Crustless Pumpkin Pie Bites
Have you ever had a recipe that no matter what you did, you just couldn’t seem to get it right? That’s how I’ve felt about Pumpkin Pie recently.
I spent the past weekend and a good part of this week baking and trashing several attempts at the perfect healthy pumpkin pie. I just couldn’t seem to get it right. Either the crust was too dense or the pumpkin filling was too watery, every single time something was off.
When I was a kid, this unicorn of a recipe for me was Betty Crocker’s French Silk Pie. Every time I would stay home sick from school, I would try to make this pie, and every time it would be a flop (not to mention the fact that is was also extremely unsanitary).
To this day, I never mastered that hellish recipe. I think this major failure at such a young age may have permanently damaged my fragile self-esteem.
OK, so that may be an overstatement… but it was still extremely frustrating.
This time though, I didn’t let a few faulty pies set me back. I kept experimenting and finally found a recipe I am proud to share with you guys: Crustless Pumpkin Pie Bites!
Sometimes you just have to embrace your challenges and realize that if you’re going to remove all of the “bad” but delicious ingredients from a recipe, you’re going to have some difficulties. Thus, I decided to keep it simple and focus on the part most people love best, the filling.
These little bites are only 15 calories each, gluten-free, and full of Thanksgiving flavor. The big ones also have 4 grams of protein, for only 60 cals.
Crustless Pumpkin Pie Bites
Modified from Undressed Skeleton
Ingredients:
-15 ounces Pumpkin Puree
-1/2 C Unsweetened Applesauce
-1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder (I used Jay Robb’s Egg White Protein)
-1/4 C. Ground Flax Seed (might be able to use Almond Meal)
-1 Egg
-T. Cinnamon
-1 T. Baking Powder
-1 tsp. Baking Soda
-1 tsp. Nutmeg
-1/4 tsp. Ginger
-6 tsp. Stevia (I used liquid) OR 1/4 C. Honey
Topping:
-1/4 C. FF Greek Yogurt
-1/2 tsp. Vanilla
-1 tsp. Honey
-tsp. Cinnamon
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix all pie ingredients together in bowl.
3. Pour into a muffin tin (or mini muffin tin) sprayed with olive oil.
4. Bake for 25 minutes for large muffins, about 15 for small. You’ll know they’re done when they are a little crispy on top. Don’t worry if they seem uncooked in the middle, they’re supposed to be like that.
5. While the “pies” bake, make the topping. Combine the ingredients and then pour them into a small ziplock bag. Refrigerate.
6. After the pies are done baking and have cooled for about 15 minutes, remove the topping from the fridge. Cut the corner off one of the bottom sides of the bag, and use to frost the pies.
7. Enjoy!
Total Calories: about 60 for large pies (makes 9), 15 for minis (makes 36)
Made with Honey: Large, 86. Mini’s, 21.5.
I hope these tasty little bites will help get you through the tempting holiday and possibly prevent you from scarfing an entire pumpkin pie. Hey, I’ve seen it happen.
With these, you could scarf all 36 of them and you’d only be down 550 calories. Seriously.
For more delish concoctions, head over to these fabulous recipe link ups: Waste Not Want Not, Tasty Tuesdays, What I Ate Wednesday, and Real Food Wednesdays.
Katy says:
Yum! These look so good – I’m inspired to make them for Thanksgiving!
Whitney English says:
Thanks! You should definitely make them. They’re such a great guiltless treat!
Bethann says:
No matter how many times I try, I can count on screwing up homemade pizza! I might have soggy crust one time, then next time it is burnt!
These pumpkin bites look scrumptious! Thanks for sharing!
Whitney English says:
I feel you, pizza is tricky! It took me three tries to get my cauliflower pizza right and I still mess it up sometimes.
Jody - Fit at 56 says:
HOLY YUM!!!! I will be right over!
Whitney English says:
If we ever have the Healthy L.A.-dy bloggers potluck, I’ll bring these :)
Tara says:
Hey Whitney! I haven’t commented on the blog in a while, not since you were so generous with career advice!
Your three ingredient pancakes look delicious! I always make the Tone It Up protein pancakes and they were exactly the same- runny and difficult to flip. But ever since I started blending the ingredients in my bullet, everything became easier. I don’t know what it is about the thorough blending, but it works like a charm!
Have a nice week!
-Tara
Whitney English says:
Hi Tara! Welcome back :) Thanks for the magic bullet tip! I’m totally trying that next time.
Dale Janee says:
These look so good. The frosting might have to be doubled on mine lol. I can’t believe how low in calories they are
xoDale
http://www.savvyspice.com
Whitney English says:
You can never have too much frosting…especially when it’s basically just pure protein! And I was shocked too by the calorie count. So shocked that I immediately ate half the batch haha :)
GiGi Eats Celebrities says:
OOOOO How did you like Mr. Jay Robb?!?!?!
Whitney English says:
It was good! I couldn’t taste it that much since it was baked into this but it smelled delicious! I need to try it again in a smoothie :)
Taylor Simpson says:
ohmygoodness these look SO good!! totally recreating these babies! so happy i came across your blog!
xo,
Taylor
http://www.tayloredfitness.co
Whitney English says:
Thanks Taylor! Let me know what you think :)
Claudia Rosenbaum says:
These look soooo good!
Whitney English says:
Thanks!
Davida @ The Healthy Maven says:
These are adorable! I made mini pumpkin pies last weekend but they’re all gone now. Looks like I’ve found a more than suitable replacement :)
Whitney English says:
Yes, you can never have too many mini pumpkin pies in the house :)
alora alexander says:
These look AMAZING! Making them :)
Whitney English says:
Yay! Let me know what you think!
Elle says:
This looks lovely. Gonna be trying them for sure! Thanks!