Halloween Sugar-Free Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin, sugar-free yellow cake mix, and sugar-free pudding — ready in 25 minutes.

These are the muffins in the tins. Domed, orange, no glaze, paper liners, a can of plain pumpkin and a sugar-free yellow cake mix behind them. The pudding box is the third thing in the photo. It keeps the crumb soft so the mix does not bake dry. One muffin is about 140 calories, 6g protein, and 8g net carbs. The full tins are the picture, not the serving.

Use 100% pumpkin puree, not pie filling. Pie filling is already sweetened, and the sugar-free line fails. Sugar-free cake mix and sugar-free cook-and-serve pudding, the boxes in the photo. Instant pudding can work, but the cook-and-serve box is the one shown. No oil. The pumpkin is the moisture. Oil makes a heavier muffin than the ones in the tin.

Stir until the batter is thick and one color. A ribbon of dry mix bakes as a pale stripe. Fill the liners about three-quarters full. They dome on their own. Twenty-five minutes covers the mix and the bake. Pull them when the tops spring back.