Pistachio-Rosewater Cookies

Before we move on from Iran to another area of Middle Eastern cooking, I want to share one last fond memory of our stay there.  That was going into the Iranian and German bakeries that dotted the city streets.  Exciting sweets like “Birds Nest” phyllo cups filled with chopped pistachios and drizzled with honey.  They also made a wonderful baklava with almonds, honey and rosewater.  Rosewater is a commonly used dessert flavoring in the Middle East.  I use Sadaf brand available in Middle Eastern Groceries and you can also order it on-line.

One particular sugar shortbread-like cookie at a bakery near our house was one of my favorites.  They were made with pistachio nuts and a hint of rosewater.  Theirs were not iced, but I would like that addition.  I decided today I would try my hand at a basic refrigerator sugar cookie recipe, using alternate flour ingredients and artificial sweeteners, of course.  The result was quite nice.  These are similar to what I remember from that bakery.  These are delicious and I really like that you can just refrigerate, slice off a few and bake just the number you want/need.  The total recipe of dough will make about 4 dozen cookies, if they are sliced about ¼” thick.   This recipe is not suitable until the grains rung of OWL.

This is my first experiment using the bake mix of a former member of Low Carb Friends forums, KevinPa.  Sadly, Kevin passed away and his baking expertise is sorely missed by folks like me who greatly admired his culinary prowess.  The various bake mixes and flour substitutes called for in this recipe can be varied with likely the same good result, so if you don’t have the ingredients for Kevin’s mix, you could just use all Jennifer’s mix and get about the same result.

This roll of batter can also be frozen.  Just remember to thaw before attempting to slice.

VARIATION:  Omit the pistachios and substitute chopped almonds for another tasty shortbread cookie.

INGREDIENTS:

2 sticks butter, unsalted, softened

2 small or 1 large egg

¼ tsp. salt

2 oz. pistachios, coarsely chopped

1 T. + 1 tsp. Rosewater (I use Sadaf brand)

½ c. granular Splenda

¼ c. erythritol

1 c. KevinPa’s Bake Mix, Peggy’s Version (see that below)

½ c almond flour

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s Splendid LowCarb Bake Mix

2 T. Carbquik Bake Mix

1 T. oat fiber

DIRECTIONS:  In a medium bowl, soften the butter and beat the egg into it well.  Add the salt, nuts, sweeteners and rosewater.  Measure and mix in each of the bake mixes.  Mix well and shape into a log on waxed paper.  Roll the log up snugly and chill for about 2 hours.  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.  Ice with your favorite cream cheese frosting with 1/2 tsp. rosewater added and sprinkle with some finely chopped pistachios, if desired.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes about 48 cookies, each contains (does not include icing or nut garnish):

63.63 cals, 5.68 g  fat, 2.10 g  carbs, 1.10 g  fiber, 1 NET CARB, 1.83 g  protein, 20mg sodium

Kevin’s Bake Mix (MY version of it):

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)

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Blackberry-Coconut Smoothie

I’ll be glad when blackberries are in season.  I have been craving one of these.  I can get blueberries, so perhaps I can substitute.  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

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

Chocolate Delights

My mother-in-law used to make a similar no-bake candy at Christmas I just adored.   Nobody but her and myself liked it in the family, but that wasn’t a problem for the two of us.  😉  Hers had rolled oats in them.  My version is almost as good as hers and much lower in carbs.

Not suitable for Induction, but OK once you get to the seed/nuts rung of Atkins Phase 2 OWL.

INGREDIENTS:

1/3  c. coconut, unsweetened, toasted in oven first

4 T. melted butter

24 drops liquid Splenda or liquid stevia (or to taste)

1 tsp. erythritol

4 T. cocoa powder, unsweetened

2 T. roasted pumpkin seeds

2 T. sunflower seeds

VARIATION:  Adding chopped nuts of your choice would be a nice touch as well, but be sure to add that to your nutritional info if you add nuts.  If you are in maintenance, a few finely chopped raisins added to this recipe is very good, say 2-3 tablespoons.  Be sure to recalculate macros if you make any changes.

