Category SWEETS

Pumpkin Cake

Peggy 2 Comments
pumpkin-cake

Shown cake made with fresh pumpkin.

It’s that time of year again!  This moist, delicious pumpkin cake, inspired by a recipe I saw at Fabulous Foods.com, should help soothe that pumpkin craving.  This one cooks up beautifully every time!  I’ve made it a bunch of times!!  With the necessary low-carb tweaks, I was delighted it came out so close to my old high-carb recipe, actually.  It has a very smooth texture which improves with age.  I don’t care for the texture of cakes made exclusively with almond flour, so I use 1/3 whey protein for this cake.  In this instance I used fresh pumpkin (color in photo) since I had one on hand, but canned works well, too.   Canned pumpkin renders a more orange color in the final cake.   This one’s a keeper for our holiday baking, for sure!  I hope you’ll give this one a try during the holidays.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets and Primal as well.  The cream cheese knocks this out of suitability for Paleo, unless there is a suitable substitute I’m unaware of that meets that program’s requirements for subbing out cream cheese.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. almond flour

1 c. plain whey protein powder

1 c. Splenda or equivalent sweetener of choice

2 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

1 T. + 1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

½ tsp. nutmeg

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

3/4 c. (1½ sticks) butter, softened

1 c. fresh (or canned) cooked pumpkin puree

4 large eggs

½ c. sugar-free maple syrup or caramel sugar-free syrup

1 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Line the bottom of a tube pan with parchment cut-to-fit, or use a lightly oiled non-stick bundt pan if you own one (I do not).  Oil the sides and post of your tube pan as well.  In a medium bowl, soften cream cheese and butter.  With electric mixer, blend them well.  Add eggs, syrup, pumpkin and vanilla.  Whip on high until very smooth.  In a separate bowl, measure out all dry ingredients and stir well to blend to a uniform mixture.  Add to the wet ingredients and beat with the electric mixer until a smooth batter is achieved.  With a rubber spatula, scrape the batter into the cake pan spreading it as evenly as possible.  Bake at 350º for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and dry.  Cool almost totally before loosening with a knife and tipping onto a cake plate for serving.

VARIATION:  Use lightly oiled silicone muffin pans for a muffin version.  Should make 12 large muffins that will take about 20-25 minutes to bake at 350º.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 14 slices, each contains:

295 calories, 25.8 g fat, 7.28 g carbs, 2.30 g fiber, 4.98 g NET CARBS, 12.4 g protein, 287 mg sodium

Garlic Dinner Rolls

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I’m making my Garlic Dinner Rolls again to have with our Swiss Steak tonight.  They are made with my Mozzy Dough, which in flavor and texture lies somewhere between the Flathead Pizza Crust recipe on the Diet Doctor’s website and Jennifer Eloff’s Miracle Dough recipe.  It makes excellent dinner rolls for serving with Italian entrees!  They are delicious by themselves hot out of the oven  with butter!  They are also good split, toasted with melted butter, a sprinkle of Italian herbs and Parmesan cheese.  They make an excellent oven broiled ‘toasted’ garlic bread!  This dough has good elasticity, flavor and is so versatile in a variety of applications.  This recipe is not suitable until you get closer to goal weight on Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1 T. cream cheese

1½ T. melted butter

1 egg, beaten

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix

½ c. Carbquik (or another ½ c. gluten-free mix)

1 T. oat fiber

1/4 tsp. psyllium husk powder

Dash each oregano & garlic powder

1 T. dry grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Line baking sheet with parchment or silicone sheet.  Measure out all dry ingredients in small bowl, stir well and set aside.  Place mozzarella cheese shreds, minced garlic and cream cheese in glass or ceramic bowl and microwave on HI for about 1-1½ minutes to melt it.  Remove and stir quickly with a fork.  Add the egg and melted butter and stir again.  Quickly pour in the dry ingredients and stir quickly with a fork to form a single ball of dough, scraping it down off the sides of the bowl.  Knead or stir a few minutes to be sure all is uniformly mixed.  Divide into 6 equal portions and roll smooth into a ball.  Place them spaced out on parchment-lined pan.  Press slightly flat if you like, but not really necessary.  Sprinkle tops with oregano, garlic powder and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350º for about 18 minutes until dry to touch and lightly browned as shown.  Remove and serve hot with butter.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes enough dough for 6 dinner rolls with 6.26 net carbs each, or dough can be used for a 9″-10″ pie-crust with a lovely fluted edge, 4 hand pies, or a 12″ pizza crust!

ENTIRE RECIPE CONTAINS:  1140 calories, 95.8 g fat, 58.6 g carbs, 37.6 g fiber, 21 g NET CARBS, 81.2 g protein, 1542 mg sodium (divide by number of servings/pieces for the specific application you use this dough for)

Pumpkin Coconut Ice Cream

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For those of you who just can’t wait to have all the pumpkin desserts and beverages in the Fall, this pumpkin-coconut ice cream is simply delicious!  And we’re coming up on the season for such treats.  I go pretty heavy on the pumpkin and spices because I want a strong flavor.  If you love coconut more than we do, you might want to use more of the coconut cream and less of the heavy cream in yours. My hubby isn’t too fond of coconut and I’m not so crazy about it too often either.   This recipe is not suitable until you reach the Atkins “nuts and seeds” rung of the Phase 2 OWL carb ladder.  Keto followers can enjoy this one using all coconut cream and no heavy cream.  Primal devotees can as well if they use alternative sweeteners that are plan-suitable.

INGREDIENTS:

1 can (2 c.) pumpkin puree

8 oz. coconut cream

2 c. heavy cream

1 T. blackstrap molasses (or ¼ tsp. maple extract for lower carbs)

½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. each nutmeg and cloves

½ c. erythritol

2 pkts. stevia (I used Sweet Additions)

DIRECTIONS:  Mix all the ingredients in a bowl or a food processor until well blended.  Transfer the mixture to your ice cream maker and freeze per the machine’s instructions.  Serve immediately (preferably) and with the remainder, make ice cream bars if you have molds, or freeze all of it in a suitable plastic container.  I like to use flexible plastic or silicone for this so that when it freezes hard, I can twist the pan a little and loosen the “solid brick” and cut it into squares or slices to thaw slightly and serve.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 10 level ½ cup servings, each contains:

227 cals, 24.2 g  fat, 7.84 g  carbs, 1.86 g fiber, 5.98 g  NET CARBS  (lower if you use maple extract), 1.53 g  protein, 25 mg sodium

Chai-Chia Chewies

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Click to enlarge

These unique spice cookies will appeal to the chai tea lovers out there and be a hit for any special occasion.  My neighbor loved them! He asked to take a few home, along with the recipe, when I served them at our Round-Robin Neighborhood Christmas Dinner one year.  I’m baking a batch of these today!  These are sort of like an cinnamon oatmeal cookie with a “twist”.  The cardamom in the spice blend is so nice in these!  They have a little crunch from the chia seeds, but you can soak the chia in a dab of water to soften them if you find you don’t care for that seed crunch.  Nice thing about these cookies is they just seem to mellow and get tastier every day they sit in your fridge or freezer.  I know there are a lot of ingredients, but it’s why they are so good and  SO WORTH EVERY ONE OF THEM.  These are truly the best low-carb cookie I’ve developed!  I do hope you’ll try this one.  🙂

You might want to add chopped pecans or walnuts to these, but my husband doesn’t like nuts much and I also wanted to post just a basic recipe with the dried prunes (a great raisin replacement for lower carbs).  I have added nutty-tasting hemp hearts (shelled hemp seeds) and some chia seed for the bit of crunch and nutrition these two ingredients bring to these cookies.   The sugar-free honey is essential for these to be chewy, so do not sub out this honey with any other sweetener or you are NOT going to get a chewy cookie (trust me, been there, done that).   This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction.  Wait until you are nearing Pre-Maintenance to enjoy these, as they are a little higher carb than most of my cookies, having prunes in them.

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INGREDIENTS:

½ c. coconut oil (preferably not in liquid form, so do not melt)

2 T. almond butter

1 T. vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

¼ c. sugar-free honey (I can buy it at Walmart)

4 dried prunes, chopped (DelMonte brand has no added sugar)

1½ c. almond flour

¼ c. + 3 T. hemp hearts

1 T. ground chia seeds (I use 50:50 white and black)

½ c. coconut flour

1 T. oat fiber

1 tsp. glucomannan powder (or xanthan gum)

1/8 tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

1 T. erythritol

½ c. granular Splenda or equivalent sweetener to equal ½ c. sugar

2 tsp. my Chai spice blend

VARIATION:  You can just use 2 tsp. ground cinnamon if you are not fond of Chai spice flavors.  Another delicious variation would be to use dried cranberries for the prunes in these. 🙂

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Measure all the wet ingredients into a small bowl.  Beat with an electric hand mixer until smooth.  Stir in the chopped prunes and if using nuts, add them now.  In another bowl, measure out all the dry ingredients and stir well.  Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until all are uniformly mixed into a solid cookie dough.  It will be pretty thick and stiff if your coconut oil wasn’t liquid.   Form into 24 roughly 1″ balls (I use a scooper to be sure they are all about the same size) and set on parchment lined cookie sheets about 3/4″ apart.  These don’t spread much during cooking. Slightly press the ball of dough to flatten on top a wee bit (not too much though).

Pop into preheated oven for about 12-13 minutes.  Ovens can vary, so yours may take a little less or a little more time.  They will be slightly firm to the touch in the center when done, and just beginning to brown a bit on the edges.  Remove and DO NOT REMOVE FROM PANS UNTIL COMPLETELY COOLED.  These are quite fragile when hot and will break apart if not cooled completely before handling.  When fully cool, remove from pans and ENJOY!  Store remainders in a lidded container.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 24  2-inch cookies, each cookie contains:

126 calories, 10.9 g  fat, 5.44 g carbs, 2.38 g fiber, 3.06 g  NET CARBS, 3.36 g  protein, 53 mg sodium

Low Carb Blueberry Buckle

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My husband  brought home some blueberries from the grocery store yesterday.  Hubby was griping I’d not baked anything sweet in ages (I’m not a sweets fan), so I made this old-fashioned buckle this morning.  If you’re wondering where it got its name, when constructed  in frontier days in a cast iron skillet, the fruit was placed on top of the cake.  During baking, as the cake rose, the weight of the fruit would sink the berries causing the cake around the edges of the buttered cast iron skillet to puff up and then fall inward over the fruit.  Nowadays, people often just stir the berries right into the cake batter, but they still sink, causing dimples in the top of the buckle.  Whichever way you construct yours, they are wonderful desserts.  If you are watching carbs even closer, you can lower the amount of berries.  This recipe is not suitable until you reach the late stages of Atkins carb re-introduction ladder.  Please note there is no sugar in this recipe as I am off all sweeteners.   It is sweet enough for me as written, but if you like things sweeter you could add ¼c. sugar equivalent of your favorite sweetener either to the batter or sprinkled on top just before baking.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 c. Buttoni’s Low Carb Bake Mix (or other low-carb mix of choice)

½ tsp. sea salt

Zest from 1 small lemon

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

2 large eggs, beaten

½ c. (1 stick) butter, unsalted, melted in a 9″ cake pan

2 c. fresh blueberries

OPTIONAL:    Add sugar substitute of choice to equal ¼ c. sugar

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat oven to 350º & grease a round cake pan.  Measure out dry ingredients into a mixing bowl (add sugar sub if using).  Grate lemon zest and add to the bowl.  Add the wet ingredients and the berries.  Lightly fold together to mix and moisten all ingredients well but DO NOT OVER STIR.  Spoon into the cake pan and pop into 350º oven for 15 minutes or just until batter spots are dry to the touch.  Do not over brown.  This is best served warm.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 6 svgs., each contains: (based on my bake mix)

261 cals, 21.23g fat, 13.1g carbs, 3.6g fiber, 9.5g NET CARBS (use fewer berries for lower carbs), 8.6g protein, 256 mg sodium

Blackberry-Coconut Smoothie

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Click to enlarge

I love a good smoothie, especially when blackberries are in season.   This is a wonderfully refreshing afternoon treat or even a dessert!  It is not suitable until the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL carb re-introduction ladder.  It is perfectly OK for Paleo-Primal folks. The sweetener I used has no carbs, so if you use one with a bulking agent, you will need to add in those carbs to the numbers below.   Of course, you can always add protein powder to this if you wish, but be sure to add in those carbs to the stats below.

INGREDIENTS:

6 T. coconut cream (this is NOT cream of coconut bartenders use, which has added sugar & carbs)

3/4 c. blackberries

½ c. water

about 3/4 c. ice cubes

Your preferred sweetener (I use liquid Splenda to taste)

VARIATION:  Substitute blueberries, strawberries, or 1/2 banana  (recalculate stats if using banana)

DIRECTIONS: Put everything in the blender and let ‘er rip until all is smooth and ice is no longer in chunks.  The coconut cream will thicken it adequately.  Pour into a glass and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 smoothie which contains:

193 cals, 24.5 g fat, 13.4 g carbs, 6.7 g fiber,  6.7 g NET CARBS, 1.5 g protein, 16 mg sodium

Mini Boston Cream Pie

Peggy 2 Comments

Boston Cream Pie

Another treat for consideration this Valentine’s Day.  I’ve often wondered why they call this dessert a “pie”.  I’ve always figured it was because pie tins were more available than the type of cake pan we think of today when this dish was created by a Boston chef. It’s my husband’s favorite cake, actually.  He asked me if I thought I could make a low-carb version of his favorite cake and I decided to give it a try.  This famous dessert is only as good as the cake it’s made with.  I used Nancy’s 3 Minute Vanilla Cake on Linda Genaw’s site.  So I thought that would be a good starting point.  I baked two of those (slightly modified) in 6″ ceramic quiche dishes.  This recipe is not suitable for Induction.

CREAM FILLING INGREDIENTS:  Whisk the following well in a small bowl.  Chill for 20-30 minutes.

½ package sugar-free vanilla pudding powder

¼ c. heavy cream

½ c. water

If you prefer to make your pastry cream from scratch, I would recommend DJfoodie’s Pastry Cream recipe, but the stats below were calculated on the cream made with the dry pudding powder.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING INGREDIENTS:  The recipe for frosting I used (from the website Healthy Indulgences) is no longer in existence, as the website isn’t even accessible anymore.  Instead I recommend using this frosting recipe at Carolyn Ketchum’s website:  All Day Dream About Food to glaze your cake.  Her recipes are always delicious!  Refrigerate or freeze any remaining frosting for other uses.

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

4 T. butter, unsalted

2 eggs, beaten

4 T. water

½ c. granular Splenda (or equivalent liquid sweetener)

¼ c. golden flax meal

¼ c. almond flour

2/3 c. whey protein, unflavored, unsweetened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking powder

DIRECTIONS:   In your microwave, melt 2 T. of the butter in each of two small 6″ quiche dishes.  Add 1 beaten egg and 2 T. of water to each dish.  Stir well to blend.  Next add to each baking dish: ¼ c. Splenda (or equivalent liquid sweetener) , 2 T. flax meal, 2 T. almond flour, 1/3 c. whey protein, ½ tsp. vanilla extract and ½ tsp. baking powder.  Stir well until completely smooth.  Microwave each layer for about 70 seconds or until center is dry and spring back when touched.  Remove and cool slightly.  Using a flexible spatula, gently tip/lift out layer to your serving plate.

