SPICED PUMPKIN CUPCAKES (NO-SUGAR-ADDED)

 

On the first Tuesday after the first Sunday of the month (Did you follow that?) our church has a "Meet and Treat" with the ministers. Friend Molly, our Welcome and Connections  Coordinator, brings a sugary treat and I bring a low/no sugar treat. I found a couple of different treats to make this month, but I had some leftover canned pumpkin that I needed to use.

I know many people are not big fans of pumpkin. My husband is one, but so far this fall he hasn't complained and seems to be enjoying my pumpkin recipes. I haven't made a pumpkin pie. That is usually too much pumpkin for him. I would say these muffins are mild tasting as far as pumpkin goes, but then I like pumpkin so I might not be a good critic. 

If you aren't a big raisin fan, you could add dried cranberries. I think that would taste really good also. If you like a little chocolate, you could always add chocolate chips. Be creative and feel free to make the recipe your own.

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SPICED PUMPKIN CUPCAKES (NO-SUGAR-ADDED)

1       package sugar-free yellow cake mix

1       package (4-serving size) Sugar-Free Vanilla Instant Pudding mix

1       cup canned pumpkin

1/2    cup oil

1/2    cup water

3       large eggs

1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4   teaspoon ground cloves

1        teaspoon vanilla extract

1        cup raisins, optional

cinnamon-sugar/cinnamon-stevia, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 12-cup muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, cinnamon, and cloves in the bowl with an electric mixer.

 

Add the pumpkin, oil, water, eggs, and vanilla and

beat on low just until moistened. Scrape the sides of the bowl. 

Beat two minutes at medium speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl again. 

Add the raisins, if using.

Stir with spatula until distributed.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

Next time I will only fill about 20 muffin cups so that I have all larger muffins. I like a muffin that is 3/4 full instead of 2/3.

Sprinkle tops with cinnamon/stevia mixture, if desired. (I did one pan but forgot to take a picture.)

Bake 20 minutes.

Cool in pans a few minutes. Remove and finish cooling on wire rack.

I sprinkled some powdered sugar on some of the plain ones.

PEACH CRUNCH, an AMISH RECIPE

 Does it feel like time is flying to you? It surely does to me. I can't believe it is already November. Turkey Day will be here in a couple of weeks and stores are already displaying Christmas things. 

Last week was also my week to hostess canasta again which means I had to find something to serve for dessert. I started thinking about it several days before but finally settled on this Peach Crunch recipe. Carol Detweiler, a waitress at Das Dutchman Essenhaus shared the recipe in Volume III Amish-Country Cookbook. I hope to get to Middlebury, Indiana to experience their Amish businesses.

I love peaches in just about everything, but I must say this is one of my new favorites because I love juicy peach cobblers/crisps/crunches. I grew up eating juicy cobblers that my mother made but it is almost impossible to find juicy ones today. They are more dry. My husband is just the opposite. His mother always made dry cobblers so he prefers them that way. He did say that he really liked the taste of this one. I told him that I might not use all of the juice with the peaches next time for him.

The recipe called for a quart can of sliced peaches. I had two jars (24 ounces each) in extra-light syrup that I used. I know that was more than a quart but I wanted lots of peaches. I also used a 2 - quart casserole dish (8" x 11") instead of the 9" x 13" pan the recipe called for for the very same reason. It worked out fine. That made the dry cake mix thicker on top as I sprinkled it on, but it wasn't too much. I just didn't use as much of the nuts and candy on top. The grocery store didn't have Bits O' Brickle so my husband bought three Heath Toffee bars and I used just one of them (4 ounces).

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PEACH CRUNCH

1     quart can sliced peaches with light syrup

1     package yellow cake mix (dry) (I used a sugar-free one )

1     stick of margarine or butter (I used unsalted butter)

1     (6-oz) package Bits O' Brickle or English Toffee

1     cup or less chopped pecans, optional (I did use)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 9 x 13 - inch pan or 2-quart casserole, 8 - 11 inches, with non-stick cooking spray.

Pour peaches, with juice in the baking dish.

Sprinkle dry cake mix on top, evenly.