DIRECTIONS: Toast coconut in 350º for about 5-8 minutes.  As ovens vary, check often lest you burn it.  In medium bowl, melt the butter in microwave.  Stir in cocoa powder and erythritol, stirring until smooth.  Add coconut and all remaining ingredients and blend well.  Drop onto parchment paper, silicon mat or plate, piling into six clusters.  Place in freezer for 15 minutes to set up.  ENJOY!  Store leftovers in refrigerator or freezer.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 6 servings.  Each serving (as written) contains:

133 cals, 13.1g fat, 3.97g carbs, 2.03g fiber, 1.94g NET CARBS, 3g protein, 32 mg sodium

Granola Bars

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

Almond Bark

Because this candy is made with coconut oil, it has a hint of coconut flavor.   This as the best low-carb chocolate I’ve made to date!  You can use melted butter if you don’t care for coconut. Tour final candy will taste just like commercial almond bark with no taste of coconut at all.  Wait until Atkins Phase 2 OWL to enjoy this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1¼ c. coconut oil, warmed

½ c. cocoa powder

1 T. Fiberfit liquid sweetener (or equivalent liquid sweetener for 1/2 c. granular Splenda)

10 drops liquid stevia or liquid EZ sweets

6 oz. almonds, roasted 10 minutes at 350º

4 squares (½ bar or about 2 oz) Lindt 90% cocoa dark chocolate bar

DIRECTIONS: In 9×13 metal cake pan (or the metal lid for a 9×13 cake pan is even better for twisting to release the sheet of candy when set up) toast almonds at 350º for 10-15 minutes, stirring several times during roasting.  Cool nuts.  In a medium bowl, warm the coconut oil (or melt butter) in the microwave a few seconds until melted.  In another bowl, melt the Lindt chocolate until softened.  Add in the cocoa powder, melted chocolate bar and sweeteners and whisk until smooth.  Pour mixture over the almonds in the metal pan/lid.  Using a rubber spatula or spoon, try to spread out the almonds evenly so there will be a nut in each piece of finished bark.  Place on level shelf in freezer for 10-15 minutes.  Remove from freezer.  Gently twist pan to loosen the sheet of candy and flip out onto you hand and set down on counter.  Break up in to approximately 1″ pieces.  I got 60 1-1½” pieces of candy with this recipe.

VARIATIONS:  Add 1/2 c. toasted unsweetened coconut.  If you’re to the fruits rung of OWL or beyond, 1/2 c. chopped dried apricots/peaches, or any combination of these would be fantastic in this!    Recalculate nutritionals if you add these items, however.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes around 60 1-1½” pieces, each containing approximately:

62.4 cals, 6.47 g fat, 1.2 g carbs, 0.6 g fiber, 0.6 g NET CARBS, 0.83 g protein, 1 mg. sodium

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: 

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

Low Carb Blueberry Buckle

With your next purchase of blueberries you can make this delicious Blueberry Buckle to delight your family.  It’s great with coffee, as a snack or a dessert with a dollop of whipped cream on top.  If you’re wondering where it gets 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 closer, you can lower the amount of berries, making it more like a traditional coffeecake.  However, traditionally they used a high ratio of fruit 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 1/8-¼c. more 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

1/4 c. granular erithritol or equivalent sweetener

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-Orange Nut Bread

I love to make this delicious sweet bread for the holidays without fail, but it’s good at other times of the year, too! It’s one of my oldest low-carb sweet bread recipes.  I have half a bag of cranberries in my refrigerator left from holiday baking and wanted to use it up, so I baked this last night for a treat.  I start with a basic coconut flour bread recipe as a foundation and then add in the flavor essentials. This bread is very moist and freezes nicely for up to 1 month.  This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction.  The basic bread recipe can be used with other flavorings, like lemon or snipped raisins.  Have fun 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 a combination of other sweeteners to equal 2/3 c. sugar)

1 c. fresh cranberries, chopped

½ c. pecans or walnuts

DIRECTIONS: 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 substitute 1-2 tsp.grated orange zest.  To the wet ingredients, begin adding the dry ingredients in the order listed above.  Stir after each addition to well blend all  ingredients.  Gently fold in the chopped cranberries and walnuts.  Pour into a greased or non-stick loaf pan and bake at 350º for 50-60 minutes.

