Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Muffins

 

This song is called "Pumpkin" and is about Seabiscuits companion horse, Pumpkin.  Sorry it was either this or Jay and the Techniques, because other than the little kid 5 little pumpkins this was the only pumpkinish song I remembered. I actually did not think I would find it on Youtube. Finally my nerdism pays off.

I was preparing for our beach weekend and had just about decided I would say to heck with keto for the trip. Then I remembered how bad the leg cramps can be when you overdo, and if I went off I definitely would overdo the carbs. Instead I decided I would bake me a few "treats" just to help me resist some of the things that will probably be there.

I know this will come as no surprise to regular readers, but one of the first things TheHub likes to do when we get to the beach is go to the grocery store. I have a very concise list of things to buy, like milk and eggs. But he will go with me and it is a whole new recreational shopping venue for him. No telling what will wind up in the buggy (southernism for grocery carts), so I am prepared to hopefully avoid temptation.

I had a can of pumpkin that was nearing  past its best use by date, so I felt obligated to use it. Honestly is was not what I wanted since I am not a pumpkin fanatic, but I had everything on hand to whip them up, so why not?

Low Carb Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

For the muffin;

4 eggs

1 egg white

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 1/3 cup Lakanto golden sugar substitute

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 plus 2 tablespoons coconut flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cream of tarter

1/4 teaspoon salt

For the topping:

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons confectioners Swerve, or Lakanto powered sweetener (If you can find it__I can't)

1 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350

Beat the whole eggs until they are completely combined and a light yellow. Add the egg white, melted butter and coconut oil, the pumpkin puree, and the sugar substitute. and mix well. Add the vanilla and the pumpkin pie spice and mix very well.

In a small bowl combine the coconut flour, baking soda, cream of tarter and salt. Mix it well then add it to the pumpkin mixture. Stir, stir and stir. The coconut flour absorbs moisture so the muffin mix will be fairly dry feeling. If you are using a metal muffin pan use muffin liners. If using a silicon pan just spray them well with cooking spray.  Fill them to the top and you have to pat the muffin mix down a little because it feels very crumbly.

Mix the topping ingredients until they are smooth then. dollop 1/12 of the topping on each of the muffins. Use a toothpick  to swirl the topping through the top of the muffin. It's messy and looks really bad before it is bakes,. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove form the oven and let them cool before removing them from the pan. 

I made them and tasted 1/2 of one just to see what they were like. They are a perfectly fine Keto muffin, but you just have to refrain from comparing them with a wheat flour based muffin. The taste is perfectly fine, but the texture is different. It is not a bad texture, just different. 

I had also heard everyone proclaiming that the monk fruit based sweetener did not have the cooling effect that Swerve does. It might not be as pronounced, but I feel it still is on the coolish side.

On a scale to 1-10 I might rank this as a 7. It was fine and should satisfy cravings for something sweet, but like all keto desserts (except a couple of pies) it is just not quite the same. But the payoff is that each muffin has approximately 2.5 net carbs and that make the texture change a whole lot more palatable. 

Will I make this again? Possibly, but like I said, I am not a pumpkin lover, so it will not be my go-to keto muffin. 

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