Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifle

My friend brewed his own beer and had a tasting party last Friday, so I brought this delicious dessert. It's not TOO terrible as the filling is sugar free and low fat, but the cake is not low fat or low sugar at all. I came home with some leftovers and instead of eating on it for a few days, I threw it in the trash! I don't know what that says about my self-control, but at least I'm aware of it. I did have one piece of it at the party and it was pretty great, so I will share the recipe even though it's not exactly diet friendly.

Delicious pumpkin cheesecake trifle. 

Yield: I used 16 servings for the nutrition...this is kind of hard to portion out though.

Ingredients:
1 spice cake box mix
1 package sugar-free, fat-free instant vanilla pudding
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 cups cold 2% milk (or whatever % you have on hand)
2 packages sugar-free, fat-free instant cheesecake pudding
2 cups lite cool whip, thawed
1/2 cup chopped pecans
 2 tbsp caramel syrup (I used Torani brand)

Preparation:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease or spray with cooking spray two 8 inch round cake pans. Note: You can easily use any size cake pan you want. I used the 8 inch rounds because they fit exactly in my trifle bowl. If you want to use a 9x13 pan, that's fine, you will  just have to break the cake up into pieces before layering in your dish. No big deal.
2. Combine the cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, pumpkin, water, oil, eggs, and spices in a large bowl. Stir until well blended and pour into the prepared baking dishes. Cook according to the directions on the cake mix box or until you can stick a knife into the middle of the cake and pull it out clean. My two 8 inch pans took about 40 minutes.
3. Whisk together the milk and two cheesecake pudding mixes for about 2 minutes. Allow it to set, another two minutes at least, and then fold in the cool whip. Do not stir the cool whip too much since it will lose the "fluff" and take on a weird texture.
4. After the cake has cooled to room temperature, layer the cake, cheesecake mixture, pecans, and caramel drizzle. I got two layers out of mine, but depending on the size of your dish, you might get more.
5. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving!

This would be so cute in individual martini glasses or champagne flutes for a party!

Valentine's Day Treats!

Happy Valentine's Day! I spent all day yesterday baking and making these delicious treats to take into the office this morning. I felt a little like a crazy person since there were way more cake balls than I anticipated and ended up bringing in just under 100 of them, but most of them were gone by the end of the day, so I think they enjoyed them. Recipes will be posted later!

Red velvet cake balls in chocolate and powdered sugar

Cinnamon and sugar biscotti

Rice krispie treats

Oreo truffles

Low Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's my first dessert post! Since I've been cooped up with basically nothing to eat the past couple days, I decided to make some cookies to snack on while I'm at my mom's friends house. I only thought about taking pictures with my phone after I'd made the dough, but I'm sure you'll get the idea.

The best part? These are made without butter (okay, okay, I used margarine, but technically not butter), without oil, limited sugar, and only egg whites! For under 100 calories each! And these are normal sized cookies, I promise. 


Yield: 22 cookies (that's how I counted the calories, but I'm sure you could stretch it to two dozen)

Ingredients:

3/4 c packed brown sugar

1/4 c white sugar

6 tablespoons margarine, melted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg white

3 tbsp water

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt 1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 
3. In a medium bowl, mix the melted margarine, brown sugar, and white sugar thoroughly. 
4. Stir in egg white, water, and vanilla extract. 
5. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt mixture and stir until dough forms. 
6. Fold in the chocolate chips. 
7. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. This is important because we started with melted margarine! It will help you form perfect dough balls so your cookies come out pretty, and they'll retain their shape instead of coming out too flat. 
8. Form dough balls and place onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. They look a little funny like they aren't done yet, but pull them out at 12 minutes and let them sit for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack. They will reduce to a normal shape and texture. 

Perfect with a hot cup of coffee!