Remove cream from refrigerator and stir once for smoothness.  Gently spread a ¼-½” layer of cream onto bottom layer of cake, which may not use it all up.  If you’ve got kids, not a problem.  They’ll be happy to take care of the leftovers for ya!  😉  Don’t get the cream too close to the edges of the cake or it will ooze out when layer #2 goes on.

Gently remove second cake from the dish and set it carefully on top of the cream layer.  Slightly press to seat it well.  Now spread a thin layer of frosting on the top of the cake.  Frosting the sides is tricky, as the cream tends to want to ooze out and mix with the frosting.  Not a problem, just smooth such spots back and forth and the cream and frosting will blend and nobody will ever know but you.  😉

Store uneaten cake in the refrigerator.  Chill cake for 30 minutes or so to set the frosting and it’s ready to serve.  I find this cake gets firmer when totally cold, so the next day, if any leftover, I like to pull it out of the fridge for an hour before serving so the cake and frosting return to their softer state.  🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 6 servings, each contains:  (Carbs will be lower if you use liquid sweetener)

271 cals. , 23 g  fat, 8.7g  carbs, 2.22g  fiber, 6.48g NET CARBS, 13 g protein, 250 mg sodium

SPECIAL NOTE:  For those that want a bigger slice (with a higher carb price to pay):  1/4 of the cake=406 calories, 13.05 carbs, 3.33 g fiber, 9.72 g NET CARBS, 19.1 g protein, and 374 mg sodium.

Cranberry-Orange Ladyfingers

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You are going to LOVE these!  They just get better and better each day that goes by.  They’re even gluten-free, if you leave out the oat fiber.  🙂  Hubby really liked these and he’s not really a fruit and nut man.  If you don’t have a Twinkie® baking pan, just make 12 small muffins, or bake in a round cake pan for cutting in wedges.  These are not suitable for Atkins Induction on several levels.  They are suitable for Phase 2 and above and Keto diets as well.

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. almond flour

¼ c. flax meal (I use 50:50 gold and dark)

¼ c. plain whey protein powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1 T. oat fiber (omit for gluten free version)

1 c. shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

3 T. softened cream cheese

2 beaten large eggs

1 tsp. cider vinegar

1 T. heavy cream

2 T. fresh squeezed orange juice

1 T. warm tap water

1 tsp. yeast + 1 tsp. sugar dissolved in the warm water above (or 1 tsp. baking powder)

½ c. cranberries (homemade, dried, sugar-free)

½ c. slivered almonds

1 oz. orange peel

VARIATION:   Add a few chopped pecans.

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Lightly oil a non-stick pan of your choice (discussed above) and set aside.

Measure out the first 6 (dry) ingredients into a medium mixing bowl.  In a separate small glass bowl, soften the cream cheese either at room temp or in your microwave on defrost.  Dissolve the yeast in the tablespoon of warm water in a saucer and add to the cream cheese.  Stir. Beat in the eggs well. Add the cider vinegar and cream.  Add the creamy mixture to the dry ingredients bowl and stir.

Trim off 1 oz. of orange peel from an orange.  You want to get as little white, bitter membrane as possible.  Cut into approximately 1″ pieces.  Place in food processor or blender.  Add cranberries and nuts to the bowl and pulse it all together about 10 times or so, to a coarse chop.   Add the fruit/nut mixture to the batter.  Stir. Finally squeeze/measure out the orange juice. Stir well one last time to incorporate all to achieve a uniform distribution of the fruit/nuts.

Dip into/onto your chosen pan, distributing the batter evenly into 12 muffin cups, 12 Twinkie® slots or a greased round cake pan.  Pop into 350º oven and bake for  20 minutes until lightly browned.  Allow to cool a bit before lifting with the assistance of a knife tip.  If making a round or loaf bread, bake around 35 minutes or until the center passes a dry toothpick test.  As with all low-carb baked goods, store in a bag in the refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 12 ladyfingers (or whatever shape you make), so 1/12 of the batch (1 portion) contains:

160 cals, 12.64g fat, 6.53g carbs, 2.71g fiber, 3.82g NET CARBS, 8.3 g protein, 266 mg sodium

Banana-Peanut Butter “Twinkies®”

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One of my Mom’s regular afternoon snacks to offer us when I was growing up was half a banana sandwich with a smear of peanut butter dotted on the bananas.  If there were animal crackers in the house, she’d place a slice of banana on top of one of those with a dot of PB on top.  Well, I took those memories to a new little creation…….a banana-PB  muffin of sorts.   These were tasty beyond words. 

My Twinkies® are a little carb-y, so obviously not for daily consumption, but a tasty treat once in awhile.  🙂  These are not suitable until you have reached the higher-carb fruits level of the Atkins carb reintroduction ladder and are nearer to maintenance.  These are too high carb for most Keto followers, but those at goal weight might indulge occasionally.  Totally not suitable for Primal-Paleo followers.

VARIATION:  If you don’t have a Twinkie® pan, just make as muffins.  They’ll be just as good.

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Banana Muffin batter

1 ripe banana, mashed

2 T. natural peanut butter (I use Laura Scudder)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Lightly grease a non-stick Twinkie® pan (or use a regular muffin pan if you don’t have a Twinkie® pan).  Make the recipe of banana muffin batter in a medium bowl.  Stir until smooth.  Spoon into the 12 slots of the pan equally (will be quite full as they don’t rise much).  Bake at 350º for about 22-25 minutes.  I’m still learning to use a new oven in a new house so these came out a little browner than I like, but the oven performed pretty well for me.  Remove when firm to the touch and cool off.  Slice in half and set aside.  Stir the mashed whole banana and peanut butter together until well-blended.  Makes 3/4 c. filling or exactly 12 tablespoons.  Fill each “Twinkie”® with 1 T. of the filling, spreading somewhat evenly.  You can, if you prefer, just “frost” the tops of the Twinkies® with the filling, if you find this easier.  🙂  ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 12 Twinkies®, each contains:

244.7 calories, 19.76 g  fat, 13.15 g  carbs, 4.29 g  fiber, 8.86 g  NET CARBS, 6.83 g  protein

Individual Raspberry Cream Cake

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This quick little dessert takes all of about 10 minutes to make and would make a lovely dessert for your honey on Valentine’s Day.  It’s very tasty with a wide variety of berries and fruit.  It’s a variation on my Einkorn Individual Vanilla Cake recipe.  This recipe isn’t suitable until you are fairly close to goal weight.  You can make this dessert with a few pureed strawberries if you like.

VARIATIONS:  Substitute 3 pureed strawberries for the raspberries.  Or, sub in 3 slices of pureed fresh peach.  Or stir in 2 T. crushed canned pineapple (drained).  All are delicious versions!

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Einkorn Individual Vanilla Cake

2 T. my Raspberry Coulis (or sugar-free raspberry preserves, or 7-8 mashed fresh berries)

½ c. heavy cream, whipped and sweetened (makes about 3/4 cup total)

DIRECTIONS:  Make the cake per that recipe’s instructions, but use raspberry sugar-free syrup instead of the vanilla syrup.   Scrape the batter into a 6″ ramekin (or 2 smaller ones).  Microwave on HI for 1 minutes or until center is dry to the touch.  Cool completely.  Slice cake horizontally into 2 layers.  Place one layer on a serving plate.  Whip and sweeten the whipping cream.  Stir in the fruit/ puree.  Spread half on top of the bottom layer.  Place top cake layer on top and frost with  remaining whipped mixture.  Cut into two servings and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes two servings, each contains:

316 calories, 39.4 g  fat, 8.2 g  carbs, 2.3 g  fiber, 5.9 g NET CARBS, 5.8 g  protein, 85 mg sodium

Einkorn “Apple” Cobbler

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We low-carbers can’t afford to eat a lot of higher-carb fruit, especially if we are on the beginning of our weight-loss journey.  But once we have increased our daily carbs a bit, we can enjoy the occasional treat with fruits other than berries.  I find that if you mix a high-carb fruit with a lower-carb “disguising” vegetable, like a mild squash, one can trick the palate into thinking you’re eating the  real McCoy :).  This little cobbler is a perfect example of that.  We both LOVED this cobbler!  The flavor was truly amazing.

I learned early on in my Atkins journey that Baked Spaghetti Squash tastes almost exactly like apples, with nearly the exact same texture, too!  When I tried this cobbler creation, I decided to add some real apple and see if I could keep the carbs low enough.  I also decided to use my latest Einkorn Flour Pie Crust.  As you can see by the per serving carb total below, this dessert is a wee bit higher in carbs than most of mine.  HOWEVER, if you use only one apple and use my “Flour” Pie Crust recipe rather than my Einkorn Pie Crust, you can drop the per serving count to a more “palatable” 6.82 net carbs, which isn’t bad at all for a pastry dessert with real fruit in it.

This absolutely delicious recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction but is OK once you reach the final high-carb fruit rung of the Atkins carb-reintroduction ladder.  Keto followers should make the alternate version suggested above for lowering carbs, and use the “Flour” Pie Crust and 1 less apple if you want to try this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

½ spaghetti squash (mine was 9″ and yielded 4 c. threads)

2 medium apples, grated or sliced (I used Delicious apples)

3 T. unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 c. erythritol (or preferred sweetener to equal 1/4 c. sugar)

2 pkts. stevia

3/4 c. water

Dash of xanthan gum (or 1 tsp. chia seeds)

1 recipe Einkorn Pie Crust  (or my “Flour” Pie Crust for lower carbs)

VARIATION:  Substitute 4 c. peeled, sliced zucchini or mirliton (chayote squash) for the spaghetti squash.

DIRECTIONS:  Cook the spaghetti squash cut side down in ½” water in a dish in your microwave for 13 minutes.  Remove, cool and fork out the threads into a large bowl. The exact amount isn’t crucial, but the stats below are based on 4 cups of threads.

Grate the apples on a food grater or in food processor.  I find that cut in half and grated cut-side down, the grating process sort of peels the apples for you.  🙂  Now is a good time to preheat your oven to 350º.  Add the grated or sliced apple to the bowl of squash threads.   Melt the butter and drizzle over the fruit-squash mixture.  Add the cinnamon, sweeteners and water.  Dust the xanthan gum or chia seeds over the surface and stir well.  Pour into a buttered baking dish.  I used an 8×11″ rectangular ceramic dish.

Make the pie crust according to the directions for that recipe (linked above). Chill the dough 30 minutes.  Remove dough from refrigerator and roll between 2 sheets of plastic to the approximate shape of the dish you are making.    When you have rolled the crust slightly larger than your dish, remove the top plastic and gently lift the bottom sheet up over to the cobbler dish and flip the crust onto the cobbler filling.  Push or crimp the edges of the dough up into to the dish and poke a few holes in the top of the crust with a fork randomly to allow air to escape.  Pop into a 350º oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until the crust is dry to the touch in the center and golden on the edges.  Serve warm.  Leftovers store nicely in the refrigerator and reheat in the microwave quite nicely.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 8 servings If baked exactly as written, each serving contains:

195.4 cals, 14.7g fat, 18.6g carbs, 7.88g fiber, 10.72g NET CARBS  (only 6.82 NC with just 1 apple & the “Flour” crust), 6.05 g protein, 202 mg sodium

Cashew-Peanut Butter Cookies

Peggy Leave a comment

I tinkered around a bit with the classic 3-ingredient low-carb peanut butter cookie recipe that floats around on the internet.  I like peanut butter a lot.  My husband, although he eats peanuts like crazy, hates peanut butter’s taste and mouth-feel.   So I backed off on the peanut butter and added some raw cashew butter to my new creation.  GOOD decision because he liked these!  I also wanted to pump these up with more nutrients so I added some whey protein to my cookie dough.    These came out GREAT!   These gems are not suitable until the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins Phase 2 OWL carb re-introduction ladder.  They are not suitable for Paleo-Primal followers at all.  Hope you folks able to have these like them as much as we do!

INGREDIENTS: 

½ c. (rounded) raw cashews (2½ oz. )

1 T. coconut oil

½ c. unsweetened chunky peanut butter (I use Laura Scudder)

3/4 c. granulated erythritol

1/4 c. granulated Splenda

¼ c. plain whey protein powder (I use NOW brand)

1 large egg, beaten

DIRECTIONS:  Soaking your nuts in some water and then draining to swell and soften them isn’t absolutely necessary, but it’s easier on your food processor blade and will render a smoother cashew butter.  I soaked mine 2 hours in warm water and then drained.

Preheat oven to 350º.  Line a cookie sheet either with parchment paper, a silicone sheet, or grease the pan well. Place cashews and coconut oil into food processor or blender and blend until smooth.  Scrape into a bowl with a rubber spatula.  Add the erythritol, Splenda, whey protein powder, egg  and chunky peanut butter.  Stir to blend mixture well.  In the name of uniform cookie size, using a teaspoon,  mark off the dough in the bowl into 4 equal sections.  You should get 5 cookies from each section, or a total of 20 cookies. Dip up enough dough with your spoon to roll into 1″ balls in your palms.  Set the balls onto the pan about 1″ apart.  These don’t spread much during cooking, so you can probably get all 20 on 1 large pan (4×5) .  When the 20 balls have been formed, take a fork and press them down slightly for that classic peanut butte cookie imprint we all know well.  Pop into preheated 350º oven for approximately 12-14 minutes or until just slightly brown on the edges.    These are crumbly when hot, so allow them to completely cool on the pan before removing with a spatula.  Store in an air-tight container when fully cooled.  ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 20 cookies, each contains:

76 cals, 5.8g fat, 2.6g carbs, 0.51g fiber, 2.09g NET CARBS, 3.56g protein, 30 mg sodium, 34 mg potassium

“Apple Pie” Pastries

Peggy 2 Comments

These tasty apple pastries can be put together in around 30 minutes!  Of course, if you use a low-carb homemade pastry dough in lieu of the commercial low-carb tortillas, it will take longer, but the carb count will be pulled lower. If you want dessert fast, the ready-made low-carb tortillas are nice to keep around for such occasions.  And I just recently learned about the small 4″ ZERO net carb tortillas Mission is making.  The fiber zero’s out the carbs and they would be perfect for this little dessert!  I bought some at Netrition recently and can’t wait to try them for this tasty treat!  When I do, I’ll post and recalculate the stats below, posting on this recipe.  You could also make these with fresh sliced peaches or nectarines.  These are very good on day two, so you can make a lot.  I would not recommend freezing this dessert treat.  

This recipe is not suitable until you are closer to Atkins Maintenance or are already to your  goal weight.  the tortillas have real flour and grains are the very last food you are allowed to add back after Induction.

INGREDIENTS:

3 Mission Carb Balance whole-wheat tortillas, cut in halvesCalaba Squash

6 oz. peeled calaba squash or Mexican zucchini pictured above (or peeled green zucchini)

5 oz. peeled apple, sliced 3/8″

3 T. unsalted butter, melted

½-3/4 tsp. cinnamon

2 T. granular Splenda (or equivalent sweetener of choice)

Optional: 1 T. more melted butter + mixture of 1 tsp. erythritol and a dash of cinnamon to sprinkle on top.

