Chocolate Chip (Pumpkin) Cupcakes

These recipe comes from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. I enjoy a lot of her recipes and like that she makes her food a little healthier by adding fruit and vegetable purees.

These cupcakes were okay. They were a little dry but I think it's my fault because I added more pumpkin rather than using both purees. Otherwise, everyone seemed to enjoy them.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/2 cup yellow squash puree

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.

Put the pumpkin and squash purees in a large mixing bowl. Add brown sugar, water, oil, and vanilla and beat until well blended.

Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips, and mix until completely incorporated. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake until the tops of the cupcakes are lightly browned and spring back to the touch, 20-25 minutes. Cool before frosting.

Frosting

1 (8oz) package reduced fat cream cheese

1/3 cup pure maple syrup]

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

Beat the cream cheese with the maple syrup, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Spread frosting over cooled cupcakes. Store cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or wrap inidividually and freeze for up to 1 month.