Blogmas 2016 : Day 7 : Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

These last few days have been a bit crazy. I registered for Step 3 and have been trying to come up with a study schedule, but haven't quite decided on the best approach for studying, especially since I'm going to be a on a busy service for the next two months. I've also been trying to fit in exercise, but failing miserably (more on that in a blog post later this week). I also have a bunch of stuff I need to get done that I've been failing at. Instead of getting stuff done, I've been loitering around and have been so unproductive, it's shameful. And today I drank three cups of coffee and now my stomach feels super queasy. Not fun.

Yesterday, however, I did manage to make some pumpkin cream cheese muffins! I'll be honest, I didn't make these from scratch. This recipe is purely boxed, but I wanted to share with you because I was amazed by the results. I bought the Pillsbury Perfectly Pumpkin Cake Mix back in October but didn't have the time to bake until recently. Definitely wanted to use this mix up during the holiday season! I don't know what encouraged me to buy this because I'm not the biggest fan of pumpkin desserts and the pumpkin baking mixes I've tried in the past have been waaaaayyy too artificial tasting. So to my surprise, these cupcake/muffins turned out absolutely delicious. They have just the right amount of pumpkin flavor without being overpowering or too spice-y. I topped off the muffins with the Duncan Hines Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting using my nifty Wilton Decorating Bags and a closed-star icing tip. 

Together with the cream cheese frosting, these muffins taste absolutely delicious. It's not too sweet, which is the best part. It took a total of one hour to make from mixing the ingredients to frosting the muffins. You can make the muffins look professional by using different shaped icing tips to pipe on the frosting. Definitely a quick, delicious, easy dessert to make for parties and holiday gatherings.

Hope you enjoyed this quick, easy baking post. I'm going to be making sugar cut-out cookies either this weekend or next, so watch out for that post coming soon! :)


#healthyholidays Day 7 : For the past three days, I've been tracking my daily intake on MyFitnessPal. I'm on a 3 day streak! I haven't tracked my daily intake regularly since like last year, so this is definitely a big achievement. I've been eating roughly 1500-1600 calories per day, which is a good goal for gradual weight loss. I didn't want to jump from binge eating to restricting my calories to 1200, so this is perfect. Once I start exercising, I think I'll start losing weight even with eating 1,500 net calories per day. I still get hungry in between meals because I'm so used to eating large portions, but I'm hoping this will change with time and less binge eating. Since I've been tracking my calories, I've been feeling a lot lighter and less bloated. I've also been trying to drink at least 40oz of water per day, which helps reduce bloat even more. The weekend is going to be a challenge, since that's the time I usually get derailed, so keeping my fingers crossed.