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Slice the zucchini 3/8″ thick.  Melt 3 T. butter and sauté zucchini squash and apple slices until nearly tender.  Stir in sweetener and ground cinnamon and remove from heat.  Cut tortillas in half.  On parchment or a silicone lined baking sheet, form cones with each tortilla half and place seam side down on the pan.  Fill with 1/6 the filling with a small spoon.  Melt remaining 1 T. butter.  Brush each pastry with the butter.  Mix on a paper towel the erythritol and cinnamon.  Spoon 1/6th of it over the top of each pastry.  Pop pan into oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until just lightly browned.  Remove from oven and serve hot.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 6 apple pastries, each contains:

127 cals, 8.73g fat, 10.98g carbs, 5.06g fiber, 5.92g NET CARBS, 1.83 g protein, 112 mg sodium

Strawberry Chocolate Torte

Peggy Leave a comment

I’m not a big sweets eater, as many of my readers and forum acquaintances know by now.  But my husband is, so I fix him low-carb treats for special occasions otherwise he WILL go buy the awful flour/sugar laden versions at the bakery.  This dessert I created for his Valentine’s Day treat some years back and thought I’d share it today since there’s never a bad time for a good chocolate cake.  

The basic chocolate cake batter in this recipe is actually not my recipe.  My inspirational recipe was posted by a wonderful cook on LowCarbFriends forums named Gwen, known there as “The Chicken Lady” as she lives on a farm.  This cake is a testimonial to her incredible cooking skills. I love this cake and have made it more than one time now.  I can’t say that about many low-carb chocolate cakes I’ve tried.   Despite it looking sinfully rich, it was very light.   I have made no changes to her original chocolate cake recipe.  🙂

I did bake my cake in ONE 9″ round cake (wax-paper lined) cake pan that is unusually deep (2½”) and the cake rose nearly to the top!  It would bake OK in two standard shallow 9″ cake pans also, but reduce the cooking time if you make that pan change.  You’ll have more trouble slicing it into 4 layers, and might prefer to just do a two-layer final cake instead of three.  Or you could bake the cake in a wax-paper lined stew pot/Dutch oven.  That has worked for me many a time.  This dessert is not suitable until the berries rung of the Atkins OWL carb reintroduction ladder.  Due to the artificial sweeteners and dairy, this dessert is not be suitable for Paleo-Primal followers without considerable modification.

VARIATION:  Substitute raspberries for the strawberries.

This cake is fairly carb pricey, but if you can’t afford the carbs, you could cut it into 12 pieces.  That’s a wee bit better.  This should be considered a very special occasion treat because it IS so carb pricey.  Be sure if substituting other than liquid sweeteners, to add in those carbs!

CHICKEN LADY’S CHOCOLATE CAKE INGREDIENTS: 

4 c. almond flour
liquid sweetener to equal 2 c. sugar
½ c. granular erythritol (or equivalent sweetener of choice to equal 1/3 cup of sugar)
4 pkts. stevia (or equivalent for 8 tsp. sugar)  
½ c. cup cocoa powder
2 t. baking powder
2 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/3 c. butter or coconut oil, melted
4 eggs, beaten
1 c. sour cream

MY FROSTING & FILLING INGREDIENTS:

2½ c. heavy cream, whipped

1/16-1/8 tsp. glucomannan powder, dusted over cream as you whip it (optional, to help firm up)

14 oz. frozen whole strawberries, thawed and drained of juice, chopped

1 c. fresh strawberries, chopped or 1 c. more frozen berries (or use all fresh berries)

Sweetener of choice to taste

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º.   Mix and beat the wet cake ingredients in a large mixing bowl.   If your almond flour isn’t room temperature, make it so and press out any lumps.  Measure and add in all dry ingredients to the bowl and stir well. Line your cake pan(s) with waxed paper or parchment.  Grease the sides of the pan(s) well.  Pour batter into pan spreading it evenly with a rubber spatula. Tap pan on counter to eliminate air pockets and pop into 350º oven.  Bake for about 60 minutes if using one, very deep pan like I did.  If using two 1″ x 9″ round cake pans, they will cook much faster, in about 25-30 minutes or so.   Toothpick test the center.  It should come out clean and dry when the the cake is done.  Completely cool before attempting to tip cake out onto a board to cut it into layers.  This cake can also be made in a rectangular 9 x 13″ pan, cut in half and each half then sliced laterally to form 4 layers (reserve 1 layer for another use as you only need 3 layers for this cake).  All sorts of possibilities with that cake size.

While cake is in the oven, make the frosting:  Whip the cream until thick.  Run the berries through a food processor (or chop coarsely) for a few seconds.  Fold the berries into the whipped cream. Dust the pinch of glucomannan powder over the mixture slowly, folding after each addition, until all of it has been incorporated.  Taste for sweetness and add your favorite sweetener to taste.  Chill frosting until cake is totally cool.

Next cut the cake layers:  I sliced the completely cooled cake very carefully with a long-bladed knife, using a piece of cardboard covered with foil to gently slide each layer onto to set aside while I filled/frosted the final creation.  This cake has a firm texture and is not as crumbly as some almond flour cakes.  All good, but you still need to be careful, as even firm cakes can break.

Place about 1¼ c. of the frosting on the bottom layer of the cake.  Spread evenly with a rubber spatula, going almost to the edges.  Place the second layer of cake gently on the top and press slightly.  Put another 1¼ c. frosting on this layer and spread it out evenly.  Place the top cake layer on the stack, press slightly and spread all remaining frosting on the top and sides. OPTIONAL GARNISH:  Decorate the top of your cake with fresh strawberry slices, a few strawberry leaves  or perhaps a sliced and “fanned out” single strawberry at the center.  Chill in the refrigerator with plastic wrap on top until ready to cut and serve.

This cake was simply DELICIOUS and I will definitely be making it again!   My thanks to The Chicken Lady for her wonderful chocolate cake recipe.  It truly made my Valentines treat a success!

CONFESSION TIME:  The reason I used both frozen and fresh berries in the topping is I only had one 14 oz. bag of the frozen diced unsweetened berries in my freezer.  I thought that would make enough frosting.  But 1½ c. cream and those berries didn’t make enough frosting to frost the sides of the cake!  So I had to whip up a little more frosting real quick with another cup of cream and berries, so the last batch of frosting had to be made with the few fresh berries I had on hand.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 10 servings, using the sweeteners specified, each serving contains:

632 cals, 57.8 g fat, 20.4 g carbs, 7.05 g fiber, 13.35 g NET CARBS, 15.2 g protein, 521 mg sodium

Almond Butter Cookies

Peggy Leave a comment

almond002

These tasty treats come out kind of chewy and are still like that after they cool off.  I got this base batter idea from the chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of the Honeyvillegrain Blanched Almond flour bag.  I made some drastic changes to their basic dough, however.  They used all almond flour in their recipe and I’ve added some ingredients I find improve low-carb baked goods.  I’m very pleased with the chewy texture of these cookies and will likely use this cookie dough as a base dough for many variations in the future.  So far I have done variations with fresh cherry, pineapple and pecan, dried prune , currant-spice, pumpkin, and chia-chai .  All have been delicious.  If you’re tired of cake-y or dry/brittle cookies and are wanting a low carb cookie that is moist and chewy, this one you really need to try!  They really deliver!  They also freeze well and are even chewier when eaten right out of the freezer, if you’re into very chewy cookies!!  These are not suitable until the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins Phase 2 OWL carb reintroduction ladder.

DO NOT SUBSTITUTE OTHER SWEETENERS FOR THE SUGAR-FREE HONEY IN THESE OR THEY WILL NOT COME OUT CHEWY!  I tried that already.  Real honey works, but will also jack up the carbs considerably!

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. almond flour

½ c. coconut flour

1 T. oat fiber (substitute gluten-free oat flour for gluten-free version)

1 tsp. glucomannan powder (konjac powder)

1/8 tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

½ c. coconut oil (or softened butter)

2 T. almond butter

1 T. vanilla extract

½ c. granular Splenda

1 T. erythritol

1 egg, beaten

¼ c. sugar-free imitation honey (no substitutions, unless it’s REAL honey)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  In a large mixing bowl stir the almond butter and oil together until smooth.  Beat in the egg, vanilla and imitation honey.    Measure in all dry ingredients on top and stir well to form a smooth dough.   If your dough seems very dry or stiff (coconut flours vary), add in ½ beaten egg. Roll dough into 1″ balls and place them onto parchment lined baking sheet.  Leave 1″ space between cookies.  Press balls down slightly flat and pop pan into preheated oven.  Top with chopped, sliced almonds if desired, but this really doesn’t impact flavor, just the look.  Bake for about 7 minutes.  Do not over brown these cookies or texture will be drier and less chewy.  Remove from oven and cool on the pan a few minutes before removing with a spatula.  These are delicate while hot but “firm up” nicely when they cool. Store in an airtight container.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 28 cookies, each contains:

105.5 cals, 9.1g fat, 4.12g carbs, 2.07g fiber, 2.05g NET CARBS, 2g protein, 48.2 mg sodium

HOMEMADE IMITATION HONEY: If you really don’t feel like running to the store for ready-made sugar-free honey, but also don’t want to use all real honey because of the carbs, I have a homemade recipe you might want to try.  Boil for 2-3 minutes: ¼ c. erythritol, 2 T. + 1 tsp. real honey and 1 pkt. stevia (or Splenda).  Cool (thickens as it cools) and put in airtight jar.  Added note:  If it crystalizes over time, just soften in the microwave on DEFROST for 1  minute or plunge into a pot of slow simmering warm water a minute or so before stirring and using.

Blackberry Ice Cream

Peggy 1 Comment

I created a delicious low-carb blackberry ice cream some time ago I think you’ll love!  Our tree trimmer doing a job for us today pointed out my wild blackberries were setting fruit (which I had not yet noticed), so I think I’ll make a batch with the bag of mixed berries in my freezer. 

I would start out with 1 cup berries and taste as you go.  They vary so much in tartness/sweetness it’s difficult to know how many to add to desserts.  The taste-as-you-go approach is safest when it comes to blackberries.  My husband ate two servings with the full 2 cups of berries, but I’ll have to back off next time, most likely.  He just loved this recipe!  He’s a real ice cream connoisseur, so I consider that compliment  🙂  This recipe is naturally not suitable until the berries rung of the Atkins Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL) phase of the program.  If you don’t have the blueberry or blackberry syrup, you could sub in DaVinci Vanilla or French Vanilla and just omit the vanilla extract.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. blackberries, frozen, unsweetened (Do Not Defrost!)

1¼ c. heavy cream

1/8 tsp. vanilla

4 T. sugar-free blackberry or syrup

12-16 drops liquid Splenda (or your favorite sweetener to taste)

2 tsp. food grade glycerine (optional, but keeps it a bit softer)

¼ c. powdered erythritol  (or reduce granular to a powder in processor)

DIRECTIONS:  Place erythritol in bowl of food processor.   Add all remaining ingredients and pulse until berries are broken up and mixture is fairly smooth.  Scrape out into dishes for a soft serve gelato.  Freeze for 30 minutes for a firmer ice cream.  ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 4 servings, each contains:

282 calories, 27.7 g  fat, 8.25 g  carbs, 1.9 g  fiber, 6.35 g  NET CARBS, 1.98 g protein

 

Blackberry-Coconut Smoothie

Peggy Leave a comment

Click to enlarge

I love a good smoothie, especially when blackberries are in season.   This is a wonderfully refreshing afternoon treat or even a dessert!  It is not suitable until the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL carb ladder.  It is perfectly OK for Paleo-Primal folks. The sweetener I used has no carbs, so if you use one with a bulking agent, you will need to add in those carbs to the numbers below.   Of course, you can always add protein powder to this if you wish, but be sure to add in those carbs to the stats below.

INGREDIENTS:

6 T. coconut cream (this is NOT cream of coconut bartenders use, which has added sugar & carbs)

3/4 c. blackberries

½ c. water

about 3/4 c. ice cubes

Your preferred sweetener to taste

VARIATION:  Substitute blueberries, strawberries, or 1/2 banana  (recalculate stats if using banana)

DIRECTIONS: Put everything in the blender and let ‘er rip until all is smooth and ice is no longer in chunks.  The coconut cream will thicken it adequately.  Pour into a glass and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 smoothie which contains:

193 cals, 24.5 g fat, 13.4 g carbs, 6.7 g fiber,  6.7 g NET CARBS, 1.5 g protein, 16 mg sodium

Granola Bars

Peggy 2 Comments

Click to enlarge

This experiment was quite a pleasant surprise.  I am quite pleased with the final taste on these granola bars.  They baked up beautifully.  I would describe these as firm, but not hard like Nature’s Valley® granola bars.  This makes a huge pan of bars, so you may want to make half a recipe or simply freeze half, as they freeze really well without detriment.  I love one of these with half a banana!

These can be crumbled up for a granola cereal if you like, but I recommend a little extra toasting after crumbling.   These also make a nice crunch topping for baked peaches, apples, or favorite crumb-topped pies.  This recipe is not suitable until Phase 2 Atkins but they are well worth the wait, folks!  They are very nutrient dense.

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. rolled oats, toasted (use 100% certified gluten-free oats if required)

2 c. dark flax meal

¾ c. vanilla whey protein

½ c. granular Splenda

10 drops liquid stevia

½ c. sesame seeds

¾ c. grated coconut meat

1½ T. cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

½ c. coconut oil (or butter), melted

½ c. sugar free maple syrup

¼ c. water

2 c. pecans, chopped

½ c. walnuts, chopped

½ c. almonds, coarsely chopped

6 T. sugar free honey (I use Honey Tree from Walmart)

¾ c. sunflower seeds, unsalted

½ c. pumpkin seeds, roasted,salted

VARIATIONS:  Add a very few snipped home dried cranberries or raisins (add to nutritionals below)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º.  On a 13×15 cookie sheet, toast oats until begin to lightly brown.  Remove from oven and lower heat to 250º.   Pour oats into large mixing bowl.  Add all other ingredients and stir well to be sure all ingredients are moistened.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Pour granola mixture onto paper and using plastic gloves or baggies over hands, press evenly into pan.  I like to take a glass loaf pan or sheet of parchment and press the surface evenly before baking.  Pop into oven and bake at 250º for approximately 1 hr. 30 minutes until dry to the touch in the center.  Remove from oven and when almost cool, cut into 30 rectangular bars (10 x 3 rows). This makes a nice size granola bar at an acceptable 4.05 net carb count.  Cutting into 60 squares will of course halve that number.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 30 bars, each contains:

239.7 Calories, 20.0 g  fat, 8.77 g  carbs, 4.72 g  fiber, 4.05 g  NET CARBS, 8.31 g  protein, 79 mg sodium

Hearts with Strawberry Sauce

Peggy Leave a comment

hearts-with-strawberry-sauce

I think I’ll make these for my husband for Valentine’s Day.  🙂  I have made them in years past and he just loves them with vanilla ice cream.  I prefer mine either as is or with a small spoon of sweetened whipped cream on top.  Either will make a nearly effortless treat for my Valentine.  I double a small cake recipe so there are few leftovers.   This kind of portion control works best for me.  😉   This recipe is not suitable until you reach the grains level of Phase 2 Atkins.  Below is a photo of the silicone pan I use, but any large muffin or shortcake pan works:  heart-mini-cake-pan

INGREDIENTS:

2 recipes my Einkorn Individual Vanilla Cake

1¼ c. whole, frozen strawberries (no sugar added)

¼ tsp xanthan gum (or favorite thickener)

4 drops liquid sweetener of choice (I used EzSweets)

VARIATION:  You can puree the sauce until smooth with a stick blender if you prefer. 

