Stuffed Turkey Cupcakes

Dear Diary,

Recently, I put on a few extra pounds. OK, I’ll admit I gained 15. Not sure how it happened. Perhaps a cookie here, and a candy bar there–all desserts that entered my house in the hands of my toddler. My mother always sends her home with a sweet treat, which I end up taking a bite of. And my sister, who owns a baking business, doesn’t help the matter. For Halloween, she whipped up candy corn filled cupcakes.

As the holidays approach, and I spend more time in the kitchen and around the table, I want to get a handle on my eating habits. Although I’ll reduce my sugar and fat intake, I don’t want to cut out family fun. So, I decided to substitute some ingredients with lighter options from Weight Watchers® Sweet Baked Goods line.

My daughter and I made chocolate fondant turkey cupcakes with brownie bottoms. To achieve a healthier lifestyle, I picked up a couple of boxes of brownie bliss, which come in Salted Caramel,  Triple Chocolate, Peanut Butter Brownie Bliss and Mint Chocolate. I went to Walmart in Cranberry Township. You can try out the Weight Watchers line just in time for your Thanksgiving meal planning at the store on Thursday, October 29, Friday, October 30 and Sunday, November 1 from 12:30-7 p.m. Demonstrations will also take place on Halloween from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For a complete list of demos throughout the U.S., click here.

Pick up a box of brownies to make this easy and delicious recipe with your little one. You’ll need:

Cake

Two Boxes Weight Watchers Brownie Bliss

One Package of White Cake Mix

Three Egg Whites

1/4 Cup of Vegetable Oil

One Cup of Water

Icing

One 16 oz. Package of Powdered Sugar

One 8 oz. Package of Low-Fat Cream Cheese

One Stick of Butter

Pinch of Salt

Flavoring (We used orange)

Turkeys

One Package of White Chocolate Fondant

Red, Brown and Blue Food Coloring

Scalloped Cookies

First, drop your cupcake liners in your pan. Be sure to use a festive fall color, like gold or brown.

Second, place one Weight Watchers brownie at the bottom of each liner for gooey goodness! Remember, have fun baking! Caitlynn enjoys taste testing almost every step. We used the salted caramel and mint chocolate brownies, but any flavor in the line will work.

Follow the directions on your cake mix. We used egg whites for a lighter recipe.

Let your little one fill the cupcake pan. If you don’t want to make a mess, just pour your batter into a Ziploc bag, snip off the point and squeeze.

Colored fondant is often sold in a large quantity, so we picked up a small package of white chocolate fondant. We used brown food coloring for the body of the turkey, red for the wattle and blue to dot the eyes.

We mixed butter, low fat cream cheese, powdered sugar and a pinch of salt to make our own icing. We added orange flavoring, but the flavor is up to you! We also had lemon, coconut and chocolate.

Caitlynn loved the Weight Watchers brownies. So since we had some leftover, we tossed cookies and brownies into the food processor and made dirt for our turkeys to perch on.

We saved the best part for last! We assembled the turkey body (head, eyes, nose and wattle made out of chocolate fondant) and cut cookies in half for the feathers. Be sure to pick up a scalloped variety (That’s baker’s lingo for wavy ends. I had to text a picture to my aunt from the store to ensure I bought the right one!) If need be, use toothpicks to hold the feathers in place.

And don’t forget, the other best thing–licking the bowl!

You can use the Weight Watchers recipe calculator to figure out how many points you’ll gobble up in these cupcakes. We plugged our ingredients in, which resulted in four points per serving.

Hey DFTM Fam–How are you lightening up your holiday recipes? Be sure to check out recipes for other #SmarterTreats on the Weight Watchers website.