isn’t a whole lot of difference nutritional-wise between the pumpkin pie mix puree and just plain pumpkin puree.  So…I’m not too bothered about my little mistake! :o)

Throw all three whole ingredients into the mixer and voila!  A creamy, delicious batter!! I added about 3 tsp of pumpkin pie spice to add some more of that cinnamony nutmeg flavor, you know, since the first day of autumn is tomorrow!  

The recipe made exactly 24 muffins and if you are familiar with Weight Watchers, each muffin is 3 points.  Not bad if you’re looking for something to satisfy your sweet craving without going to bed with the, “oh i shouldn’t have so let me hurry and brush my teeth and pretend it didn’t happen,” feeling. 

Literally 40 minutes from cutting open the spice cake mix I was taking a bite into one of these delicious muffins…perfect timing for the season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy!  The perfect ratio of sweetness to spice, I will definitely be making these treats again.  I recommend adding in the pumpkin pie spice, and if you’re feeling a little sinful, throw in some chocolate chips and top with a yummy cream cheese frosting!! Below is a link to the original recipe I followed.  Enjoy!

keep life sweet,

-Jess

Guilt-Free Pumpkin Muffins

I love to bake.  I love sweets.  The taste, smell, and textures of dessert are my ultimate escape.  My apartment is filled with vanilla and frosted cupcake candles just to fill the void when I don’t have something baking in the oven.  I am by no means an expert baker, in fact, I have never come up with my own recipe for really anything.  I find baking therapeutic and I find myself browsing the internets for the next “amaaaazing” recipe.  That’s how my “Cuppycake Bucket List” came to creation.  

After drooling over different butterceam frostings and non-traditional cupcake finds I decided to start a so-called “bucket list” of different dessert recipes I wanted to bake/revise/review on an excel spreadsheet.  Seeing that this would only be a review for myself, even after I tried to “pretty” up excel with pink and purple Lucida font, my co-worker secretly created this tumblr for me so I could share my bucket list, post my pictures and share my results with the rest of my friends!  So smart that Sara!

So here we are, I actually have a batch of oatmeal white chocolate and cranberry cookies in the oven as I type.  So sit back, enjoy my pictures, reviews and revisions of these recipes I find to be the most delicious.  And maybe, just maybe, you’ll be lucky enough to be around as I pull these goodies fresh out of the oven! 

keep life sweet,

jess