It's been a wonderful holiday from beginning to end. Start to finish. I can't believe how blessed I am! I have a beautiful family who are happy and healthy, a lovely home in a lovely part of the world, incredible and amazing friends....I can't ask for more than that, but the Good Lord continues to bless me.

Of course with the holidays comes oodles and oodles of chocolate. I curse myself every New Year. I buy way too much and end up with even more. It's a illness I tell you. However, I would be lying if I said I don't get excited with the prospect of creating some new recipes or taking some I've had my eye on for a spin. 

However, this year I decided to bag up every last piece of chocolate and sent it with hubby to work. It's too tempting for me and figured it's better on their bums than mine.

Of course, asking me to abstain from sugar is like asking a fish to ride a bike. As amusing it would be to watch, it won't have a good outcome. 

So enjoy these mini pineapple upside down cakes. Sugar goodness. Chocolate-free.

But keep a chocolate stash close by. You don't want to hurt its feelings.

MINI PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

Topping:

¾ cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 can sliced pineapple rings

6 maraschino cherries

For the cake portion, I used a box yellow cake mix. Easy peasy. Just follow instructions on the back of the box. I substituted applesauce for the oil and added a few tablespoons of the pineapple juice.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray your muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.  I used a mini bundt pan, but if you don't have one, you can use a jumbo muffin pan or even a regular size pan.

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and add the brown sugar. Stir on low heat for one minute.

Place a pineapple ring in the bottom of each muffin tin. Add a cherry in the middle of each pineapple. If you use a regular tin, you will need to cut the pineapple to fit.

Spoon over a layer of the warm brown sugar mixture. Pour cake mixture over to fill muffin tin ¾ of the way full. 

Bake for 20 -25 minutes, depending on pan size you will be using. Let cakes cool in pan for 3 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each cake to help loosen in case it sticks a little. Place a wire cooling rack on top, and quickly flip over. 

Yields: 6 jumbo or 12 regular size cakes.

Happy Baking!