Pumpkin anyone??

If you know me, you know I love anything baked with pumpkin. My favorite recipe is Pumpkin Sheetcake with cream cheese frosting. I have been tweeking the recipe to make it healthier and have come up with a really good one.
Tonight a friend on the parenting board I post on gave me a great pumpkin-oatmeal muffin recipe and I found a Low Fat Pumpkin oatmeal cookie recipe. I was baking apple-oatmeal cookies for daycare and starting thinking I wish I could find a way to make pumpkin oatmeal cookies. When I checked my board, there was a post from Danyele with the muffin recipes...I think she was reading my mind...lol!
Here are some great pumpkin recipes for fall!

PUMPKIN SHEETCAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil***
4 eggs, lightly beaten***
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

FROSTING
1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
5 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
3 to 4 teaspoons milk
chopped nuts

Instructions:
In a mixing bowl, beat pumpkin, sugar and oil. Add eggs; mix well. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; add to pumpkin mixture and beat until well blended. Pour into a greased 15-inch x 10-inch x 1-inch baking pan (I use a extra large cake pan). Bake at 350F for 35 to 30 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool.

For frosting, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until smooth. Gradually add sugar; mix well. Add enough milk until frosting reaches desired spreading consistency. Frost cake. Sprinkle with nuts.

***to make a healthier version, you can use 1 cup of natural applesauce instead of the oil and replace the eggs with 8 egg whites. There is a Splenda out for baking but I haven't found it any any stores around here. I think it would cut down on the calories in this recipe.

OATMEAL-PUMPKIN MUFFINS

2 Cups plus 2 tablespoons Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
3/4 Cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 Cup sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon each, baking soda and salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 Cup canned pumpkin
3/4 Cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons canola oil

1. Lightly coat twelve 2 1/2-inch muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray; set aside. [Paper muffin
cups can also be used. Cool thoroughly before serving.]

2. Place 2 cups of oats in a food processor; cover and process until fine. Transfer ground oats to a
large bowl; stir in flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cloves. Make
a well in center of oat mixture; set aside.

3. Whisk together pumpkin, buttermilk, eggs and oil in a medium bowl. Add pumpkin mixture all at
once to oat mixture. Stir just until moistened [batter should be lumpy and thick].

4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons oats. Bake
in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out
clean. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups.

Makes 12 muffins. Serving size: One muffin

Prep: 30 min Bake: 20 min Cool: 5 min

Nutrition Facts per serving: 210 calories, 5 g total fat [1 g saturated fat], 36 mg cholesterol,
199 mg sodium, 34 g carbohydrates, 4 g dietary fiber, 7 g protein.

LOW-FAT PUMPKIN OATMEAL COOKIES

These low-fat pumpkin cookies are great for the fall holidays and make a healthy after-school snack for the kids too. Try them. You won't believe how good they are until you do!

Ingredients:

1 c. pumpkin
2 egg whites, whipped
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cloves
3 c. rolled oats
1 c. raisins

Directions:

Spray baking sheet with cooking spray. In a large bowl combine pumpkin and egg whites. In a separate bowl combine sugar, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, oats, and raisins. (Batter will be very dry at first.) Mix ingredients together just until moistened.

Drop cookies by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet, 2" apart. You can leave the cookies in the shape of a ball (the baked cookie will still be a ball) or flatten them out with the bottom of a glass before baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.