DIRECTIONS:   Make the cake batter per that recipe’s instructions, but add 1/4 c. of the strawberries to the batter.  Beat with a stick blender until smooth.  Fill mold slots half full, which made 8 little cakes for me (with other size molds, your mileage may vary).  Microwave on HI for 2 minutes or until center is dry to the touch.    Tip out of molds with the tip of a knife onto a waiting platter or service plates.  When cool, top with sauce made as follows:  Heat over medium heat the remaining strawberries, any juice and the sweetener.  When it begins to simmer, stir in the xanthan gum and stir constantly until thick.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 8 small cakes, each contains:

113.6 calories, 8.33 g fat, 7.50 g carbs, 2.0 g fiber, 5.50 g NET CARBS, 4.57 g protein, 63 mg sodium

Cranberry-Orange Nut Bread

Peggy Leave a comment

Click to enlarge

I love to make this delicious sweet bread for the holidays without fail, but it’s good anytime in my eyes.  It’s one of my oldest low-carb sweet bread recipes that I have baked so many times now.  I always buy extra cranberries during the holidays so I will have some in my freezer for such treats year-round.  I start with a basic coconut flour bread recipe as a foundation and then add in the two flavor essentials. This bread is very moist and freezes nicely for up to 1 month.  This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction Phase.  The basic bread recipe can be used with other flavorings, like lemon and other favorite sweet bread additives.  Get creative with it!

INGREDIENTS:

8 eggs

½ c. heavy cream

½ c. unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. Boyajian orange oil (or 1 T. grated orange zest)

½ tsp. salt

½ c. + 3 T. coconut flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ c. Splenda + 2 T. erythritol (or choice of sweetener to equal 2/3 c. sugar)

1 c. fresh cranberries, chopped

1 tsp. grated orange zest

½ c. pecans or walnuts, chopped

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat oven to 350º.  Chop the raw cranberries and nuts using a processor or blender.  Set aside for now.  For the batter, crack and beat the 8 eggs in a bowl.  Add cream, melted butter, vanilla and orange oil/extract.   If you have no orange oil/extract, you can add in an additional teaspoon of orange zest.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet in the order listed above.  Fold each in gently to incorporate uniformly.   Gently fold in the chopped cranberries, orange zest and walnuts last.  Pour into a greased or non-stick loaf pan and bake at 350º for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick stuck into center comes out clean and dry.  Remove and cool before cuttting.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Entire loaf has 2506 calories, 186.9g fat, 127.1g carbs, 64.0g fiber, 63.1 net carbs, 86.5g protein, 2458 mg sodium.  Handy info to have if cutting into a different number of slices than I do.

If cut into 10 slices, each slice of the loaf will have:

250.6 cals, 18.7 g fat, 12.7 g carbs, 6.4 g fiber, 6.3 g NET CARBS, 8.65 g protein, 245 mg sodium

Strawberry Blossoms

Peggy Leave a comment

Strawberry Breakfast Bites

I often bake these for my hubby’s Valentine’s Day treat, but they are really good year-round.  This year I think I’ll resurrect these tasty morsels.  If you don’t have the Nordicware® blossom pan used for these tasty blooms, you can use a mini-muffin pan.  These were so easy to make and so good my husband just couldn’t stop grabbing another and another.  I enjoy mine with my with morning coffee.  Or sprinkle them with powdered sweetener and serve them with a warm cup of tea.   These are suitable once you get to the berries rung of the Atkins Phase 2 OWL carb ladder. They are also OK for most Keto diets.

NOTE: If you are gluten free, use all Jennifer Eloff’s mix, as my Einkorn mix clearly is not gluten-free.    

INGREDIENTS:

4 large eggs, beaten

¼ c. Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix

¼ c. my Einkorn Bake Mix (or more Jennifer’s mix for gluten-free)

1 c. frozen (or fresh) strawberries, drained, chopped

2 T. erythritol

2 T. Splenda, granulated

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1 T. + 1 tsp. coconut oil

VARIATION:   Use chopped raspberries, blackberries or blueberries in place of the strawberries

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º. Melt coconut oil in your baking pan and brush 24 slots well with oil.

Beat the eggs in a small mixing bowl.  Add the bake mix.  You can use any low-carb bake mix you prefer.  Add sweeteners, vanilla and chopped berries.  Fold all together until smooth.   Using a 2 T. measuring cup, spoon batter into mini muffin pan slots.  Right is the Nordicware pan I used.

They will be nearly full to the brim.  Don’t worry, Mine didn’t overflow in the pans, although they do temporarily rise above the top like a soufflé…..and then fall a bit when done and cooled.

Pop into oven and bake for 16-18 minutes or until risen and firm in the center.  Remove, cool a couple minutes and with knife tip, lift them out and serve while warm.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 24 edible blossoms, each contains:

32.3 cals, 2.4g fat, 1.55g carbs, 0.37g fiber, 1.18g NET CARBS, 1.67g protein, 16 mg sodium

Pecan Tassies

Peggy Leave a comment

 Pecan Tassies

I’m not doing sweets currently, but as I haven’t made my husband anything sweet in ages, thought I’d make him some good old fashioned Pecan Tassies this afternoon.  This is basically my classic Pecan Pie recipe low-carbed and slightly modified for the miniature version.  They are so good.  The crust absorbs some of the liquid in the filling, so it is not as crusty as when used for other pies.  These almost seem like a pecan cookie bar to me.  These are not suitable for Induction.

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Tart Crust

3 eggs, beaten

1 c. granular Splenda (or other sweetener to equal 1 c. sugar)

1 tsp. vanilla

2 T. butter, melted

1 c. sugar-free maple syrup

1½ c. coarsely chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Make Tart Crust recipe per that recipe’s instructions.  Divide dough amongst 12 mini muffin cups.  Using plastic glove, carefully press dough onto bottom and sides of greased muffin cups.  However, bake for only 15 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Now beat eggs in a bowl.  Add melted butter and all filling ingredients and nuts.  Using small measuring cup, fill mini crusts just shy of the top edge.   Pop back into oven and continue to bake for about 30 minutes or until filing is done to the touch.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 12 tassies, each containing:

273 calories, 23.8 g  fat, 10.5 g  carbs, 6.0 g  fiber, 4.5 g  NET CARBS, 9.1 g  protein, 98 mg sodium

Garlic Dinner Rolls

Peggy 2 Comments

I’m making my Garlic Dinner Rolls again to have with our Swiss Steak tonight.  They are made with my Mozzy Dough, Which in flavor and texture lies somewhere between the Flathead Pizza Crust recipe on the Diet Doctor’s website and Jennifer Eloff’s Miracle Dough recipe.  It makes excellent dinner rolls for serving with Italian entrees!  They are delicious by themselves hot out of the oven  with butter!  They are also good split, toasted with melted butter & topped with a sprinkle of Italian herbs and Parmesan cheese.  They make an excellent oven broiled ‘toasted’ garlic bread!  This dough has good elasticity, flavor and is so versatile in a variety of applications.  This recipe is not suitable until you get closer to goal weight on Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1 T. cream cheese

1½ T. melted butter

1 egg, beaten

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix

½ c. Carbquik (or another ½ c. gluten-free mix)

1 T. oat fiber

1/4 tsp. psyllium husk powder

Dash oregano

1 T. dry grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Line baking sheet with parchment or silicone sheet.  Measure out all dry ingredients in small bowl, stir well and set aside.  Place mozzarella cheese shreds, minced garlic and cream cheese in glass or ceramic bowl and microwave on HI for about 1-1½ minutes to melt it.  Remove and stir quickly with a fork.  Add the egg and melted butter and stir again.  Quickly pour in the dry ingredients and stir quickly with a fork to form a single ball of dough, scraping it down off the sides of the bowl.  Knead or stir a few minutes to be sure all is uniformly mixed.  Divide into 6 equal portions and roll smooth into a ball.  Place them spaced out on parchment-lined pan.  Press slightly flat if you like, but not really necessary.  Sprinkle tops with oregano and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350º for about 18 minutes until dry to touch and lightly browned as shown.  Remove and serve hot with butter.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes enough 6 dinner rolls which have 6.26 net carbs each, or dough can be used for a 9″-10″ pie-crust with a lovely fluted edge, 4 hand pies, or a 12″ pizza crust!

ENTIRE RECIPE CONTAINS:  1140 calories, 95.8 g fat, 58.6 g carbs, 37.6 g fiber, 21 g NET CARBS, 81.2 g protein, 1542 mg sodium (divide by number of servings/pieces for the specific application you use this dough for)

Mandarin Orange Cheesecake Pudding

Peggy Leave a comment

I got this idea from a cheesecake pudding recipe of Linda Genaw I have made many, many times.  I have added a little ricotta cheese to her basic recipe, Increased the whipped cream and added gelatin (to firm it up) to make up for the lower amount of cream cheese.  The flavoring I chose for this version was mandarin orange, as I always keep some cans of these in my pantry.  This dish is a favorite of my husband.  This recipe is suitable for all Atkins phases and all keto diets.  Not suitable for Paleo due to all the dairy products.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. heavy cream

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

½ c. ricotta cheese

½ c. sour cream

½ c. Splenda granular or equivalent of your favorite sweetener

Liquid sweetener (I used Splenda) to bring to your desired taste

10 drops Boyajian Pure Orange Oil

1 tsp. unflavored gelatin powder

3 T. madarin orange juice drained from can

2 c. canned mandarin oranges, drained (reserving 3 T. for dissolving gelatin)

DIRECTIONS:  Whip the heavy cream in a medium mixing bowl to nice soft peak stage.  Set aside.  Open and drain canned mandarin oranges reserving 3 T. of the juice to dissolve gelatin in.  Place the orange sections in a food processor or blender.  Process the fruit until smooth.  Bring the 3 T. mandarin orange juice to a boil, add gelatin and stir until dissolved.  To the processor or blender, add all remaining ingredients.  Process until all is blended well.  Spoon into eight 1-cup ramekins or serving dishes of choice.  Optional garnish (not included in nutritional stats): 1-2 extra orange sections and a sprig of fresh mint, if desired. Chill for at least 1-2 hours or until it firms up nicely.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes eight 1-cup servings, each contains:

369 cals, 34g fat, 9.26g carbs, 0.56g fiber, 8.7g NET CARBS, 8.37g protein, 119mg sodium

Cherry Strudel

Peggy Leave a comment

Who doesn’t like strudel?  I’ve used my Mozzy Dough to make peach strudel, so I’m trying a cherry version now.  I like the peach better; my husband always prefers cherry anything.  This dessert/breakfast option is not suitable until you are at Phase 2 Atkins or near goal weight due to the flour in CarbQuik mix.

 

INGREDIENTS:  

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

1 can red cherries (water pack)

liquid sweetener of choice to taste

3/4 tsp. glucomannan powder

1 tsp. coconut oil (to oil pan, or omit and use parchment paper)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Oil 8″x 12″ pan (or thereabouts in size) with coconut oil or line with parchment paper, your choice.  Stats below include oil on pan.  Make up the Mozzy Dough per that recipe’s instructions.  Press kneaded dough evenly into pan all the way to edges.  In a small bowl, stir glucomannan into cherries with liquid.  If you use xanthan gum instead to thicken your filling, you will have to heat the filling to a boil, then simmer and allow to thicken under heat to desired thickness.  Heating is not required for glucomannan to thicken……..just time.  When glucomannan is dissolved into cherry liquid and well-distributed, set aside for 10 minutes to thicken up.  Then spoon cherry filling down the center of dough lengthwise.  Gently lift one side of the dough up and over the cherry filling to the middle of the strudel.    Lift remaining side of dough up and over the filling, slightly overlapping the edge of the first flap of dough and set it down gently.  Press the dough seam lightly with fingertips.  Pop into 350º oven for about 20 minutes or until browned to your liking.  Cool slightly and cut into eight 2″ slices.  I like mine served warm, but we both think this dough is slightly improved when served at room temperature.  🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes eight 2″ slices, each contains:

163 cals, 11.77g fat, 12.56g carbs, 5.68g fiber, 6.88g NET CARBS, 10.5g protein, 197 mg sodium.

 

 

Chocolate Mini Bundt Cake

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This is what I made my husband for his Valentine’s Day treat.  He’s not going to have it until dinner but I think he’ll like it.  I used a little single serving cake recipe I worked up in 2009 when I first started Atkins for my starting point and just changed it up a bit as well as decorated it to make it special for the occasion.  The Jelly Bellies I decorated with for the holiday occasion are NOT included in the nutritional stats below. It is difficult to get chocolate desserts sweet enough with artificial sweeteners, so I find 2-3 in combination does the job better than just using one and increasing the amount.  Thus the 3 different ones in this.

