HG's Nicely Iced Pumpkin-Bread Muffins

Our amazing pumpkin muffins are all flavor and no peril... Celebrate the season by chewing delicious guilt-free goodies, humans!

Ingredients:
Muffins
1 cup Fiber One Original bran cereal
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
1/4 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1 tbsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. salt
One 15-oz. can pure pumpkin
1 cup club soda
1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
1/4 cup sugar-free pancake syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup raisins, chopped

Icing
1/4 cup Cool Whip Free, thawed
3 tbsp. fat-free cream cheese, room temperature
1 tbsp. Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated) 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 10 cups of a 12-cup muffin pan with baking cups and/or spray with nonstick spray. Set aside.

Using a blender or food processor, grind cereal to a breadcrumb-like consistency. Transfer crumbs to a large bowl.
 Add flour, Splenda, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Mix well and set aside.

In another bowl, combine pumpkin, soda, egg substitute, syrup, and vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly. Add mixture to the large bowl and stir until blended to form the batter.

Slowly sprinkle and stir chopped raisins into the batter. Evenly distribute batter among the 10 prepared cups of your muffin pan. (Batter may be piled high... This is OK!)

Bake in the oven until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out mostly clean, about 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, combine all icing ingredients in a small microwave-safe bowl. Mix until smooth and blended. (Refrigerate icing if you don't plan to serve muffins right away.)

Remove cooled muffins from the pan. Just before serving, warm icing in the microwave for a few seconds and drizzle it onto the muffins (or simply spread it on evenly). Enjoy!

MAKES 10 SERVINGS

Pumpkin Muffin, Average

Pumpkin is all the rage these days -- and with good reason. It's delicious AND good for you. But some pumpkin treats need a makeover. (Hey, it happens to the best of us.) Don't get us wrong; we LOOOVE the fall flavors that pop up in baked goods this time of year. But those spiced sweets are often weighed down with way too much fat and sugar! Take pumpkin muffins and sweet pumpkin breads, for example. Delicious but, sadly, they're usually WAY high in calories. The plumped-up pumpkin muffins at Dunkin' Donuts clock in at 600 calories and 26g fat each -- that's more calories than a Big Mac! And as you can see by the stats below, even the average pumpkin muffin packs in some serious calories and fat grams. Our recipe took some trial and error, but we got it right in the end. The result? Large, moist, fiber-packed, seasonal treats with amazing stats... and a delicious glaze. Kinda makes us feel like celebrating. Get PUMPed, people!