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 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

Berry Bites

Last year I made hubby a cake for Valentine’s Day.  This year I think I’ll resurrect these tasty morsels.  If you don’t have the Nordicware pan I used, you can use any mini-muffin pan you have, they just won’t have the flower shapes.  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 as a lovely sweet with an afternoon 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 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 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 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

Strawberry Chocolate Torte

I’m not a big sweets eater, as many of my readers and forum acquaintances know by now.  But my husband is and I fix him low-carb treats for special occasions otherwise he WILL go buy the awful flour/sugar laden junk at the bakery.  This dessert I created for his Valentine’s Day treat some years back and thought I’d share it today since Valentines Day is just around the corner once again.   Where does time fly?

The basic chocolate cake batter in this recipe is actually not my recipe.  My inspiration was a recipe posted by a wonderful cook on LowCarbFriends forums named Gwen, known there as “The Chicken Lady”.  This cake is a testimonial to her incredible cooking skills. I’m very pleased with this chocolate cake!  And 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 cake 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 of 1/3 cup of sugar)
4 pkts. stevia (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

Pinch (less than 1/16 tsp.) glucomannan powder, dusted over cream as you whip it (optional, to help firm up the whipped cream)

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

Einkorn Blueberry Crumble

I’m having some back issues of late.  Can’t stand up for very long, so my time-consuming baking efforts will likely wane for awhile.  But I have a kitchen island with comfy bar chairs and I can sure sit and cook, have the hubs put the pan in the oven and pull it out when it’s done!  I don’t need any assistance with eating my fair share though.  😉

My husband pointed out today we had a carton of blueberries at the back of the fridge so I decided to make some sort of simple crisp or crumble fruit baked dish.  My husband set the oven, greased my baking dish and rounded up the ingredients from my pantry (bending and stooping is an issue, too). I was able to do most of the rest, with the added help of regular heavy doses of ibuprofen all week long.

This was my first time using Swerve® sweetener and I was at a loss there.  It didn’t have any funny aftertaste sampled on my finger, nor in the final crumble dish that I could detect.  It is worthy of further experimenting in my opinion.  Just followed the info on the back of the packaging and it came out pretty close to my taste preference.  But honestly, it wasn’t quite sweet enough with 2 Tbsp. and I have therefore adjusted the recipe below for what should be better next baking.  The crumble topping was successful and the final dessert came out quite tasty.

Blueberries are a little higher in carbs, so if you are still in the Induction phase of the diet, use strawberries or raspberries instead. To lower carbs further, omit the Einkorn flour totally.  I simply adds a nice flour taste and pastry texture that almond flour alone can’t do.   🙂  This recipe is not suitable until you have reached the nuts and berries level of Phase 2 Atkins.  It’s a little high carb for Keto diets.  This is not suitable for Primal-Paleo plans.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. fresh blueberries

3/4 c. Jennifer Eloff’s Splendid Gluten-Free Bake Mix (or other low-carb mix)

2 T. Einkorn flour

3 T. Swerve® sweetener (or equivalent sweetener to equal 3 T. sugar)

2 T. oat fiber

1 large egg

3 T. butter

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Rub butter lightly on a 6″ square baking dish and set dish aside.  Put rest of the butter in a medium bowl.  Add all the dry ingredients on top of the butter.  Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dry mixture until it resembles coarse cornmeal.  Add the egg on top, beat it with a fork and slowly work it into a dough with the dry ingredients.  Using a fork or your fingers, crumble the dough evenly on top of the fruit.  Pop into preheated 350º oven and bake for about 20-23 minutes or until lightly browned on the top.  Slightly cool and enjoy warm.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 4 servings, each contains:

240 cals, 18 g fat, 20.25 g carbs, 7.12 g fiber, 13.13 g NET CARBS, 13 g protein, 46 mg sodium

Chia Strawberry Chantilly

My mother was very fond of Strawberry Chantilly.  She would often double her recipe when she wanted to make a strawberry filled cake roll.  Mmm.  I’ve modified how I have always made this, to incorporate the super food CHIA SEEDS:  http://www.mychiaseeds.com/Articles/Top10ChiaBenefits.html .  This mousse/pudding recipe is not suitable until the nuts and seeds rung of the OWL carb ladder in Phase 2 of Atkins.  This is yet another, delicious, easy way to incorporate chia seeds into my regular diet.  This dessert can be garnished with a fresh strawberry, strawberry preserves, a dollop of whipped, sweetened cream, a spring of fresh mint, or any combination of those.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. heavy cream, whipped until very thick

