Chocolate, that's good for you? I love it!

I stumbled across a recipe the other day completely by accident. Boy am I glad I did! So easy- and I already had everything on hand. I plan on keeping these in the freezer for breakfast or when I need a chocolate fix without all the guilt :)

You only need three things: 1 Box of Devils Food Cake Mix, 1 15oz Can of Pumpkin and 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce.

Mix batter, spoon into muffin tins and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes

I made 15 regular muffins and 16 mini muffins...the minis were done in about 15 min. Note- this will come out looking exactly like they went in...the batter is thick! Next time I would take a little more time to smooth the tops :)

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar. For those that don't like pumpkin...you can't taste it. And for die hard chocolate lovers, add a few chocolate chips. They are moist, delicious, and healthy!!

Fall flavors full of love!

I adore pumpkin.  I NEVER get sick of it and wish it wasn't considered so seasonal! Today, we made Iced Pumpkin Cookies!

Lots of ingredients, which is a bonus if you have a two-year old that loves to help :)

Combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl. Robyn just loves this part...Me too! Another chance to use my whole nutmeg. It smells so good!

Beat together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, pumpkin and vanilla.

Gradually add flour mixture until incorporated.

Oops! How did those chocolate chips get in there??

Made exactly 36 cookies, just as the recipe states. I'm always shocked when my guesstimated scoops come out just right :) Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

I made another change to this recipe... I used Orange Juice instead of the milk for the frosting. Such a tasty combination!

I also added a little food coloring to give it a nice orange color :)

A beautiful glaze and a wonderful tasting cookie....so good!

Loving a way to eat chocolate for breakfast!

I realize in much of the country, there seems to be a pumpkin shortage. Not here! I bought 6 cans just the day before Thanksgiving and had my choice between 3 brands. Needless to say, I decided it was time to use some of it! I love pumpkin, and my husband does not. I tried a new recipe looking for a "healthy" breakfast muffin that Robyn would love and I would eat too :)
I worked with this recipe (Pumpkin Wheat Honey Muffins)- and will admit, I made tweaks because I couldn't find a recipe that was exactly what I was looking for. I chose right, because this is a fantastic recipe!!


Begin by pulling out the large ingredient list! I subbed applesauce for the oil, and because I HATE nuts and raisins in my muffins/cakes/cookies, I used 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips. Chocolate is good for you, right??


This recipe calls for you to mix all the dry ingredients and then make a well, and add the wet ingredients. After reading the reviews on this recipe, I did up the pumpkin to 1 cup instead of 3/4. I also tasted the batter after mixing, and added an additional 1 tsp of cinnamon.


After the batter was combined, I added in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and spooned into my muffin tins. I lined the large pan and after hitting 12 muffins, as the recipe said it made, I still had tons of batter. I got out my mini muffin pan, sprayed well and got 12 mini muffins from this recipe too!! That was a bonus :)


I baked them at 350 degrees. The mini muffins took 14 minutes and 18 minutes was spot on for the regular size muffins.


I didn't mix the chocolate chips in very well, so when I got to the mini muffin pans, there were about 5 chips in the bowl. I decided to top each mini muffin with one chocolate chip- just because it was cute!


These muffins were light, fluffy and moist. Not at all dense like I was expecting. Don't you love Robyn's muffin liners??


And I don't know about you- but the gooey chocolate chips inside made me VERY happy. No doubt, this will be a go to recipe for me. Even my pumpkin hating husband loved them! And they stayed moist for almost a week.