When Hungry Girl‘s Great Pumpkin Roundup arrived in my inbox last week, I was instantly intrigued by the first recipe: caramel pudding pumpkin cupcakes! With visions of a tender cupcake with notes of maple and spice, and a warm caramel glaze, I set out to tweak the recipe a bit.
I love Hungry Girl’s creative swaps for healthier versions of high-calorie and high-fat dishes, but I don’t like to use sugar-free ingredients or boxed cake mixes filled with preservatives and food coloring. The end result? Cupcakes with more calories than the original recipe, but fewer artificial ingredients.
Caramel Pudding Pumpkin Cupcakes
Adapted from Hungry Girl
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 egg white
2 cups canned pure pumpkin
1/2 cup low fat milk
1 tsp vanilla
4 Tbsp maple syrup
Drizzle
6 cubes (about 2 ounces) chewy caramel
4 tsp low fat milk
Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with baking cups.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine eggs, egg white, pumpkin, milk, vanilla, and maple syrup in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and whip with a whisk until well blended. Evenly spoon batter in muffin cups (I measured 1/4 cup of batter per muffin cup), and cook for about 14 minutes (until cupcakes have puffed up but still appear slightly gooey on top).
Once cupcakes are cool enough to handle, arrange on a plate. Place caramel and milk in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at medium power for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir mixture vigorously until smooth and thoroughly blended. (Return to microwave for 30 seconds at medium heat if caramel has not fully melted). Immediately drizzle caramel sauce over cupcakes.
Yield – 21 cupcakes (serving size: 1 cupcake)
Calories – 150
Carbs – 30