2 T. ground chia seeds, soaked for 15 minutes in 1 c. + 2 T. water (a gel will form)

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

6 extra large strawberries (about 1½” in diameter)

1 pkt. stevia

liquid Splenda to taste (add slowly and taste)

DIRECTIONS:   Soak chia seeds with water in lidded jar for 15 minutes.  Shake chia gel to uniformly mix the seed particles in the gel.  Whip cream until thick and set aside. Add chia gel to food processor.  Add berries, cream cheese and stevia.  Process until cream cheese is smoothly mixed with all ingredients.  Add whipped cream and pulse a couple times to blend.  Begin adding liquid Splenda in say 4 drip increments, pulse and taste.  Repeat, adding as many as needed to sweeten to your liking.  Spoon into 6 decorative dishes, chill for 1 hour.  You can garnish with a strawberry, preserves or whipped cream or fresh mint if you like.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 6 servings, each contains:  (garnish choices are not included below)

206 cals, 20.5 g fat, 4.8 g carbs, 1.62 g fiber, 3.18 g NET CARBS, 2.57 g protein, 585 mg sodium

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

Strawberry Chocolate Torte

I’m not a big sweets eater, as many of my readers and forum acquaintances know by now.  But my husband IS!  And since he’s Type 2 diabetic, I do try to fix him low-carb treats so he won’t go and buy the awful junk at the grocery store and bakery that is laden with flour and sugar.   This dessert I created for his Valentine’s Day treat some years back and thought I’d share it again since holidays are just around the corner.

The basic chocolate cake batter in this recipe is actually not my recipe.  My inspiration was a recipe posted by a wonderful cook on LowCarbFriends forums named Gwen, known there as “The Chicken Lady”.  This cake is a testimonial to her incredible cooking skills. I’m very pleased with this chocolate cake!  And 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 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 cake 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!

CAKE INGREDIENTS: 

4 c. almond flour
liquid sweetener to equal 2 c. sugar
½ c. granular erythritol (or equivalent of 1/3 cup of sugar)
4 pkts. stevia (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

FROSTING INGREDIENTS:

2½ c. heavy cream, whipped

Pinch (less than 1/16 tsp.) glucomannan powder, dusted over cream as you whip it (optional, to help firm up the whipped cream)

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, but leave them coarse.  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

Pumpkin Cake

I could eat my weight in this moist, delicious pumpkin cake.  With the holidays just around the corner, this one is sure to be a hit.

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.  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.   You can top with dollop of fresh whipped cream if you  like.

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

Strawberry Mug Cheesecake

If you love cheesecake but want it FAST, this is your recipe!  I had the tail end of a bag of strawberries in my freezer that needed using so I whipped up this delicious quick cheesecake last night.  It’s a favorite of ours.  Of course, you could use other fruits and berries, but you’d have to recalculate the serving numbers for those changes.  My husband just loves this!  Is asking for it all the time.  This recipe is suitable once you get to the first, ‘nuts and berries’ level of Atkins (Phase 2 OWL).  It is also suitable for other Keto diets and Primal Blueprint.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. frozen strawberries, thawed and drained of juice

3 oz. softened cream cheese

2/3 c. sour cream

1 c. heavy whipping cream

liquid Splenda (or sweetener of choice), to taste (about 10 drops)

VARIATION:  Use 1 c. diced pealed peaches instead of strawberries.

