Pumpkin Cream Cupcakes...

My co-worker brought in the yummiest pumpkin cupcakes. She said they were easy to make. That said, right after work I was off to buy the ingredients at the store. I was so excited to make these for family night. There I was, batter all mixed up and cream cheese mixture ready to go. Small problem, I ran out of cupcake liners. At this point I lost my motivation to run back to the store. So instead of cupcakes, I made it as a cake. I poured the cake batter in a 9 x 13 pan. Poured the cream cheese filling on top and swirled it with the cake batter. Baked it a little longer and Viala! Pumpkin Cream cake. Almost just as good - not as much cream cheese filling, but we still managed to scarf it down!

photo curtesy of kraftrecipes.com

Pumpkin Cream Cupcakes

1 pkg. (2-layer size) spice cake mix

1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

PREPARE cake batter as directed on package. Add dry pudding mix and pumpkin; mix well. Spoon into 24 paper-lined muffin cups.

BEAT cream cheese with mixer until creamy. Blend in sugar and egg; spoon over batter.

BAKE 18 to 21 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool 5 min.; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.

Kraft Kitchens Tips: Stir 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg into 1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping; spread over cooled cupcakes. Keep refrigerated.

apple dumplings...

We've eaten really good this week! I've been trying new recipes and revisting lost favorites. One recipe we revisited was apple dumplings. Awhile back, we had our good friends over for dinner. Kristy was in charge of dessert. Because this is a desert you eat right out of the oven, she prepared it at my house. I was a little skeptical watching her make it, but I figured with two sticks of butter how could it go wrong! It was so good!

Fast forward to last night...going through my recipe binder I came across the recipe. Without any hesitation I ran to the store grabbed the ingredients. We enjoyed our fabulous treat (and then again for breakfast this morning). Hope you enjoy it as we do!

I only made half the recipe.

Apple Dumplings

Kristy Mayes

2 granny smith apples

2 cans Pillsbury crescent rolls

2 sticks butter

1 ½ cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Cinnamon

1 can Mountain Dew

Peel and core apples. Cut into 8 slices each. Roll each slice into crescent roll dough. Place in 9 x 13 buttered pan.

Melt butter. Add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla. Pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around edges of pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 350˚ for 40 minutes.

Serve with ice cream. Spoon sauce from pan over the top