Hey all!!!! I love fall. When the colors begin to change and the weather cools off, the humidity dies down and bon fires are happily lit I'm pretty great. If my daughter wasn't playing volleyball every Saturday morning I'd be grabbing a few friends for a hike... the trails will still be there in November when the season ends. As we get into the fall parties, events and festivals my girl and I are getting ready to dress up and enjoy everything there is to offer. My husband won't dress up with us but is happy to encourage us from the side lines.
This weekend was the first for the celebratory events so I tried to dress appropriately for a Beetlejuice party (that's a wig) and my daughter tried out her unicorn costume. Can I take a second and brag on that unicorn for a moment???? I LOVE a bargain. We went to our local thrift store and Halloween stuff was 75% off since it's so close. That meant this unicorn, that retails at Walmart for about $25, was only $2.75!!!!!! OK. Sorry. I just have to tell everyone because it was so cheap, great condition and I know she'll wear it as pajamas or to lounge around the house after this month. You have to love when it keeps getting used and isn't immediately discarded.
Part of fall, harvest events, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and all the crazy that happens from now through the end of the year usually includes food. In fact, so many events are pot luck or bring a dessert to share type events that I like to keep a few lower calorie options in my back pocket. I love to try all the things but if I do that at every event any progress I've made over the years would be undone in just 3 months.
If you have ever watched Steel Magnolias you've heard of Cuppa Cuppa. If you were around in the 90's you have probably seen all the different variations that followed. Canned fruit cocktail, pie fillings, frozen fruits, fresh fruits with sugar, etc. The constant is that you use a cuppa cuppa cuppa of ingredients. Specifically a cup of flour, cup of sugar and cup of milk. In my childhood my dad often made cuppa cuppa cuppa. It's super budget friendly, tasty and none of the kids complained about having it for dessert. Wins all around!
In this version we're going to use Splenda in place of sugar. You can use whatever sweetener you prefer so if you are more interested in monk fruit or stevia or anything else feel free to use what you like. However, be sure you check to see if it measures cup for cup with sugar. If not, you'll have to adjust your recipe. One of the reasons I used Splenda is because I know it measures equally. It can be a bit sweeter than sugar but I also used a no sugar added pie filling.
About the pie filling! I found Bake Good pie filling at my local Walmart. It is one of my favorite to use at this time because there is no sugar added. No sweetener added at all! It comes in apple or cherry but the nutritional stats are great and the ingredients are literally only apples, water, modified corn starch, lemon juice, cinnamon, citric acid and salt. https://bakegood.com/
Between replacing the sugar in the cake and using a no added sugar fruit filling we brought the calories down to about 95 calories for a serving. YES!!!
Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup splenda
1 cup milk
1 tsp baking powder (if you use self rising flour you can skip this ingredient)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp apple pie spice (optional but when using apples why not?)
16 oz jar no sugar added apple pie filling
Preheat oven to 350°
Mix all ingredients except fruit in a bowl.
Spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray.
Pour in batter.
Top with apple pie filling.
Bake for 40 minutes.
This is delicious on its own but topped with a single scoop of ice cream while warm it is even better.
***nutritional information created by adding ingredients to www.myfitnesspal.com
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