Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (3 ingredients!)

Life is speeding along through fall. I can't believe how much life is changing and advancing. I'm crazy busy with my internship/still trying to work full time. Austin is still working full time. We manage to see each other for about 5 minutes before bed every night. It's taken some adjustment, but God is truly blessed us in this season and I couldn't be happier. I'm just waiting to catch my breath it feels like. A vacation awaits me after all this internship/master degree business is finished! I'm highly looking forward to the day when I have no agenda or plans or work to be done. However, in the mean time, I am enjoying fall and Austin and I are anticipating being an aunt and uncle to twins in a few weeks as Austin's sister is expecting two new babies for the Lettinga clan to love on. :) I am very much loving being an aunt to his other niece and nephews so it will be fun to add two babies to the crew of children on his side of the family. I've been reminded by my own mother that my biological time clock is ticking in an ever so non-pressuring (yet pressuring) way. ("Thanks, Mom!") However, to her dismay, Lord Willing I will be waiting for my own family to start until I'm finished with grad school and "stable" career wise. That's the "plan" anyway... 

Enjoy this recipe!

Okay, seriously this might be the easiest dessert I've ever made. I am quite literally obsessed with pumpkin anything in the fall season. I have a diagnosable problem, I'm sure of it. Anyway, I found this recipe on Pinterest of course, and was skeptical at first due to the lack of ingredients but, friends, I am telling you this recipe saves calories and time. Pumpkin is a great substitute for the oil and eggs in this fun recipe. You can even leave out the chocolate chips to make it 2 Points on Weight Watchers...believe it! 

Combine 1 box cake mix (I have used both Spice Cake and Golden Vanilla Cake and I must say the Spice Cake was better tasting like pumpkin)

1 normal size can of pumpkin puree

Handful of chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together. If you're using any other cake mix besides spice cake like a vanilla, I would use at least 1 Tbs of pumpkin pie spice to give it a pumpkin flavor. The puree doesn't give enough spice flavor. 

Place all ingredients in tin with greased muffin paper cups.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes.

Below are my finished baked muffins. They're so pretty. They should be hard, not squishy on the top when you remove them from the oven. These are very moist so I do recommend the toothpick test to ensure they're done inside. 

Yum! Enjoy and feel guilt free. Bonus! They are such a yummy fall treat!

Fall Desserts Galore!

Happy Fall Ya'll! So much desserty goodness is happening this fall. I got inspired and went a little sugar crazy...but let me tell you it was so worth it! I got to bring a lot of joy to some folks this week with these desserts which is really rewarding to me.

Cinnamon Sugar Topped Banana Bread

Ingredients

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs beaten

2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Topping: sugar and cinnamon  (3/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Pour cinnamon and sugar mix on top. 

1. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Okay, these are not only delicious but they're also weight watchers friendly! (2 points each) Pumpkin is a major fat burner on top of it. So these are quality...bottom line. Oh, did I mention they're just two ingredients?? Yep, pick up a boxed spice cake and a small can of pumpkin puree. Blend together with an electric mixer...add in anything you want...raisins...chocolate chips...nuts. I used chocolate chips because frankly is there another better choice besides chocolate. 

Bake at 350 for about 18-22 minutes or until firm on top!

YUM!

Nutella Stuffed Cookies

Omygosh...these might be my favorite cookie! They're a fun twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie...and frankly...if you don't like Nutella...you're bloody crazy! This stuff is without a doubt my new favorite thing ever. So the cookies arn't hard to make, just a little bit time consuming. They would be super fun to make with kids! 

Ingredients

• 2¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1¼ teaspoons baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon of salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
• 1¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt
• ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup milk chocolate chips
• ½ cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 jar of Nutella, chilled in refrigerator
• Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
2. Melt butter in medium sized mixing bowl in microwave.
3. With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients together into the large slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Gently fold in all of the chocolate chips.
4. Chill your dough for 2 hours in the refrigerator, or place in freezer for 30 minutes if you are super eager...which is what I did...and it turned out just fine! 
5. While dough is chilling (also chill Nutella in fridge at this time) preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

6. Once dough is chilled measure about 1½ tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the dough ball very thinly into the palm of your hand. Place 1 teaspoon of chilled Nutella in the middle and fold dough around it; gently roll into a ball — it doesn't have to be perfectly rolled! Make sure that the Nutella is not seeping out of the dough. Add more dough if necessary. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and flatten with your hand VERY gently. (Really only the tops need to be flattened a bit!)

 7. Bake the cookies 9-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes. Sprinkle with a little sea salt. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Omygosh! Chocolate and hazelnut deliciousness.