This recipe is not suitable until you are closer to your goal weight in Atkins Pre-Maintenance or Maintenance as there is a wee bit of flour product in my bake mix.  Feel free to use any other low-carb bake mix you have on hand in this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

¼ c. my Buttoni’s Low Carb Bake Mix (or other low-carb mix)

1T.+1tsp. cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s)

Dash salt

2 T. erythritol, granular

1 T. Splenda

Dash pure stevia powder (I use KAL brand)

1 T. melted butter

1 large egg, beaten

½ tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven.  Set your mini bundt pan on a small baking pan.  If you don’t own one, use a jumbo muffin cup or small, straight-sided ovenproof bowl.  Add the butter to your pan and pop in oven on a sheet pan to melt the butter as the oven preheats.  Take it out when butter melts and brush it up the sides of the bundt pan.  Then pour off the butter into a small medium mixing bowl.  Add the vanilla and egg and beat well.  Measure the dry ingredients onto the top of the wet and stir well.  Scrape into the buttered mini bundt pan, tap to settle the batter and put back into hot oven.  Bake for 20-22 minutes or until dry to the touch or toothpick comes out clean/dry.  Cool and frost if desired.  Since I wasn’t eating this, for my frosting I just melted a block of Lindt 70% chocolate with 2 T. butter and drizzled over cake.  The frosting is NOT included in the stats below.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 mini cake which contains: (not including any frosting)

322 cals, 23.4g fat, 14.4g carbs, 4.9g fiber, 9.5 NET CARBS, 16.4g protein, 437 mg sodium

Low Carb Blueberry Buckle

Peggy 6 Comments

I had some blueberries in the fridge I really needed to use up, as I’m not eating sweets these days.  Hubby was griping I’d not baked anything in ages, so I made this old-fashioned buckle.  If you’re wondering where it got its name, when constructed  in frontier days, the fruit was placed on top of the cake.  The weight of the fruit would sink the berries during baking causing the cake around the edges of the buttered cast iron skillet to puff up and then fall inward over the fruit.  Nowadays, people often just stir the berries right into the cake batter, but they still sink, causing dimples in the top of the buckle.  Whichever way you construct yours, they are wonderful desserts.  If you are watching carbs even tighter, you can lower the amount of berries.  But traditionally they used a high ratio to batter in this popular frontier dessert.  This recipe is not suitable until you reach the late stages of Atkins carb re-introduction ladder.  Please note there is no sugar in this recipe as I am off all sweeteners.   It is sweet enough for me as written, but if you like things sweeter you could add ¼c. sugar equivalent of your favorite sweetener either to the batter or sprinkled on top just before baking.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 c. Buttoni’s Low Carb Bake Mix (or other low-carb mix of choice)

½ tsp. sea salt

Zest from 1 small lemon

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

2 large eggs, beaten

½ c. (1 stick) butter, unsalted, melted in a 9″ cake pan

2 c. fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat oven to 350º.  Measure out dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.  Grate lemon zest and add to bowl.  Add the went ingredients and the berries.  Stir to mix and moisten all ingredients well but do not over mix.  Spoon into the already greased round cake pan.  Pop into 350º oven for 15 minutes or just until batter spots are dry to the touch.  Do not over cook.  Serve warm.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 6 srvgs., each contains: (based on my bake mix)

261 cals, 21.23g fat, 13.1g carbs, 3.6g fiber, 9.5g NET CARBS (use fewer berries for lower carbs), 8.6g protein, 256 mg sodium

 

 

 

Cranberry Refrigerator Cookies

Peggy 3 Comments

cranrefrigerator cookies

I created a tasty refrigerator cookie some time ago:  these Pistachio Rosewater Cookies) were my inspiration for this holiday version.  These are delicious and so easy to make!  My mother loved refrigerator cookies you just slice off and bake like these.  A little dessicated coconut (maybe 1/4 c.) would transform them yet again.  Those changes would require you add the numbers to the nutritional info provided below.  It’s nice to be able to freeze this dough and just slice off the number of cookies you want to bake.  Lowers the chance for constant temptation.  I bake a little pan of 6 refrigerator cookies at a time.  This recipe is not suitable until the grains rung of the OWL phase of Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

2 sticks butter, unsalted, softened

1 large egg, beaten

¼ tsp. salt

2/3 c. fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped (pulsed in processor 4-5 times)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ c. granular Splenda

¼ c. erythritol

1 c. KevinPa’s Bake Mix (see below)

½ almond flour

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s Splendid LowCarb Bake Mix

2 T. Carbquik Bake Mix

1 T. oat fiber

VARIATIONS:   Add ½ c. unsweetened coconut or orange zest (or both) to the batter.

Kevin’s Bake Mix (slightly modified):

½ c. Carbalose flour

¼ c. wheat protein isolate 5000

1 T.  wheat protein isolate 8000

1½ T. almond flour

1½ T. resistant WHEAT starch (Kevin used resistant corn starch)

1¼ tsp. Splenda

½ tsp. xanthan gum (Kevin used Not/Sugar)

DIRECTIONS:  In a medium bowl, soften the butter and beat the egg into it well.  Add the salt, sweeteners and vanilla.  Measure and mix in each of the bake mixes.  Add chopped cranberries and gently fold in to get berries evenly distributed in the batter.  Shape into a log about 12″ long and 1½” in diameter on waxed paper.  Roll the log up snugly, closing ends of waxed paper and chill in refrigerator for about 1-2 hours, or until firm enough to slice.  Preheat oven to 350º.  Slice off in ¼” slices and place on silicone or parchment lined baking sheet (these don’t spread much during cooking.   Bake for 10-12 minutes (don’t let get too brown) and remove to cool.  Roll any unused dough in waxed paper and store in refrigerator or freeze if you prefer.  If freezing, slightly defrost dough a half hour before attempting to slice or the cookie will likely “break” under the knife pressure.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes about 48  (¼” cut ) cookies, each contains:

58 cals, 5.13 g fat, 1.94 g carbs, 1.05 g fiber, 0.89 g NET CARBS, 1.6g protein, 17 mg sodium

Sugar Cookie Mini Stars

Peggy Leave a comment

It just isn’t Christmas without sugar cookies frosted with my “cherry/almond” butter frosting.  So I took my low-carb favorite sugar cookie recipe, cut star shapes with my mini cookie cutter and piped with a 1/2 teaspoon dollop of low-carb butter frosting that has almond extract for a cherry flavor.  Both of us just love these just-a-biteful mini cookie treats at our parties!  My recipe usually makes around 40 mini cookies, but of course, your cutter size and rolled dough thickness will make a difference on the per cookie nutritional stats.  I will provide the info below for the entire recipe of batter.  You need to divide those numbers by the number of cookies you get.  Then be sure to add in the nutritional value for your chosen frosting.   These are suitable once you get to phase 2 Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Sugar Cookie dough

About 1 c. low-carb frosting of choice

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Make up the cookie per that recipe’s instructions.  Instead of making balls and pressing the cookies out onto pans, roll out the dough on plastic wrap with another sheet of plastic wrap on top.  Roll to about 1/4″ thickness.  With a floured cutter, cut into 40 1″ mini star shapes (or whatever mini cutter shape you have) and place onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.  Pop into 350º preheated oven for about 15 minutes.  Watch them so they do not get over-browned.   Remove from oven and completely cool.  While they bake, mix up your preferred frosting recipe.  I made a quick frosting mixture of:  1 stick softened butter, 1 c. powdered erythritol, 1 c. granular Splenda, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1 tsp. almond extract and some food coloring.  Fill a piping bag (or use a plastic bag with corner clipped off) and with a star tip, pipe 1/2 teaspoon frosting on each cookie.   Plate and serve.  Refrigerate them if you have any leftover.  We rarely do, as I only make them for special occasions and they disappear quite fast.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Entire recipe of cookie dough has 1589.4 calories, 152.64 g fat, 64.26 g carbs, 35.46 g fiber, 28.80 g net carbs, 31.32 g protein and 140 mg sodium.

If you get 40 mini cookies from the dough, each cookie (minus any frosting) will contain 39 cals, 3.8g fat, 1.6g carbs, 0.88g fiber, 0.72g NET CARBS, 0.78g protein, 3.5mg sodium

Peach Melba

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Click to enlarge

Peach Melba

I remember a Russell Stover specialty candy they made many, many years ago.  It was called “Peach Melba”.  It consisted of a wonderful peach/coconut filling covered in rich dark chocolate.  Don’t know if they still make that candy anymore or not.  My Mom loved that candy so much, we’d walk into the Russell Stover candy shop and she’d buy it 2 or 3 pounds at a time!  Dad loved it, too.  In fact, she decided to come up with her own recipe so she could make it at home.  Hers truly rivaled Russell Stover’s!!    But she no longer has that recipe. So I just had to try something similar (low-carb of course).  My hubby isn’t so fond of coconut, so I didn’t put the large coconut chip onto these as I had wanted.

My favorite dried fruits have always been dried apricots and peaches but they’re both fairly high in carbs.  You sure can’t eat many of them on a low-carb diet. But I thought maybe just a very small piece of fruit, a big nut and just a whisper of delicious chocolate might make a wonderful confection worthy of serving during the holidays, without breaking the carb “bank”.   These came out GREAT!  I also did some with dried prunes, which I freely admit came out even better than the apricot version!  Next time I’m going to put a thin slice of fresh coconut between the fruit and nut on some of these, for ME.  I LOVE coconut!

This recipe makes a pretty big batch of the chocolate sauce, around 1¼ cups, so I’m providing the per teaspoon nutritional info and you’ll have to calculate your per serving candy figures because that depends on which fruit you pick, how many you eat or if the sauce is used in other dessert applications how much you used on each serving of that recipe.  This recipe is not suitable until you are way up on the fruits rung of Atkins Phase 2 OWL or Maintenance.

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INGREDIENTS FOR CHOCOLATE SHELL COATING:

1 c. sugar free chocolate chips

1 square unsweetened baking chocolate (or 4 squares Lindt 90% chocolate)

¼ c. melted butter

1 T. coconut oil (or 1 T. more butter)

6 drops liquid Splenda (or 2 tsp.vanilla sugar-free syrup)

DIRECTIONS:  First, cut each dried peach in half and with your fingers or a knife tip, butterfly each half out flat.  Set each piece sticky side up on a small baking sheet (I used a small 11 x 7″ pan as I was just making 10 pieces total).  Cut each dried prune into 3 pieces.  Butterfly them open and place sticky side up onto your pan.  Press 1 almond (or walnut half, or pecan half) on top of each piece of fruit, pressing firmly enough so that the sticky fruit “grabs’ onto the nut and holds is firmly in place.

Next, in a small saucepan, melt the butter in either a double boiler over medium heat.  You can use a makeshift one, where you put your saucepan down in a skillet of 1” boiling water (that’s all a double boiler really is anyway).  Add the square of chocolate and melt slowly.  Add the chips, stirring constantly so the chocolate will stay smooth.  You can add more butter (or coconut oil) in small increments if your chocolate is too thick to be like a nice chocolate sauce.  Melting/smoothness qualities vary from brand to brand, in my opinion.

ASSEMBLY:   Stir the warm chocolate sauce again and with a small spoon, dip about ½ tsp. of sauce onto each candy.  Refrigerate or freeze any leftover sauce for future use on more candy recipes or for a chocolate shell coating for vanilla ice cream bars.  Pop the pan into the refrigerator or freezer for about 10-15 minutes.  When the chocolate is hard to the touch, ENJOY!  The chocolate will melt if at room/hand temperature too long, so these should pretty much go from fridge to mouth, but that shouldn’t be a problem for any of you.   Never has been for me either.  LOL

VARIATIONS:   Dried apricots, dried prunes, coconut chips, almonds, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, dried cherries.

NUTRITIONAL INFO FOR SAUCE:  Makes about 1¼ cups or 20 T. (60 tsp.).  Each tsp. contains:

19 cals, 1.79g fat, .55 g  carbs, 0.21g fiber, 0.34 NET CARBS, 0.2g protein, < 1 mg. sodium

To help you calculate your per serving info I’m providing below the details on the various dried fruit and nets below:

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

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photocat

My lemon pound cake is basically my dessert bread batter with the zest and juice of 1 Meyer lemon added.  Comes out out very moist and incredibly delicious!  It has been a very popular recipe on my blog.  If you’ve never tasted them before, Meyer lemons are a cross between a lemon and a Mandarin orange in flavor.  A very aromatic taste but much milder than regular lemons to me!  You can make this recipe with regular lemons if you prefer a more intense flavor.  The Meyer lemons are not always available in your grocery stores.  My local store has them once in awhile in the summertime.  I snatch up a bag and make this recipe whenever they are on the shelf!

This recipe is not suitable until you reach the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL carb ladder.  It is suitable for Primal if you use a plan-acceptable sweetener.  This pound cake is so moist, it is delicious without frosting.  But it was also good with a cream cheese frosting made from 4 oz. cream cheese, juice and zest of another Meyer lemon and a little sweetener.  But I didn’t calculate any frosting in the nutritional info below, so be sure to add in numbers for any frosting you put on this cake.

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INGREDIENTS:

1/3 c. coconut flour

2/3 c. almond flour

¼ tsp. sea salt

1 T. glucomannan powder (optional, but improves texture & fiber)

Granular sweetener to equal 3/4 c. sugar

5 drops liquid Splenda

3 T. coconut oil

1 stick unsalted butter

½ tsp. vanilla

Juice of 1 Meyer lemon (or regular lemon)

Zest of 1 Meyer lemon (or regular lemon)

¼ tsp. Boyajian lemon oil  (see “where to buy” tab atop this page)

8 large eggs, beaten

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat oven to 350º.  Melt butter and coconut oil in microwave in a medium mixing bowl.  Add almond flour, coconut flour, salt and glucomannan powder to the melted butter and oil and beat with a spoon until smooth.    Add vanilla, lemon zest, juice and Boyajian lemon oil now.  Add sweeteners and beaten eggs.  Beat with spoon until all lumps are out of batter.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape the batter evenly into a lightly oiled non-stick loaf pan (mine is extra long, but shallow 4″x 2.5″x10).  Level batter as best you can with the spatula.  Pop into preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until it is lightly browned on top and passes the toothpick test in the center.  Remove and cool before attempting to remove from pan and slicing. Enjoy plain or with a thin lemon frosting on top.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes fourteen ½” thick slices, each contains:

168 cals, 15.3g fat, 3.56g carbs, 2.03g fiber, 1.53g NET CARBS, 90 mg sodium

Chocolate Covered Blueberries

Peggy Leave a comment

Chocolate Blueberries

Click to enlarge

There’s no law that says you have to make chocolate covered STRAWBERRIES for your special occasions.  Other berries (or pineapple chunks) will work, too!  Today, I had big, plump blueberries in the fridge and wanted something sweet.  🙂

This recipe makes a pretty big batch of the chocolate sauce, around 1¼ cups, so I’m providing the per teaspoon nutritional info.  One teaspoon will definitely coat 1 blueberry, maybe even two.  This recipe is suitable once you reach the berries level of Phase 2 Atkins or for Keto diets as well.

INGREDIENTS/NEEDS:

Some toothpicks

Fresh blueberries (pick the biggest ones in the carton)

Half lemon, orange or apple (for toothpick serving post)

1 c. sugar free chocolate chips

1 square unsweetened baking chocolate

¼ c. melted butter

1 T. coconut oil (or 1 T. more butter)

6 drops liquid Splenda or other liquid sweetener to taste

DIRECTIONS:  First, push a toothpick through the number of large berries you want to make.  Push through the stem scar but not quite all the way out the top.  Lay them aside until the chocolate sauce is made.  Set the lemon half cut side down on your serving plate and set aside.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE:  In a small saucepan, melt the butter and coconut oil in a double boiler over medium heat or use a makeshift double-boiler, where you put your saucepan down in a skillet of 1″ boiling water (that’s all a double boiler really is anyway).  Add the square of chocolate and melt slowly in the hot melted oil/butter.  Add the chocolate chips, stirring constantly so the chocolate will stay smooth.

ASSEMBLY:   Take each berry pick and dip the berry just deep enough into the chocolate sauce to coat the berry.  Lift carefully straight up and let it drip, rolling to even the chocolate as evenly as you can get it.  When it appears to be stopped dripping, carefully poke the berry pick into the lemon half.  Repeat for all berries.  It will take about ½ tsp. chocolate sauce to coat each berry. Refrigerate any leftover sauce for future use on more berries or for a chocolate shell coating for vanilla ice cream bars.  Pop the plate into the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes so the chocolate can harden.  When the chocolate is hard to the touch, ENJOY!  These should pretty much go from fridge to mouth or they will melt, so it’s not really a good party food sitting around on a buffet table.  They are best served right from the fridge.

VARIATIONS:   Big fresh strawberries, pineapple chunks, or orange segments with outer skin/membrane removed.

NUTRITIONAL INFO (sauce only):  Makes about 1¼ cups sauce (20 T.= 60 tsp.).  Each tsp. should coat 1-2 berries.  The berry will add another 0.2 net carbs.  Each teaspoon of sauce contains

19 cals, 1.79g fat, 0.55g carbs, 0.21g fiber, 0.34g NET CARBS (the blueberry adds 0.2 g additional net carbs, so one berry treat has 0.56 NET CARBS total), 0.2 g  protein

Apple-Caramel Snack Cake

Peggy Leave a comment

I continue to try new versions of my modified Atkins MIM (Muffin-in-a-Minute) recipe.  I’m trying to increase my flax intake for a health issue and so far these flax-based gems are helping me.  To the basic Atkins MIM recipe, I added a couple items to improve texture & flavor.  I also increased sweeteners and the amount of butter.  The resulting muffins/cakes are baking up consistently moist and very tasty.

