Pumpkin Muffins with Cool Whip Frosting

As a work-outside-the-home mom (because ALL moms work), I’ve learned to cherish the little things in life.  My daughter and husband waiting for me when I get off the train, my dogs greeting me with wagging tails and the ability to relax after a long week at work.  By the time Friday comes around, I’m ready for the weekend and like to start things off right celebrating every day occasions.

It’s been a month since I’ve gone back to work I’ve started a new tradition with my daughter. Friday nights are our decompress nights.  I’m exhausted from the work week and she’s ready to have her mommy all to herself.  Even though she’s only three, one of the things we love to do is bake together.  So on Friday nights we bake something simple and celebrate getting to spend the weekend together where mommy doesn’t have to go to work.  Sure it’s simple but it means so much to both of us.

Because we’ve started our baking tradition, I’m always on the lookout for new products at the grocery store that will save me time in the kitchen and taste great.  It seems like in the fall there are tons of new foods I just have to try.  On our recent trip to Walmart, I discovered , which can be found in the frozen food section.  Knowing I wanted to make pumpkin cupcakes for our Friday night baking date with my daughter, I picked up a couple containers to try out.

On Friday nights we go for the quick recipes.  I have two pumpkin muffin recipes that I like to use: my traditional and my quick.  The traditional one involves eggs, applesauce, flour and several more ingredients.  My quick recipe involves just three ingredients, well now four because I’ll always make it with Cool Whip Frosting. If you’re looking for more quick and easy recipes, make sure to check out Kraft recipes for inspiration.

It took literally minutes for my daughter and I to make our muffins.  After setting our Cool Whip Frosting on the counter to thaw, lining our muffin pan and preheating the oven according to the directions on the box, we simply mixed together the cake mix, can of pumpkin and one teaspoon of the pumpkin pie spice.

This dough is really thick but the good thing is, because there are no eggs in it, you can lick your fingers as much as you want (of course washing your hands after each lick).

Make sure you’re happy with how the muffins look as they are going into the oven.

Because when they come out, they pretty much look the same.  That’s one of the reasons that Cool Whip Frosting works so well with these muffins.  The frosting is so thick that you can spread over the top of the muffin evenly and no one has to know how lumpy and bumpy your muffin tops really are!

I like to take my spatula and put a generous amount of Cool Whip Frosting on each muffin.  What you didn’t see in these pictures (because I had food all over my hands and couldn’t grab my camera) was my daughter sticking her fingers in the tub of frosting and feeding it to the dogs (shhh, don’t tell my husband).  Hey, family baking night is for them too!

The muffins tasted great with just the frosting but I decided to dress them up a little with some caramel syrup and toasted coconut.

In the hustle and bustle of every day life, remembering the cherish the little things in life is so important.  Taking time to bake with my daughter? Now that’s priceless.

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Kraft Cool Whip.  Regardless, opinions are all mine and yours may differ. #CoolWhipFrosting #CBias #SocialFabric