Hummingbird Cupcakes

Carrot cake (minus the carrot) meets banana bread meets aloha bread in these delicious cupcakes that are topped with cream cheese frosting!  Who doesn't love that?!  I used a large ice cream scoop (Pampered Chef) and got 33 cupcakes out of this recipe!  The best part is, they are only 100 calories each if you make them small so you can have two (or three!)

Hummingbird Cupcakes (adapted from skinnytaste.com)

For the cupcakes:

3/4 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. white whole wheat flour
1 c. sugar
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ground ginger
2 T. canola oil
2 large eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
2 c. mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large bananas)
20 can crushed pineapple, undrained
1/2 c. chopped pecans, optional (I did not use pecans)

For the frosting:

1 (8 oz.) brick 1/3 less fat cream cheese at room temperature
1 c. powdered sugar
2 t. vanilla extract
33 pecan halves for topping (if desired)

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line cupcakes tins with paper liners and set aside.  In a large bowl place flour (white and whole wheat), sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger and whisk to combine.

In a medium bowl place oil, eggs and vanilla and whisk to combine.  Add banana and pineapple and mix well.  Fold wet ingredients and chopped pecans (if desired) into the dry ingredients.  

Scoop batter in prepared cupcake tins and bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool completely on a wire rack.

For the frosting:

Beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth.  Spread frosting over the cupcakes once they are cooled.  Garnish each cupcake with a pecan half, if desired.  

These can easily be made a day ahead and stored in the fridge.

33 servings (100 calories each serving) according to my calculator on loseit.com