{It's Fall Y'all!!}

Kayleigh's fall pic 2011.  I think she's pretty cute...but I am a little biased :)

I LOVE Fall.  The temperature outside slowly cooling down.  The crisp smell of the air.  The beautiful foliage.  Carving/decorating pumpkins.   Halloween.   The fair (cause I'm a foodie fatty & I big.puffy.pink.heart the sweet, delicious, greasy CRAP they pass off as food).  Yes...it happens...I won't lie to y'all.  I guess I'll just run a little harder or maybe do my Jillian Michaels DVD an extra couple times the days prior.  I have a huge love/hate relationship with Jillian.  

Anywho...a few days ago I read through some of the blogs I follow on a daily/semi-daily basis and found this perfect little dessert creation.  Mini Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecakes.  It was in love at first site.  Found the recipe from this cool chick here.  

I decided to whip them up Wednesday night and well...the rest is history!!  Two words: LOVE THEM!!!  They are just the right amount of sweet to satisfy my craving, they require no baking, & their best aspect...they're pretty much GUILT FREE.  Mmmhmm...you read that correctly.  GUILT. FREE.  So, grab your ingredients and get to 'non baking'.  Enjoy!!

Mini Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecakes

Crust

7 graham cracker sheets

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp sugar

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake Mixture

8 oz. Cool Whip Free

1 (8 oz) package fat-free cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar (or 6 Splenda packets)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Pumpkin Mixture

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/8 tsp. allspice

In a food processor, grind up the graham cracker sheets into fine crumbs.  {If you don’t have a food processor or blender, place the graham crackers into a bag and crush them with a rolling pan or a cup.}  Place the graham cracker crumbs into a bowl and add in the ground cinnamon and sugar.  Melt the butter and add it to the graham cracker crumbs.

Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and put one tablespoon of the graham cracker crumb mixture in the bottom of each liner.  Press down the crumbs with your hand.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whip the cream cheese, vanilla extract and sugar (or Splenda) for a few minutes until fluffy.  Add the Cool Whip and whip until smooth.  To make the pumpkin mixture, combine the pumpkin puree, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger and allspice.  Add 2/3 cup of the cheesecake mixture to the pumpkin mixture.  Stir with a spatula until the two batters are completely combined and there are no lumps.

Using a cookie dough scoop (or spoon), fill each cupcake liner with 1 1/2 scoop fulls of the cheesecake mixture.  Each liner should be filled almost to the top.  Now place three dots of pumpkin batter onto the cheesecake batter in the liner.  I used a 1/4 teaspoon to scoop the pumpkin batter.  Use a toothpick to swirl the two batters.

Once each cheesecake cup is swirled, placed the cupcake pans into the fridge to chill for a few hours (I chose to keep mine in overnight) until firm.  

Want the nutritional skinny on these fabulous little babies???

Servings: 12

Serving Size: 1 mini cheesecake

Calories: 106

Fat: 3.8 g

Carbs: 12.1 g

Fiber: 0.3 g

Protein: 2.8 g

Old Points: 2.4 pts

Points+: 3 pts

I can't wait to make these again later in the season and without the pumpkin for the rest of the seasons :)