For this one, I used diced apple, caramel sugar-free syrup and cinnamon.  Yummy! This version is not suitable until you get closer to goal weight and are at the higher-carb fruits rung of the Atkins OWL carb-re-introduction ladder.

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DRY INGREDIENTS:  (I like to measure out 10 sets of the dry ingredients to put in plastic bags so I can have them on hand like a “ready mix”)

¼ c. golden flax meal

½ tsp. baking powder

1 T. granular Splenda (or equivalent sweetener of choice)

1 T. Resistant Wheat Starch

1 tsp. oat fiber (do not substitute oat bran or oat flour)

1/3 tsp. cinnamon

WET INGREDIENTS:

1 T. melted butter

1 large egg, beaten

2 T. sugar-free Caramel syrup (or almond, or vanilla)

1/2 c. apple, diced

DIRECTIONS:  In a 5-6″ round or oval dish melt the butter in the microwave.  Add the sugar-free syrup & stir with fork (to cool down the butter).  Add the egg and beat all together.  Add in all dry ingredients and stir well with a fork.  Add in your diced apple and stir well. Microwave on HI for about 1 minute 30-40 seconds.  Slide knife tip between cake and bowl and tip cake onto serving plate.  Cut in half for two servings.  This batter rises as it bakes and then slightly falls when removed from microwave…..that is normal………it is done.

VARIATION:  Add some chopped pecans (recalculate those into numbers below if you do).

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 cake (2 servings) the size of 2 muffins.  Each half of the cake is a serving and contains:

200.5 cals, 14.3g fat, 16.16g carbs, 9.15g fiber, 7g NET CARBS (use less apple to lower), 5.9g protein, 134 mg sodium

 

 

Pineapple Spoon Cake

Peggy Leave a comment

I’ve been playing around with the classic Atkins MIM (Muffin-in-a-Minute) recipe lately and have come up with several tasty versions.  I’ll be sharing another one here today that I’m calling Pineapple Spoon Cake because it is so moist you simply have to eat it with a spoon.  I’m presenting this recipe with two versions, the original with real pineapple and also a lower-carb second version that substitutes pineapple extract for the real pineapple.  Both are quite good.

I’m trying to increase my flax intake for a health issue and so far these flax-based gems are doing the trick.  To the basic Atkins MIM recipe, I added a couple texture enhancers to improve texture & flavor.  I also increased sweeteners and the amount of butter.  The resulting muffins/cakes are baking up consistently moist and very tasty, especially this one!  All have been sturdy enough to slice or hand-hold but this one and it really requires a spoon to eat.  It’s just too moist to eat with your hands.   Only the extract version of this cake is suitable for Atkins Induction Phase and Keto programs.  Once you’re nearing or at goal weight, the real pineapple version is a must try!

DRY INGREDIENTS: I like to measure out 10 sets of the dry ingredients to put in plastic bags so I can have them on hand like a “ready mix” for when I get a snack craving.  Then all I have to do is add the melted butter, egg, syrup and flavoring item.

¼ c. golden flax meal

½ tsp. baking powder

1 T. granular Splenda (or equivalent sweetener)

1 T. Resistant Wheat Starch

1 tsp. oat fiber (do not substitute high-carb oat bran or oat flour!)

Optional:  Dash ground cinnamon

WET INGREDIENTS:

1 T. melted butter

1 large egg, beaten

2 T. crushed pineapple juice pack

1 T. pineapple or almond sugar-free syrup

LOWER-CARB VARIATION:  Substitute 1/2 tsp. pineapple extract for the crushed pineapple

DIRECTIONS:  In a 5-6″ round or oval dish, melt the butter in your microwave.  Add the sugar-free syrup (to cool down the butter).  Add the egg and beat all together.  Add in the dry ingredients and stir well with a fork.  Add in your choice of flavorings below by stirring to blend or dropping fruit bits in by hand evenly.  Microwave on HI for about 1 minute 30-40 seconds.  This batter rises as it bakes and then slightly falls when removed from microwave…..that is normal.  It is done when dry to touch in center.  If not dry to touch, cook 5-10 seconds longer, as ovens can vary.  Remove and slightly cool. Cut in half with a knife and spoon half onto two individual plates or bowls to serve with a spoon to eat.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 cake that is two servings.  Bake in two separate ramekins if you prefer.  Numbers do not include photo garnish (whipped cream and additional teaspoon pineapple).

Each half of the plain cake contains:

With Real Pineapple:  200 cals, 14.25g fat, 16.05g carbs, 8.45g fiber, 8.6g NET CARBS, 6.05g protein, 136mg sodium

With Pineapple Extract: 181 cals, 14.25g fat, 11.6g carbs, 8.2g fiber, 3.4g NET CARBS, 5.8g protein, 134mg sodium

Pineapple-Pecan Cookies

Peggy 9 Comments

p9neapple0031

I made some delicious pineapple cookies recently.  They came out kind of chewy and are still like that after they cooled off.  I’m very pleased with the moist, chewy texture of these cookies and will likely use this cookie dough for many cookie variations in the future.  These freeze well and are even chewier eaten right out of the freezer!!  These are not suitable until the advanced fruit rung of the Atkins OWL ladder, or near Pre-Maintenance.  But they are so good, they are well worth waiting for.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. almond flour

½ c. coconut flour

1 T. oat fiber

1 tsp. glucomannan powder (konjac powder)

1/8 tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

½ c. butter, softened (or coconut oil)

2 T. almond butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1½ tsp. pineapple extract

½ c. granular Splenda

1 T. erythritol

1 egg, beaten

¼ c. sugar-free imitation honey (I make my own to save money, see below)

½ c. juice pack crushed pineapple (water pack if available), drained well

½ c. chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Measure out all wet ingredients including the pineapple into a large mixing bowl.  Beat well with a fork until smooth.  Measure out all dry ingredients, including the nuts, on top of the wet and stir well to blend.  The dough will be moderately stiff.  Roll into 1″ balls and place them onto parchment lined baking sheet.  Press balls down slightly flat and try to leave 1″ between cookies.  Pop pan into preheated oven.  Bake for about 8-10 minutes.  Do not overbrown these cookies or texture will be drier and less chewy.  Remove from oven and cool completely on the pan before attempting to remove with a spatula.  These are delicate while hot but “firm up” nicely when they cool. Store in an airtight container.  I store mine in the freezer and eat them without even defrosting!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 30 cookies, each contains:

110 cals, 9.79 g  fat, 4.55 g  carbs, 2.07 g  fiber, 2.48 g  NET CARBS, 2.55 g  protein, 45 mg sodium

HOMEMADE IMITATION HONEY: Modified slightly from a recipe of Birgit Kerr on Birgitkerr.blogspot.com.  Boil for 2-3 minutes ¼ c. erythritol, 1 tsp. honey, 2 T. imitation honey and 1 pkt. stevia or Splenda.  Cool and put in airtight jar.  If it crystalises over time, soften in microwave on defrost a minute before using.

Lemon Ambrosia

Peggy 2 Comments

Lemon Ambrosia

This is a modification of a dessert my mother used to make that also had crushed pineapple and chopped maraschino cherries in it.  I’ve left out the high carb items and come up with something just as pleasing for me. This is a very easy and light summertime dessert.  It’s also good done with lime jello.  This also makes a nice no-bake pie filling for your favorite low-carb pre-baked nut-based crusts.  This is not suitable for Atkins Induction due to the coconut and pecans.

INGREDIENTS:

2 small pkgs. sugar-free lemon (or lime) jello

2 c. boiling water

2 c. cold water

1 c. heavy cream, whipped

2 oz. chopped pecans

1½ oz. unsweetened coconut

1/2 tsp coconut Extract

DIRECTIONS:  Empty jello powder into a large bowl.  Boil water and stir 2 c. boiling water into the gelatin powder.  Stir until totally dissolved.  Add 2 c. cold water and chill in the refrigerator until it is half set.  Scrape the into large bowl and whip with hand mixer on LOW (or whisk to mush it all up).  I confess it really looks pretty unappetizing right now.  🙂   In a separate bowl, whip the cream.  When nice and thick, add it to the beaten jello.  Blend or fold into a smooth mixture.  Fold in the coconut and chopped pecans blending well.  Dip the mixture into serving glass dishes (or decorative clear glasses as shown).  Refrigerate until fully set (about an hour).  I like to top with a light sprinkle of toasted coconut, a  sprinkle of finely chopped pecans or a slice of lemon.  On special occasions, I’ll actually add a few maraschino cherries chopped and 1-2 T. crushed pineapple folded into the mixture at the end……but just a bit, as those are high carb items.  ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 8 servings, each containing:

195 cals, 19.5g fat, 2.19g carbs, 1.55g fiber, 1.64g NET CARBS, 3g protein, 70mg. sodium

Butter Pecan Toffee Candy

Peggy 2 Comments

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This recipe was inspired by two different low-carb toffee recipes: one called Toffee, by Pami on now-closed Low-Carb Friends forums; one called Heath Bar Candy by Elaine Smith, also on the same closed forums.   I first tried Elaine’s recipe and it basically failed on me, in that when the boiled sugar mix reached the “brown paper bag color” specified in the recipe, I don’t think it had cooked long enough, so the final candy was too grainy and fragile when I tried to get it out of the pan.  Just wasn’t cohesive enough.

So as not to waste the nuts, I basically reheated the candy so I could strain out the pecans and recooked the sugar mix longer, but also decided to add in a little polydextrose, as Pami does in her recipe.  If unfamiliar with polydextrose, you can read about it here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydextrose I added a few other things as well.  This time I boiled the candy until it would form a nearly firm ball, but still stretchy/pliable, like a stiff caramel or SloPoke candy bar being stretched out (if you ever ate one of those).  In other words, I cooked it to “just short of hard ball stage” in candy making terms, or around 300º-310º on a candy thermometer.  Hard ball stage would end up like peanut brittle, and you definitely don’t want it that hard.

So cooking longer seems to have been what was needed!  The result is very tasty (I’m munching down on it as I type this.  Mmmm.)  The texture is just about like the toffee center of a Heath® bar.  This batch came out VERY close to my Mom’s sugar-based Butter Brickle Candy she made at Christmas every year!  This recipe is not acceptable until the nuts and seeds rung of Atkins Phase 2 OWL.

Our latest three volumes of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks are calling you.  Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes!  Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   Volume 10 is hot off the press with more delectable goodies.  Special Christmas prices as low as $9.77 on some books (free shipping in USA).  Hurry and place your order today for any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php.  When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leave a review here.

INGREDIENTS:

1¼ c. erythritol, powdered

2 T. hazelnut sugar-free syrup (DaVinci or Torani)

2 T. caramel sugar-free syrup (DaVinci or Torani)

¼ tsp. vanilla

2 sticks butter, unsalted (8 oz.)

2 T. water

Dash salt

1/2 c.+ 2 T. polydextrose

2 c. pecan halves, chopped coarsely

DIRECTIONS:  Liberally butter a 12½ x 17½ sheet pan (even if it is non-stick, butter the pan!).  Chop the pecans and place in a bowl and set by the stove top.  Powder the erythritol in a food processor if you are using granular.  Using a large saucepan (3-4 qt.), melt the butter over medium-high heat.  Place a saucer of cold water beside the stove. Add the erythritol,  polydextrose, vanilla, both syrups, water and salt to the saucepan and whip with a whisk.  It will eventually get smooth (add a T. more water if not) as you bring it to a boil over medium-high heat.  As with most candy-making, you should stir the mixture continuously throughout the preferably with a whisk.  The mixture will slowly change from a slightly yellowish color to a tan and eventually dark caramel color when it is ready.  When the color starts to go browner, drop a few drops of mix in the water and see if it will clump together when you try to form a ball with your finger.  If it won’t, keep cooking and stirring.  Repeat the ball test in fresh water again in a few minutes.    When it will come together and form a ball or clump that feels pretty stiff but is still a little pliable, the mixture has cooked long enough.  Remove from heat.

Very quickly stir in the chopped pecans.  Working just as fast as you can, pour it onto the greased sheet pan, spreading quickly with a rubber spatula out to the edges of the pan.  It will set up real fast, so you really must work quickly.   I have never been able to work fast enough to be able to mark off square pieces with a knife, but maybe you’re faster than I.  🙂  When it is fully set (about an hour) , lift it up with the edge of a metal spatula and break into pieces.  Store in a VERY air-tight container at room temperature, as humidity (even in a refrigerator) really messes this candy up.  It will get softer and grainy if it gets damp.  If in an air-tight enough container, I found mine got a little more brittle on day 2, which pleased me greatly.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Because I can’t know how your pieces will break up, an exact nutritional count is virtually impossible for this candy.   So I will give you the info for the entire pan full and you will have to estimate based on your number of pieces.  I got around 100 1″ pieces, maybe more, I’d guess, which made mine averaged around .18 net carbs per piece, or 5 pieces for 1 NC.  Some pieces broke small, some broke off larger.   Although per piece counts are impossible, clearly the count is so low (since polydextrose is full of deductible fiber), I never worry about it. Basically only the pecans really rack up the few carbs that are in this.

Entire batch:  3233 cals, 339g fat, 139g carbs, 121g fiber, 18g NET CARBS (for the entire batch!!), 22g  protein, 199 mg sodium

Cran-Orange Pastry Bites

Peggy Leave a comment

I got the idea for these from a holiday recipe posted on Pinterest this month.  It was basically two layers of pie crust rolled with a sprinkling of chopped cranberries and pecans inside (my husband hates nuts in desserts) and then cookie cutters were used to cut out holiday shapes, baking them like cookies.  Well, I really liked the idea and they were real cute, but didn’t want to go to that much trouble.  So I used my own fav low-carb pie crust, processed a few raw cranberries and orange peel right with the crust dough and pressed the sweetened pie crust dough into some Christmas Tree silicone molds.  You could use any shape oven-safe mold you like to make these or even use a mini-muffin pan.  These are delicious and I can’t wait to take some to our annual neighborhood Christmas round-robin dinner coming soon.  They are somewhere between a pie crust and a cookie in texture with a nice mouth feel.

This recipe is not suitable until you reach the grains rung of the Atkins Phase 2 OWL carb-re-introduction ladder.

Our latest three volumes of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks are calling you.  Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes!  Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   Volume 10 is hot off the press with more delectable goodies.  EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!!  Special pricing and limited-time free shipping so hurry and place your order today.  You can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php.  When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leave a review at this site.

VARIATIONS:   Use extra virgin coconut oil (chilled and firm) for the shortening to give them a hint of coconut taste.  Or add ½ c. chopped pecans or almonds.   

