By the end of August every year, I feel the same way.   I am insanely sick of the Arizona heat.   It is miserable, and the “it’s a dry heat’ thing doesn’t fly with me.  It’s hot – like my oven.   I also become super anxious for Fall to arrive.  I LOVE Fall.  Love love love.  It’s the end of the heat, we can be outside, my favorite holidays are on the way, I can decorate the house with pumpkins, and I can bake, bake and bake some more.   Fall rocks my world basically.  I go from being quite grumpy in August, to quite happy in October (September is really just more summer, so I’m probably still quite grumpy).

So in my anxiousness to get fall here, I whipped up a batch of pumpkin muffins today.   The house smells divine.  Nothing better then the smell of pumpkin bread, with lots of cinnamon, in the air.    I’ve tweaked a recipe over the past year to try and make it super healthy, and I have to say, it’s pretty darn yummy for having almost no fat and lots of fiber and protein.   I thought I would share in case anyone is looking for a healthy lowfat pumpkin bread / pumpkin muffin recipe.    I made them as muffin tops, as I’m on a Vitalicious Vitatop kick right now, and they don’t offer a pumpkin muffin top.  The muffin tops are really easy to wrap up, freeze and then pack in a lunch box or back pack.

Low Fat Light Pumpkin Muffin Recipe

2 Cups White Whole Wheat Flour (I like King Arthur’s or Trader Joe’s)

1 1/4 cups Oat Flour (I use Arrowhead Mills Oat Flour)

2 tsp Baking Soda

2 tbsp Cinnamon

2+ tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (we like our pumpkin spicy, so some may like less)

1/2 cup Flax Seed Meal (I like Bob’s Red Mill)

1/2 – 1 tsbp Salt

1 1/2 cups Sugar – white, brown or combo

2 cups Canned Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

Approx 1 cup Cinnamon Applesauce (I use 3 individual serving cups of applesauce)

2/3 cup water

5 large egg whites

Mix the dry ingredients / mix the wet ingredients, mix them all together and call it good. 

Today I’m baking mine as muffin tops – at 350 degrees, for about 11 minutes.  I prefer everything under baked versus over baked, so this baking time could probably go up a few minutes.   I got about 24 muffin tops.

I have tried this recipe with so many combos – and it’s very forgiving.  You can add nuts, dried cranberries, even chocolate chips.   It’s certainly not the full fat Starbuck’s pumpkin muffin that leaves a big grease stain on your napkin, but it’s mighty tasty, and nobody else in this house knows that they are a “light” version.  If you make

For 24 muffin/muffin tops, the nutritional info comes out as follows….

Calories – 133
Fat – 1.3 g
Cholesterol – 0
Total Carb – 27 g
Fiber – 3g
Sugars – 16g
Protein – 3.5g
Vitamin A – 63% Daily Value

For those on Weight Watchers, they come out to two points a piece. 

Enjoy!