Ah, just seeing the word pumpkin makes us smile! It’s one (of our many- oy! 😉 ) food loves! Yes, pumpkin is a bit of an obsession for us. Although it started with our mom’s pumpkin pie, it wasn’t long before it was one of our favorite frozen yogurt flavors and before we were mixing it in everything. We love its’ creamy texture— so awesome for making waistline friendly recipes, especially given that it’s so low in calories (only 40 calories in ½ cup)! We still can’t get over that pumpkin is actually a veggie, so you get fiber and loads of powerful phytonutrients to calm your insides and to ultimately keep you looking more youthful, yet it’s ideal and rich-tasting in crave-worthy treats. As you know we’ve been whipping up waistline friendly recipes using pumpkin for quite some time! Hello to our Pumpkin Cake Spice Roll, our Pumpkin Pancakes,our Pumpkin Spiced Latte, our Protein Pumpkin Pancakes with Banana Cream Syrup… and now drum roll please…
We welcome these Skinny Pumpkin Muffins with Pecan Frosting to our Pumpkin recipe family. Weighing in at a measly 82 calories, this munchkin won’t hurt your weight loss efforts. In fact, this baby is protein-packed (not as chubby as fattier muffins [i.e. lower in artery-clogging fat—it doesn’t have any!]), but more creamy and delicious! And the protein (11 grams) makes this little number one that will keep you satiated. And it’s great after a workout to help build and maintain lean muscle and repair tissues.
(Psst… If you workout, this muffin may be your new bestie. Having this muffin as a post-workout snack will help you to recover from your workout more quickly, thanks to its’ healthy carbs and protein combo which replete lost muscle glycogen [energy] stores and help to rebuild damaged muscles!)
Skinny Pumpkin Muffins with Pecan Frosting
This muffin is great for a post-workout snack! They are easy to make and delicious to eat!
Makes 8 muffins
Ingredients:
Batter
½ c. canned pumpkin (pure pumpkin – not pie filling)
3 scoops – we used Optimal Nutrition (vanilla)
¼ c. gluten-free flour*
2/3 c. egg whites (we use Eggland’s Best)
1 tsp. baking powder
*Other types of flour may be substituted
Frosting:
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup stevia
2 Tablespoons almond milk
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt
Muffins
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a bowl, mix all ingredients for the muffin batter.
- Spoon batter into a cupcake pan that has been spritzed with oil or with cooking spray to prevent sticking. You should end up with eight muffins. We used a muffin tin for 12 muffins but only filled eight of them and about 2/3 of the way high with batter.
- Place in oven and bake for about 12-15 mins
- Remove from oven, and allow to cool slightly. After cooling for about 10 minutes, remove muffins from tin and place in fridge to maximize freshness.
- To maximize freshness, store leftovers in fridge.
Frosting
- Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Once muffins are chilled, add frosting.
Nutritional Information:
1 muffin
Calories 82; Fat 1g; Saturated Fat 0g; Carbohydrates 12g; Protein 11g; Cholesterol 13mg; Sodium 81mg; Fiber 1g
The Nutrition Twins are spokespeople for Eggland’s Best and love that they use a proprietary hen feed so that the eggs have 25% less saturated fat, double the omegas, and four times the vitamin D compared to other eggs.
- Batter
- ½ c. canned pumpkin (pure pumpkin – not pie filling)
- 3 scoops – we used Optimal Nutrition (vanilla)
- ¼ c. gluten-free flour*
- ⅔ c. egg whites (we use Eggland’s Best)
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- *Other types of flour may be substituted
- Frosting:
- ½ cup pecans
- ¼ cup stevia
- 2 Tablespoons almond milk
- ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of sea salt
- Muffins
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a bowl, mix all ingredients for the muffin batter.
- Spoon batter into a cupcake pan that has been spritzed with oil or with cooking spray to prevent sticking. You should end up with eight muffins.
- Place in oven and bake for about 12-15 mins
- Remove from oven, and allow to cool slightly.
- To maximize freshness, store leftovers in fridge.
- Icing
- Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth
