Easy Pumpkin Muffins

After work last night I plopped my butt on the couch and began flipping through the TV channels until Paula Deen's television show caught my attention.  She was making the most delicious looking carrot cake.  I was drooling, just watching.  When I caught myself, I thought "Nope, don't do it. Paula is the queen of butter!"  Well, she is! Her recipes are all delicious, but sometimes not so healthy... and I've been doing pretty good sticking to my new healthy eating guidelines! I couldn't blow it on a carrot cake! So, I whipped out my phone and googled 'healthy carrot cake recipe', when I fell upon this very easy, VERY healthy recipe...

Easy Pumpkin Muffins

Courtesy of allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan or line with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves until smooth. Spoon equal amounts of batter into the prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.   

I have to admit, mine came out looking nothing like the pretty picture posted on the webpage... but, they were still very good! They were very moist, and very dense. I used a carrot cake mix, instead of yellow cake mix.  I also added raisins and walnuts.  I was quite surprised that I didn't need to use butter, oil, or eggs! The best part?! Each muffin is only 160 calories, and very low fat. I definitely recommend trying this recipe. I plan to try it again using other variations.

Verdict: Recommended