Drizzle melted butter on top of the cake mix or spread thin slices of a cold stick of butter over top. (I always do the latter.)

Sprinkle Bits O' Brickle on top and

then nuts, if desired. (

I used one 4-oz Heath EnglishToffee Bar

that I crushed with my handy-dandy tool.)

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until cake is golden brown. Since I used the smaller baking dish, I baked mine 45 minutes.

Serve warm with ice cream.  (If you like less liquid, just don't pour all of the syrup from the can.)

BUTTERSCOTCH PUMPKIN CAKE

UPDATE!! 

Last Thursday as Friend Janice and I were just starting out to estate sales, I received a text from Friend Vicki letting me know she was thinking of me because she was making my Butterscotch Pumpkin Cake for the church friends meeting at her house that night. Vicki was in Hope Circle back when we hosted the district meeting for the United Methodist Women that I write about below. They ended up moving to the Atlanta suburbs a few years later though.

 

A few weeks ago Vicki and her husband Don were visiting some of Don's family nearby and we met together to get caught up on our goings-on. At the time she told me she made several of my recipes from my blog including this recipe. Since I was driving, I had to wait until lunch to text Vicki back.

I told her about the problem I had every time I made the cake with the melted butterscotch cooling into blobs when I tried adding it to the cold mixture. She answered back that she had finally figured out after making the cake the second time to melt the butterscotch chips and immediately add it to the canned pumpkin. (The recipe had said to let the melted chips cool and add it at the end.) Well, I thanked her for her suggestions and told her I would have to make the cake soon. It really is a delicious cake!

So Sunday during church I decided I needed to make a treat that afternoon and bring it to church the next morning for Staff Appreciation Month. I don't usually wait until the last day of the month to "appreciate" them, but October just got away from me.

Well, the first cake I made Sunday afternoon worked out great with Vicki's suggestion, but it stuck to the Bundt pan and I had to make another one after dinner. I ate some of the "stuck" portions so I knew I had to make it again. It was as good as I had remembered and had no butterscotch blobs. I also knew I had to update this post with the corrections because the cake is just too good to pass up. I do hope you will try it. I replaced all of the pictures with new ones, too. I did not use the stevia this time but you definitely could.

October 29, 2014

I cut this recipe from Nestle back in 1999 and put it in my spiral notebook of "to try someday" recipes.  Someday finally came  12 years later. I don't remember why, but according to my notes, I made it 3 times within a week and a half. 

When Hope Circle, the United Methodist Women's unit, at our church had to host the district meeting, I suggested this cake for dessert. We made four of them at the church for the luncheon. 

When I needed something to bake for Hillcrest Thrift Shop on Tuesday, I wanted to make something using pumpkin. As soon as I saw the recipe in my notebook, I knew it was the one to make this time. Since I am always trying to cut calories especially from sugar, I decided to use all stevia for the sugar. I know when I cook with stevia, the result is never as sweet tasting as it would be if I had used the sugar.  But this time I thought it was worth a try since there would be the sweetness from the melted butterscotch chips.  

I wasn't disappointed. I personally thought it was just perfect. Everyone at the thrift shop is always so complimentary so I asked them to tell me honestly if they thought it tasted good.  They agreed with me. I'm always glad when I find a recipe that the substitution works so well.

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BUTTERSCOTCH PUMPKIN CAKE

1         cup butterscotch chips
2         cups all-purpose flour
1-3/4   cups stevia or sugar
1         tablespoon baking powder
1-1/2   teaspoons ground cinnamon

1         teaspoon salt

1/2      teaspoon ground nutmeg
1         cup pure pumpkin (canned)
1/2      cup canola oil
3         large eggs
1         teaspoon vanilla extract
powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray or grease and flour a 12 - cup tube pan. (Make sure you grease and flour good. Vicki said she uses Baker's Joy that includes flour.)

Combine the flour, stevia (sugar), baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl

with a whisk or slotted wooden spoon.

Measure the pumpkin into a medium sized bowl.

Microwave the chips in a microwave-safe bowl on high for 15 seconds. Stir. Repeat this process until chips are almost melted. (3xs for me.) Continue to stir until completely melted and smooth.