INGREDIENTS: 

1 recipe my Carbalose Pie Crust

½ c. fresh cranberries

1½ T. orange zest

½ c. granular erythritol

½ c. Splenda

DIRECTIONS:   Make up the pie-crust dough per that recipe’s instructions.  Crumble slightly into the bowl of a food processor.  In a small bowl mix the two sweeteners well. Reserve 3 T. and add the rest to the food processor as well.  Next add the whole, raw cranberries and the orange zest to the processor.  Pulse several times until the mixture is well blended and all the cranberries are chopped up.  Spoon a rounded teaspoon of the crumbled dough into each of the slots of your mold.  Press down firmly into the bottoms of the shapes.  If your mold is flexible silicone you will want to set it on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle the 3 T. sweetener mix on the tops as evenly as you can.  Pop into 375º oven for about 25 minutes.  They should be lightly browned around the edges only.  Allow to cool and firm up before tipping them out of your molds as they are a little fragile when hot.  I had to bake mine in two batches since my mold has just 24 slots.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 32 bites, each contains:

62 cals, 4.6g fat, 4.81g carbs, 3.2g fiber, 1.61g NET CARBS, 0.15g protein, 6.34g sodium

Apricot Trail Mix

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I absolutely LOVE trail mix.  And such a healthy snack!  It has the added bonus of being very transportable, for hiking, biking, camping, or taking to the office in a little baggie.  This apricot-coconut mix was a Christmas favorite of a relative.  She always brought some to the holiday gatherings.  The pumpkin seeds are my addition to her recipe.  The stuff is so good I have to dip my ½ cup portion out and put the bag away, or I’ll just keep eating and eating it.  Wrapped prettily with a ribbon, this makes a lovely gift when going to parties or for the holidays.  Just place in a pretty clear glass container and affix a pretty bow on top!  This very nutritious dessert/snack is not suitable until the highest fruit rung of the Atkins OWL carb re-introduction ladder (pre-maintenance or maintenance).  This recipe is suitable for Paleo-Primal eaters.

VARIATION:  Substitute pieces of dried prunes (Delmonte has no added sugar) for the dried apricots. I also have a Cranberry Trail Mix recipe you might like.

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INGREDIENTS:

5 oz. pumpkin seeds, hulled, roasted (unsalted)

5 oz. sunflower seeds, hulled, roasted (unsalted)

2 oz. walnuts (about 28 halves), coarsely chopped/broken up

6 oz. fresh coconut meat, slivered thinly

4 oz. sliced almonds

6 oz. dried apricots, no sugar added (I buy them at Sam’s)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 200º and spread thinly sliced coconut onto a sheet pan. Dry for about 1½-2 hours, stirring occasionally.  Remove from oven before coconut begins to brown and cool.  You don’t really want to toast it for this recipe, just dry it out a bit.  In a large mixing bowl, toss all ingredients together.  Using kitchen shears, cut apricots into small pieces and add to the bowl.  Stir to mix well.  Store in a zipper plastic bag in your pantry.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes about 6 cups or twelve ½ cup servings.  Each ½ cup serving contains:

301.6 cals, 23.5g fat, 18g carbs, 5.3g fiber, 12.7g NET CARBS, 9.8g protein, 53.6 mg sodium

 

Blueberry-Lemon Snack Cake

Peggy Leave a comment

I have developed my own bake mix and this was my first experiment with it.  Boy was this ever good!  Smooth texture, moist and great taste!  I only had on hand 1/2 cup dried blueberries left in an open bag in my freezer and I needed to use them up.  Fresh berries would have been healthier and tastier, but the dried is what I had and not many of those.  The second time I baked it, I increased berries by a couple tablespoons and it just gets better!

My husband was out of town all weekend and this was hot out of the oven when he walked in the door. He really liked it, too, and downed a second slice.  Said “Please make this again soon, with some other fruits as well.”  Any berries, chopped fruit or nuts you can fit into your daily carb limits will work in this basic batter.  Make it just a lemon cake, or add a bit of diced peaches.  Get creative!  This recipe isn’t suitable until you are near goal weight at the grain level of carb-re-introduction of the Atkins program.  The carbs are low on the basic lemon cake batter (4.02 NC per slice).  With 1/2 cup dried berries added, it jumps to 9.02 NC per slice.

INGREDIENTS:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 T. (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

½ c. egg whites (I used from carton), but 4 whole egg whites will work

Zest of 1 large lemon

Juice of 1 large lemon (2 T.)

1½ c. Buttoni’s Low Carb Bake Mix

½ c. each Splenda and erythritol (or 1c. sugar equivalent other sweetener)

½ c. fresh, dried or frozen blueberries

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Butter the inside of an 8×4″ loaf pan.  Or you can butter the ends only and line sides & bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment, which is what I like to do. Set aside while you prepare batter.

Soften the cream cheese on counter or in microwave.  Whip until smooth with a whisk.  In a separate medium bowl, whip the egg whites until frothy.  Add the 2 whole eggs to the egg whites and beat the two well together a couple minutes.  Add sweeteners.  Add melted butter slowly and beat until you have a smooth mixture.  Add the bake mix next and beat by hand with a rubber spatula until batter is smooth and well-blended.  Add your berries (or chopped fruit/nuts) and stir to distribute berries throughout batter.  Scrape the batter into prepared pan and pop into 350º hot oven for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick stuck in center comes out clean/dry.  Slice into approximately  ½-5/8″ thick slices to make 12 nice portions.  After serving, wrap remainder in plastic wrap or place in plastic bag.  Refrigerate as with all low-carb baked goods that lack the preservative quality of real sugar.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 12 slices, each contains: (using ½c. dried berries).  You must recalculate if you use other berries/fruit/nuts

166 cals, 11.1g fat, 11.44g carbs, 2.42g fiber, 9.02g NET CARBS, 7.21g protein, and 84 mg sodium

 

 

Tarte Tatin

Peggy Leave a comment

Holidays always make me remember desserts my mother loved to serve at this time of year.  The well-known French apple Tarte Tatin is one of those.  My low-carb version has a much thinner cake layer than is typical of this famous dessert.  My husband and I really liked this conversion.  I serve mine with a dollop of whipped cream on top.  I apologize for the photo quality, but this picture was taken with my very first digital camera, in the evening when natural light just isn’t there.  I’m going to have to bake this again and get a prettier picture next time.  But the photo can’t take away the fact that this recipe is absolutely delicious!  If you decide to give this one a go, you’ll be glad you did!

VARIATIONS:  Although Tarte tatin is only made with apples, this basic concept can be made with strawberries or raspberries and carbs will go down.  Pear or peach slices also do well in this but carbs will go up with those choices.

This recipe is not suitable until the higher carb fruit rung of the Atkins Phase 2 OWL carb re-introduction ladder, as you approach Maintenance.  This dessert would be acceptable for a Paleo-Primal liefstyle provided you substituted REAL honey for the sugar-free honey and subbed in REAL maple syrup for the Cary’s sugar-free maple syrup called for below.

INGREDIENTS:

For the Apple filling:

4 T. total unsalted butter or ghee

11 oz. apple, peeled and sliced thin (I used 1 large JonaGold)

½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg

2 T. sugar-free maple syrup (I used Cary’s)

¼ tsp. grated lemon zest

For the bottom Cake Layer:

½ c. almond butter

2 T. coconut milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 T. sugar-free honey (I buy at Walmart)

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ c. almond flour

1 T. coconut flour

¼ glucomannan powder (for best texture)

DIRECTIONS:  Grease bottom and sides of a non-stick tarte pan with 1 T. of the butter and set aside.  Melt remaining 3 T. of the butter in a non-stick skillet.  Add cinnamon, nutmeg to the skillet and stir.  Add sliced apples and saute them for 3-4 minutes until apples begin to soften.  Turn off heat. Using a fork or small tongs, remove apples and layer them in the bottom of the tart pan.  You should have enough apple slices for a single layer of apples in a standard tart pan.  with the help of a spatula or heat-proof rubber spatula, scrape out and drizzle any buttery juices left in the skillet over the apples.  You don’t want to wast any of that rich flavor.  Grate lemon zest over the apples and finally drizzle the maple syrup over the apples.

Now to make the cake.  Preheat oven to 350º.  In a medium bowl, measure out the almond butter.  Add the coconut milk, imitation honey and stir with a rubber spatula until fairly smooth. Add the vanilla and beaten eggs.  Beat a minute or two to achieve a smooth liquid batter.  Measure the almond flour on top, then the coconut flour and finally the baking powder.  Beat with the spatula until smooth.  Evenly pour the cake batter over the apples, gently coaxing it out to the edges of the pan.    Pop into 350º preheated oven for about 20 minutes.  This does not rise very much and it will be completely dry to the touch in the center when done. Toothpick test will come out clean at the center.  Remove tart from the oven and cool for awhile.  While still a little warm, invert your serving plate over the tart pan or pie plate and using two hands, holding tightly, flip tart pan and serving plate over and the tart should fall neatly onto the serving plate.  Gently re-place any apples that may have stuck to the pan.  Cut into 8 slices and serve with sweetened whipped cream if desired.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 8 servings each contains:  (does not including any whipped cream topping)

235 calories, 19.5 g  fat, 11.6 g  carbs, 2.76 g  fiber, 8.94 g NET CARBS, 5.1 g  protein, 125 mg sodium

Cherry Mini Bites

Peggy Leave a comment

Yet another tasty use of my versatile Mozzy Dough recipe and a great way to use up half a can of opened lite cherry pie filling.  The hubs and I have been super strict, ultra low-carbing (under 20 NC a day) since the 1st of September.  We decided to treat ourselves tonight with something sweet.  These  took  a mere 35 minutes to make, start to finish.  I have a 24 slot non-stick mini-muffin pan that turned out to be perfect for this amount of dough and filling.  These come out to be 1.9 net carbs per piece, so an occasional indulgence like this can break the diet monotony without breaking the proverbial “carb bank”.  🙂  These are suitable for Atkins Phase 2 and beyond and most Keto diets.

Our last two LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks, Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes!  Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!!  Special pricing and limited time free shipping so hurry and place your order.  Or you can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php.

When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leaving a review at this page.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

½ can Lite Cherry Pie Filling

VARIATION:  Use other lite pie filling, like blueberry or what you make up from scratch with other fruit.  Another variation would be to dot each crust with 1/2 tsp. cream cheese before adding the fruit topping.  You will need to calculate numbers again if you do that. 

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Make a batch of the Mozzy Dough.  After kneading the ball of dough until smooth, break off 1″ balls of dough and press one ball into each of the 24 slots of mini-muffin pans.   The “bowls” of dough will be quite shallow in the pan slots.  Spoon just 2 cherries (with dab of filling) into each slot neatly.  Pop into 350º and bake for around 15 minutes or until the “crust” is lightly browned around the edges.  Remove, cool 1-2 minutes and lift out with knife tip onto serving plate.  ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 24 Cherry Bites, each contains:

67 cals, 5.1g fat, 3.61g carbs, 1.71g fiber, 1.9g NET CARBS, 4.5g protein, 95 mg sodium (in cheese)

Pumpkin Pie (individual or large)

Peggy 2 Comments
Pumpkin Pie

Individual pies (4″ mini pie pans) using FRESH pumpkin

This is my favorite traditional pumpkin pie filling recipe.  I have been baking this recipe of my mother’s for many years now.  It is very light and fluffy as the egg whites are whipped separately.   Of course, those still on Induction will need to leave off crust as shown to the right.  It’s very good that way!

Pumpkin Pie Filling

9″ large pie (crustless for Induction) made with canned pumpkin

Those that are already to the OWL Phase 2 level of Atkins can pour this filling into an uncooked low-carb pie crust of your choice and then bake.  Mine are shown on my “Flour” Pie Crust.  With that crust recipe, each pie (minus topping) contains 9 net carbs.  I usually use canned pumpkin for this but tried it with fresh today and it was delicious, although a tad milder in flavor I think.    This recipe is only suitable for Induction if made crustless.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 c. granular Splenda (or equivalent sweetener of your choice)

1 T. erythritol (or pinch stevia extract)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. ground ginger (optional)

1/8 tsp. salt

1 c. canned or fresh baked pumpkin flesh (NOT pumpkin pie filling!)

1/2 c. heavy cream

3 large eggs, separated per directions below

1 recipe my “Flour” Pie Crust

DIRECTIONS:  Make pie crust by that recipe’s directions.  Roll and shape in pie pan (large or 4 mini pans). 

For the filling, break and beat one whole egg in a medium mixing bowl.  Take out another medium mixing bowl.  Separate the two remaining eggs, putting the yolks into your first bowl with the whole beaten egg.  Put the whites in a clean, dry, separate bowl.

In the bowl with the 1 whole egg and 2 yolks, add all other pie ingredients.  Beat will with a stick blender or hand mixer until smooth, especially if using fresh pumpkin, as it can be lumpy.  Slowly stir in the cream and blend until smooth.

Beat the 2 egg whites to “stiff peak” stage using an electric mixer.  With a rubber spatula, fold the beaten whites into the pumpkin mixture.  When all is incorporated well, pour the mixture into 4 mini pie crusts.  For the crustless version, pour into a buttered baking dish.  For the large pie version, pour into an uncooked, prepared 9″-10″ low-carb pie crust positioned in your pie plate.

IMPORTANT:  For the large pie version, if you use an 8″ pie plate, this amount of filling will likely overflow during baking.  9″ pie plate works better, but if 8″ is the only size pie plate you have, only fill the prepared crust 3/4 full.  Put remaining filling into a buttered small dish to bake separately for the kids, who often don’t like crust anyway.

Bake at 350º for 40-45 minutes.  Filling will puff way up during cooking and then fall level when removed from the oven and cooled.  When totally cooled, Serve with a dollop of whipped cream sweetened with the sweetener of your choice.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (for filling):   Makes 4 mini pies or 1 large pie.  Each mini contains enough filling to tally up the following numbers:  (Does NOT include topping or crust)

191 cals, 15g fat, 9.52g carbs, 2.2g fiber, 7.5g NET CARBS, 6g  protein, 72 mg sodium (for much lower carbs, just eat half of a mini pie)

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (for crust):  Entire crust recipe contains:  (divide by # servings you cut from your large pie)

612 cals, 70.7g fat, 70.8g carbs, 63.84g fiber, 6.8g NET CARBS, 26.4g protein, 648 mg sodium

Peach Streudel

Peggy 1 Comment

This was the first really sweet think I’ve made in a very long time and it came out soooooo good!  You can lower carbs on this dessert by using raspberries or strawberries, but the peaches and nectarines are just so beautiful right now, I just had to make something with them before the season ends.  This recipe is not suitable until you are well into Phase 2 OWL of Atkins.

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own copy of our cookbooks  LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  Volume 8 is almost exclusively comprised of my recipes with some new George Stella and Jennifer Eloff creations.  Order your books from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.

If you’ve already purchased a copy, I sure would appreciate your taking a moment to stop by and leave a review of any recipe you’ve tried:  https://www.amazon.com/Atkins-friendly-Wheat-free-Sugar-free-Gluten-free-Cookbooks/dp/099829974X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523112817&sr=1-1&keywords=Low-Carbing+Among+Friends+Volume-8

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough (substituting 2 T. sweetener of choice for the garlic/onion powders)

2 large peaches, sliced

¼ c. sugar equivalent of your favorite sweetener

2 T. unsalted butter

1½ tsp. ground cinnamon

OPTIONAL:  1 tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment and set near your workspace.  Make the recipe of Mozzy Dough per that recipe’s instructions, substituting in 2 T. sweetener for the garlic and onion powders.  If using the vanilla, add it to the dough with the beaten egg.  Press or roll the dough out nearly the length of a 17″ pan, right on top of the parchment paper.  Spread it out about 9″ wide.

