Two-Ingredient Brownie Muffins

In an attempt to procastinate before facing my homework and to satisfy my sweet tooth, I whipped up some delicious Yum Yum Brownie Muffins tonight.  The recipe is from the Hungry Girl cookbook by Lisa Lillien - a collection of super easy recipes that are healthier alternatives to all your favorite foods. 

If you are like me, you cannot give up chocolate, pizza, pasta, or nachos, but you do want to eat a little better.  The ingenious twists that Lisa applies to all my favorite treats and comfort foods magically make them lower in fat and calories, higher in fiber, and practically guilt-free without sacrificing taste.  Seriously, a 216-calorie serving of nachos?  Bring it on!  (Check out http://www.hungry-girl.com/ for more info.)

Back to my brownie muffins...  More complicated recipes require bringing a long list to the grocery store or result in disappointment when you discover you are missing one of the zillion ingredients.  What I love about this recipe is the simplicity.  I picked up the two (yes, TWO) necessary ingredients a few weeks ago when I saw canned pumpkin and devil's food cake mix was on sale.  It might sound strange, but pumpkin replaces oil and eggs and supplies a delicious richness, not a strong pumpkin flavor.

I stirred, spooned, baked, ate one of the brownie muffins (they are called "Yum Yum" for a reason!)... and I only wasted about a half an hour of homework time.  A perfect recipe to quickly fulfill a craving without blowing a ton calories!

Yum Yum Brownie Muffins

Ingredients:
1 box devil's food cake mix (about 18 oz)
One 15-ounce can pure pumpkin

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix the two ingredients together.  Don't add anything else that may be mentioned on the box, like eggs, oil, or water.  The mixture will be very thick, so you might be tempted to add in other things to make the batter smoother.  Do not do this!

Place batter into a 12-cup muffin pan lined with baking cups or sprayed with nonstick spray.  place pan in the over and bake for 20 minutes.

Makes 12 servings
Per serving (1 muffin): 181 calories, 3.5g fat, 357mg sodium, 37g carbs, 2g fiber, 20g sugars, 2g protein