Add to the pumpkin.

Whisk until smooth.

Add the oil, eggs, and vanilla;

whisk until smooth and then add to the flour mixture stirring until blended.

Pour into prepared pan. 

Bake about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake.

Cool in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes.

Invert serving plate over cake and

remove to cool completely.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar. I made a leaf design for the staff's cake.








This is how I made the leaf pattern....

I placed a fake leaf on the cake...

I sifted a little powdered sugar over the leaf...

Lift the leaf.... (I forgot to take a picture of the cake after just doing the first leaf, but continued four more times being careful not to sift any sugar over the other "leaves".

Serve....

PUDDING A LA PATRICIA

 Do you ever have one of those days when you just NEED something sweet? I have or should I say I do. Often. But I keep reminding myself that I want to lose a few more pounds.

If you follow My Patchwork Quilt, you know I try, when I can, to reduce the sugar calories in my desserts. Sometimes I can tell because the dessert isn't as sweet! And sometimes I can't tell that I reduced the calories by tasting it! Sweet! 

Pudding is one dessert I can make that is almost always sweet tasting whether I use regular pudding mix or the sugar-free pudding mix. Sunday was one of those days that I decided I had put it off as long as I could. 

It was really tempting to order one of Roxanne's desserts and split it with Wayne after we finished our lunch, but I didn't even mention it to him. You see while I had been sitting there considering my options, I decided it was finally time! Time to get out one of my instant pudding mixes when we got home and mixed it up. All the way home I kept thinking what I could do differently to make it special!

You see this recipe is so easy, I almost hesitated to write it up. But then I thought that is just the recipe I do want to share. Cooking/baking doesn't have to be difficult to deserve making. And another thing you can make it according to what you enjoy and have. I started out with adding the coconut and then the cookies in the bottom and finished with the "topping".

Another neat thing about creating your own individual servings is you can cater each one to the "eater's" desire. I added coconut. If one someone in your family doesn't like coconut, you can add it last. Spoon mixture into individual-size-dish and then add coconut to the rest of the mixture.

Do I need to remind you that you can use any flavor pudding mix also? I didn't think so.

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PUDDING A LA PATRICIA

1     package (either 4 or 6 serving size - sugar-free or regular) instant pudding mix (I used chocolate sugar-free)

Milk required according to package directions (I used 2 cups skim milk with the 4-serving size.)

1/2  cup unsweetened coconut (if desired)

Sugar-free cookies (if desired)

Chopped nuts (if desired)

Mini-chocolate chips (no-sugar-added or regular, if desired)

Empty package of instant pudding mix into a large mixing bowl. I then added 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut.

When I added the milk, I added one cup and mixed it up using a whisk and

then added the second cup of milk. (I sometimes have pudding mixes that turn out lumpy even though I use an electric mixer. I didn't want that to happen this time. That's also why I added the coconut initially.) I whipped the mixture with the whisk until thickened.

In the bottom of each individual dish I placed two sugar-free cookies I had bought.

The larger custard dish held three cookies.

Then using a scooped shaped spoon, I

divided the mixture between the five dishes. 

Then I got creative by sprinkling additional coconut on top of two servings and

chopped up some pecans and sprinkled them on top of the other three.

Into the refrigerator to wait until good and cold. You just don't know how hard that was. I think it was the most difficult step in making this dessert.

But it was all worth it! So rich! So many different textures!😍

Next time I think I'll use...

VANILLA INSTANT PUDDING and PEANUT BUTTER

and  make VANILLA PEANUT BUTTER SWIRL PUDDING...

Mix up instant pudding mix as usual and measure out half of the mixture into another bowl.

Add 1/4 cup (no-sugar-added) peanut butter to one of the bowls and

whisk til smooth.

Spoon out the peanut butter  pudding into 5 - 6 servings.

I did add the sugar-free chocolate cookies in the bottom of the dish first.

Add a scoop of the plain pudding mixture and

then swirl it into the plain pudding.

(You will have some of the plain pudding left over that you can eat plain or add something to it - like coconut.)

Add some more on top...