I did not peel my peaches but you certainly can if you prefer.  Lay the peach slices down the length of the center of your rectangle of dough, slightly overlapping them.  Leave a little dough uncovered ant the two ends of the strudel dough for closing up.  Sprinkle on the ¼ c. sweetener of choice (I used erythritol).  Sprinkle the peaches with the cinnamon and dot the length of the band of peaches with the butter.  Using the parchment to help you lift the dough, fold one long side of the dough up and over the peaches gently.  Repeat that process for the other long side of the dough, slightly overlapping them if possible.  Gently pinch the ends and long seam of the strudel dough together with your fingers so the peaches and juice won’t ooze out during baking.  Although this next step is not necessary, using the parchment again to assist, I gently rolled my filled strudel so that the seam side was down on the parchment for baking.

Pop into preheated 350º oven and bake for about 18-20 minutes (watch closely as ovens vary).  Remove and with a paper towel, blot away any oozed butter or juices along the edges for a nicer presentation.   Slice into 6 servings and serve warm.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 6 servings (cutting into 8 will also lower carbs).  A slice 1/6 of the strudel will contain:

305 cals., 24.3 g fat, 15.45g carbs, 7.41g fiber, 8.04g NET CARBS, 18.25g protein, 376 mg sodium

Einkorn Pineapple Sweet Potato Logs

Peggy 1 Comment

All I can say is YUM!  Although I made these tasty treats using a non-stick Twinkie® pan, you can just as easily make these into muffins, mini-muffins or even a square cake and cut into 12 portions.  You’ll have to do some re-calculating of carbs for different shapes.  The square cake will probably take 30-35 minutes to bake fully.  Test with a toothpick in the center.  The count below is for the Twinkie® shape, each of which which has 3 tablespoons of batter. These are delicious with morning coffee or for a lunch-box or after-school snack!

Mine tried to stick to my non-stick pan a bit, so be sure to oil your pan and cool them off before attempting to loosen and remove from the pan.  This recipe is not suitable until you reach the grains rung of the Atkins OWL carb re-introduction ladder.

To lower carbs, you will want to sub in a lower-carb bake mix and definitely sub in pumpkin for the sweet potato.  I just happened to stumble on 1/2 c. sweet potato in my freezer this week that I wanted to use up.  I figure if I don’t know how long it was in the freezer, best I use it right away.  I will probably use pumpkin next time myself to lower carbs on these.

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own copy of our cookbooks  LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  Volume 8, by Jennifer Eloff, Chef George Stella of Food Network fame, and myself, is almost exclusively comprised of my recipes with some new creations by Chef George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.  Order your copy (or any of our  cookbooks) from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. my Einkorn Low-Carb Bake Mix

¼ c.+2T. Pineapple Sugar-Free Syrup (I used DaVinci)

1 beaten large egg

½ c. sweet potato, cooked and mashed

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Oil a Twinkie® pan or muffin pan.  Set aside.  In a medium bowl, mash the cooked sweet potato with a fork.  Whisk in the egg and pineapple syrup until smooth.  Finally stir in the bake mix with a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl, until all is well-blended.  Using a tablespoon measure, spoon 3 T. batter into each slot of the pan.  If any leftover, top any off that are under-filled.  Pop into 350º oven for 20 minutes.  Cool slightly before attempting to remove from pan.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 12 logs, each contains:

113 cals., 8.3g fat, 6.66g carbs, 1.49g fiber, 5.17g NET CARBS, 5.38g protein, 66.2 mg sodium

 

 

 

Peach Puffs

Peggy Leave a comment

These are only three bites each, but boy are those three bites ever GOOD!  The hubs really loved these and I thought they were quite nice, too, and not too sweet!  Most of my readers know I’m not a big sweets eater.  I noticed a lonely can of juice-pack peaches in my pantry after lunch today and knew I had half a recipe of my Mozzy Dough already made up in the fridge.  A light-bulb moment for sure.  I popped out my muffin top pan and created these tasty treats.  Only 84 calories each and 1.79 net carbs.  I made the mistake of choosing powdered erythritol for my cinnamon topping and it clumped even after sifting, so next time I’ll use exclusively granular erythritol for my topping.  These are suitable once you get to the fruit level of Atkins carb reintroduction Phase 2.

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, Volume 8, by Jennifer Eloff, Chef George Stella of Food Network fame, and myself.  Volume 8 is almost completely comprised of my recipes! But George Stella and Jennifer Eloff are also including several tasty new delights to try in this latest Volume 8! You’ll LOVE these delicious recipes, so order yours (Volume 8 or ANY of our cookbooks) from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.  For a limited time, there is free shipping if you order 2 or more cookbooks on the same order.  Remember, they make GREAT birthday or holiday gifts!  If you’ve already purchased a book, take a moment and drop by the our Amazon page and  leave your personal review on the latest book.  Inquiring minds want to know. 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 recipe my Mozzy Dough (omit garlic and onion powders)

6 slices canned peaches, sliced laterally in halves, making 12 long pieces

2 T. granular erythritol (or equivalent sugar sub of choice to equal 2 T. sugar)

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 T. butter

1 T. additional granular erythritol + 1/2 tsp. cinnamon for topping

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Make the Mozzy Dough per that recipe’s instructions.  Divide the large ball of dough in half and refrigerate or freeze as you won’t be using all of it here.  Divide your remaining dough into 12 equal balls (about 1 T. of dough each) and press each ball with your fingers into the slots of a muffin-top baking pan.  If you don’t own one, use a parchment lined baking sheet and press the balls of dough into 2½” flat rounds of dough.  Take each peach slice and slice it length-wise to make 12 thinner pieces of peach.  If you don’t do this, most canned peach slices are too bulky to wrap in such a small bit of dough.  Lay a strip of peach down the center of each ring of flattened dough.  Sprinkle the teaspoon of cinnamon down the awaiting peach slices.  Dot each of the 12 peach strips with a very small dot of butter (about 1/4 tsp.).  Sprinkle 2 T. erythritol total evenly down the 12 peach strips.  Now you’re ready to “wrap” them up.

Using the tines of a fork, lift each flap of dough over the peach strip, pinching the dough slightly together to form a crude seam.  This is tricky, but perfection isn’t required and I WAS able to seal each.  I then pressed the seam with the back of the fork as well.  Pop pan into hot 350º oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Stir the additional 1 T. erythritol and cinnamon in a cup and sprinkle atop each puff.  Remove puffs from the pan with a knife tip or spatula, plate and serve warm.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 12 puffs, each one contains:

83.2 calories, 7 g fat, 3.63 g carbs, 1.84 g fiber, 1.79 g NET CARBS, 4.5 g protein, 94.4 mg sodium

Lemon Curd

Peggy 5 Comments

Lemon Curd

                Lemon Curd

Decided to try my hand at one of my pastry favorites: lemon curd.  I grew to love this scone & pastry topping while on an extensive six-weeks trip through Britain in the 80’s.  I have since modified my recipe of the 80’s to be Atkins friendly.  Had it on a Muffin in a Minute for breakfast and man was it ever good!  This also makes a good cream filling between layers of vanilla cake or pound cake or for lemon mini-tarts.  I love it on a hot biscuit as well!  🙂  As lemon and lime juice is limited during Induction to 3 T. per day, this recipe is only suitable for Induction if you don’t over indulge.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in the cookbooks! Order your 5-volume set TODAY! (also available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs, whisked well

1 T. liquid Splenda (or other sweetener to equal 1 c. sugar)

½ c. fresh lemon juice

1 T. lemon peel, grated

¼ c. unsalted butter

DIRECTIONS:  In a saucepan, whisk eggs, add sweetener, lemon juice and peel.  Turn fire to medium-low and add butter.  Cook, stirring constantly for about 10-15 minutes until thickened.  Pour into jar and chill/store in refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes about 20 T. or ten 2T. servings, each serving contains:

54.53 calories, 4.6 g  fat, 1.56 g  carbs, .41 g  fiber, 1.15 g  NET CARBS, 2.13 g  protein, 23 mg. sodium

Mozzy Dough

Peggy 18 Comments

Italian Chicken Tart

Used in a pizza-like Italian Chicken Tart

I’ve begun experimenting with a dough that is somewhere between the Flathead Pizza Crust recipe on the Diet Doctor’s website and Jennifer Eloff’s Miracle Dough recipe.  But the final result is a little less delicate when rolling/handling.  This dough has good elasticity and flavor and numerous possible applications.  I can see I’ll be using this dough recipe a lot.  I have made a couple minor changes since my original version, noted below in ingredients, reflected in the revised nutritional stats.

TIP: As a time saver, I’m now making up 10 batches of the dry ingredients pre-measured on paper plates. Then I fold and pour each into a sandwich bag and store the bags in a shoe box in my pantry. Very convenient…..as then all I have to do is grab a bag, melt the butter, add the beaten egg, melt the cheese and make my dough ball. So easy that way. I store the paper plates and baggies and re-use for the next batch. 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1 T. cream cheese

1½ T. melted butter (slightly less than my original recipe)

1 egg, beaten

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix

½ c. Carbquik (or another ½ c. gluten-free mix)

1 T. oat fiber

3/4 tsp. psyllium husk powder (for rolls, only use 1/4 tsp)

Dash each onion and garlic powder (omit for dessert applications)

DIRECTIONS:  Measure out all dry ingredients in small bowl, stir well and set aside.  Place mozzy cheese and cream cheese in glass or ceramic bowl and microwave on HI for about 1-1½ minutes to melt it.  Remove and stir quickly with a fork.  Add the egg and melted butter and stir again.  Quickly pour in the dry ingredients and stir quickly with a fork to form a congruous ball of dough, making sure to get it all off the sides of the bowl.  Knead or stir a few minutes to be sure all is uniformly mixed.  Proceed to make a 12″ pizza crust (moisten hands with water to avoid sticking to fingers), pie crust, hand pies, sweet filled pastries, dinner rolls (omit onion/garlic powder for sweet applications) or whatever application you dream up.  For pizza bake at 350º until dry to touch.  Remove, slide parchment paper out from under pizza, add toppings and bake 15-18 minutes longer to desired brown level.

Mozzy Dough Ball

Formed ball once all ingredients kneaded together.

CORRECTED NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes enough for a large pie-crust with lovely fluted edge, 4 hand pies, a small 12″ pizza or 7 dinner rolls or mini pizza rounds.

ENTIRE RECIPE CONTAINS:  1140 calories, 95.8 g fat, 58.6 g carbs, 37.6 g fiber, 21 g NET CARBS, 81.2 g protein, 1542 mg sodium (divide by number of servings/pieces for the specific application you use this for)

 

Berry Bites

Peggy Leave a comment

Strawberry Breakfast Bites

These tasty 2-bite morsels are a slight variation of my Strawberry Egg Puffs recipe.  Make a batch of these for your honey for Valentine’s Day!  If you don’t have the Nordicware pan I used, you can use any mini-muffin pan you have.  These were a cinch to make and so good my husband just couldn’t stop.  They are delightful with morning coffee.  Sprinkle with powdered sweetener and serve them as a dessert with afternoon tea.   These are suitable once you get to the berries rung of the Atkins Phase 2 OWL ladder. They are also OK for most Keto diets.

NOTE: If you are gluten free, use all gluten-free mix, as my Einkorn mix is not gluten free.

INGREDIENTS:

4 large eggs, beaten

¼ c. Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix

¼ c. my Einkorn Bake Mix (or more Jennifer’s mix for gluten-free)

1 c. frozen strawberries, drained and chopped (or other berries if you like)

2 T. erythritol

2 T. Splenda, granulated

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1 T. + 1 tsp. coconut oil

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º. Melt coconut oil in your mini muffin baking pan and brush 24 slots well with oil.

Beat the eggs in a small mixing bowl.  Add the bake mix.  You can use any low-carb bake mix you prefer.  Add sweeteners, vanilla and chopped berries.  Fold all together until smooth.   Using a 2 T. measuring cup, spoon batter into mini muffin pan slots.  Right is the Nordicware pan I used.

They will be nearly full to the brim.  Don’t worry, Mine didn’t overflow in the pans, although they do temporarily rise above the top like a souffle…..and then fall a bit when done and cooled.

Pop into oven and bake for 16-18 minutes or until risen and firm in the center.  Remove, cool a couple minutes and with knife tip, lift them out and serve while warm.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 24 Berry Bites or “mini muffins”, each contains:

32.3 cals, 2.4g fat, 1.55g carbs, 0.37g fiber, 1.18g NET CARBS, 1.67g protein, 16 mg sodium

Applesauce Cake

Peggy 7 Comments

One of my doctors put me on a special diet for 3 days recently that included applesauce.  Well, I told him I was a low carber and that wasn’t such a good food choice for me, but he insisted I needed to incorporate some every day.  We went out and bought some unsweetened Motts applesauce and I have a fair amount leftover.  Today’s sweet treat was a delicious, pleasant way to use some of it up!  I basically started with my Pumpkin Cake recipe, changed the spices and subbed in applesauce for the pumpkin.  This recipe is not suitable until you reach the fruit rung of the carb re-introduction ladder of Phase 2 Atkins (OWL).  I had 1 apple I wanted to use up, so the loaf in the photo has the diced apple.  This cake improves after overnight refrigeration:  gets denser; gets tastier as the flavors mellow.  🙂

Many delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, by Jennifer Eloff and low-carb friends (me included).  Chef George Stella also brings to the table a wealth of delicious recipes added to the collection!  You’ll LOVE these recipes!  Order your copy today from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

3/4 c. (1½ sticks) butter, softened

1 c. unsweetened applesauce

½ c. sugar free maple syrup

4 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. almond flour

1 c. plain whey protein powder

1 c. Splenda (or equivalent product of your choice to equal 1 c. sugar)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. sea salt

1 T. ground cinnamon

OPTIONAL:  1½ c. peeled, diced apple

DIRECTIONS:  Line 2 loaf pans with parchment paper on the bottom.  Lightly grease the sides of the pan with a little coconut oil.  Set prepared pans aside. Preheat oven to 350º.

Soften butter and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl.  Whip with electric mixer until smooth.  Add applesauce, syrup, eggs, vanilla and continue beating with the mixer until smooth throughout.   Add all the dry ingredients, beating between each one you add to the bowl.  Beat with the mixer for 2-3 minutes or until batter is very smooth.  With a spoon, stir in the diced, peeled apple if using.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape half of your batter into each pan.  Pop pans into preheated 350º oven and bake for about 40-45 minutes.  Watch the tops as you near end of time, as ovens can vary.  Remove and slightly cool.  Slice loaf into 8 slices.  Do not slice if freezing the loaves.  I freeze my cakes in gallon freezer plastic bags.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 16 servings/slices, each contains:

Without diced apple: 261 cals., 22.5 g fat, 7.43 g carbs, 1.98 g fiber, 5.45 g NET CARBS, 10.75 g protein, 250 mg sodium

With diced apple:  267.4 cals. 22.5 g fat, 9.05 g carbs, 2.26 g fiber, 6.79 g NET CARBS, 10.78 g. protein, 250 mg sodium.