McDonald’s Baked Pumpkin Pie

McDonald`s makes hands down the best fast food pies – at least in my opinion. I do enjoy them, but I do not have them often – maybe once or twice a year. I’m a fan of their apple pie, and I am also “guilty” of occasionally sampling some of their seasonal pies. There have been some flops, but the McDonald’s Baked Pumpkin Pie is definitely a win-win for me.

I was surprised with how yummy their pumpkin pie is! It had real pumpkin filling in it and it wasn’t very sweet.  All around it was delicious. The pumpkin pie tasted like you took a slice of pumpkin pie, wrapped it in McDonald’s signature pie crust and served it up luke warm.  I find these little pies to be handy especially since it’s not always easy to find single servings of pumpkin pie in the market. Having one of these gives the flavor of pumpkin pie, but without having a whole pie sitting in your house.  A yummy treat without any added temptation.

Calorie wise a pie is 240 calories which is equal to 6 points plus.

QUESTION:
Have you tried the McDonald`s pumpkin pie?

Trader Joe’s – Pumpkin Butter

Ah, Pumpkin Butter – the greatest thing I’ve eaten in a while.

I will admit I’ve had this jar in my cabinet for a few weeks now.  I originally started hunting for this toward the end of fall but I was advised that it was seasonal and unfortunately they were out.  That is until someone was in the same aisle as me, looking for pumpkin butter, and she asked one of the people working.  They found one single jar in the store and part of me went “Nooo…..”.  Thankfully on one of my next trips to TJ’s I found the pumpkin butter had been restocked on the shelf, so I immediately grabbed a jar because I knew if I waited it wouldn’t be there when I wanted it.  So fast, forward ….

What is Pumpkin Butter?  It’s like a jelly/jam that’s pumpkin flavored.  It’s smooth like butter, but not even in the same category.  It’s also incredibly diverse meaning you can use it in a number of ways – on toast, on ice cream, on meats, in recipes, etc (all at your own mercy)..  Quite confusing, but trust me, it’s amazing.  It tastes JUST like pumpkin pie.  So I guess you could say if pumpkin pie and butter had a baby this would be the end result.  Another unique combination from Trader Joe’s!

I will say, calorie wise this isn’t bad at all.  For a tablespoon serving there are 40 calories.  There’s absolutely NO fat in it and it tastes fabulous.  Weight Watchers PointsPlus wise it’s 1 PPV.  Not bad at all.

I enjoyed this on an English muffin … I then experimented with it, by adding some Cookie Butter and a piece of banana.  Amazingness.

Dessert: Pumpkin Pie Dip

This is one of the desserts I made for Thanksgiving this year.  I love pumpkin pie, but pumpkin pie is bogged down with a lot of unnecessary sugars.  So to have something pumpkin and to not have to deal with the points (Weight Watchers) I decided to make something that was light and a dip rather than a pie that could turn into a trigger food.

I found this recipe on Skinnytaste.com and thought it sounded so good. I had all the ingredients in my cabinet, except I did not have the fat free Greek yogurt so I picked that up on my trip to the store and off and running I went.

I will say I would serve this with graham cracker squares or cinnamon squares.  I know apples is a healthy way but the sweetness of the apple makes the dip almost ungodly sweet.  You are putting brown sugar in the dip so it increases the sweetness in it anyway – but the apple slices, in my opinion, put it over the top.  Perhaps if you do want apples I would suggest something tart, like a Granny Smith.  Nonetheless it was a pretty yummy dip.

If you want to try this recipe for yourself, you can find it here: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/11/pumpkin-pie-dip.html