DIRECTIONS:   Soften cream cheese on a paper plate either in microwave or at room temperature.  Place into food processor bowl.  Add the drained berries, sour cream and Splenda.  Process until smooth.   In a separate bowl, whip the cream until it forms soft peaks.  Scrape the strawberry mixture onto the whipped cream and fold the two together until well-blended.  Taste and adjust sweetener to taste.  Spoon equally into 6 serving mugs, ramekins, or dishes of choice.  Chill for 1 hour and serve.  This will firm up when the cream cheese re-chills.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 6 servings (approx. 1/2 c.), each contains:

253 calories, 25 g fat, 5.93 g carbs, 0.76 g fiber, 5.17 g NET CARBS, 2.83 g protein, 71 mg sodium

Blackberry-Coconut Smoothie

This is one of my oldest blog recipes but still a favorite smoothie at our house.  Very refreshing and a wonderful summertime treat or dessert!  Just made some last night in fact.  This recipe is not suitable until the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL carb reintroduction ladder.  It is perfectly OK for Paleo-Primal folks as well. 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

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

Garlic Dinner Rolls

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!  Delicious hot with butter!  They are also good split, toasted with melted butter brushed on the tops and a sprinkle of Italian herbs and Parmesan cheese.  Or they will make an excellent 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 dough for a 9″-10″ pie-crust with lovely fluted edge, 4 hand pies, or a 12″ pizza crust or in this recipe, 6 dinner rolls which have 6.26 net carbs each.

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

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

Pineapple Bars

I made a delicious cake-like bar that can be eaten at breakfast or enjoyed as an afternoon snack.  Hot, it will need to be eaten with a fork on a plate; cooled you can pick them up and eat with your hands.  These would be a nice treat for a child’s school lunchbox.This recipe is not suitable until the higher-carb fruits rung of the Atkins Phase 2 OWL carb reintroduction ladder.

INGREDIENTS:

1 T. warm water

1 tsp. dry yeast

¼ tsp. sugar (consumed by the yeast)

½ c. almond flour

1 T. oat fiber (omit for a 100% gluten-free version)

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

¼ c. golden flax meal

¼ c. plain whey protein powder

1 tsp. baking powder

3 T. cream cheese, softened

2 large eggs, beaten

1½ c. shredded Monterrey Jack or mozzarella cheese

1 tsp. cider vinegar

1 T. heavy cream

1  20 oz. can of pineapple chunks, drained and chopped coarsely

STREUSEL TOPPING:  2½ T. cold butter, 1 T. cinnamon, 2 T. erythritol or Splenda, ¼ c. chopped walnuts (or other nuts) and ¼ c. flax meal

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Grease an 8″ square metal baking pan and set aside. Dissolve the yeast with the warm water and sugar in a small saucer.  Set aside for now.

Soften cream cheese in medium mixing bowl.  Beat in the eggs, cream, vinegar, shredded cheeses and stir well until smooth. Add the proofed yeast mixture and stir again. Finally add the pineapple and stir.  Measure all the dry ingredients on top of the wet and stir with a rubber spatula to blend until you have a uniform mixture.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly.

For the topping, using a fork, blend the cold butter, erythritol, 1 T. flax meal and cinnamon in a small bowl until it is a coarse, crumbly mixture.  Add the nuts, stir well.  Sprinkle evenly over the batter and pop pan into 350º oven.  Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until dry to the touch, firm in the center and lightly browned around the edges.  Cool a few minutes and cut evenly into 9 squares.  Serve warm on a plate with breakfast coffee or tea.   Store leftovers in a plastic bag in your refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 9 servings, each contains:

235 cals, 20g fat, 4.48g carbs, 2.48g fiber, 2g NET CARBS, 11.8g protein, 265 mg sodium

Low Carb Blueberry Buckle

With your next purchase of blueberries you can make this delicious Blueberry Buckle to delight your family.  It’s great with coffee, as a snack or a dessert with a dollop of whipped cream on top.  If you’re wondering where it gets 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 closer, you can lower the amount of berries, making it more like a traditional coffeecake.  However, traditionally they used a high ratio of fruit 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 1/8-¼c. more 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

1/4 c. granular erithritol or equivalent sweetener

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

Garlic Dinner Rolls

My Mozzy Dough, somewhere between the Flathead Pizza Crust recipe on the Diet Doctor’s website and Jennifer Eloff’s Miracle Dough recipe, makes excellent dinner rolls.  Delicious hot with butter!  Also good split, toasted with melted butter brushed on the tops and a sprinkle of Italian herbs and Parmesan cheese.  Makes delicious toasted garlic bread!  This dough has good elasticity, flavor and is so versatile.  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

1 small clove garlic, minced

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.

CORRECTED NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes enough for a 9″-10″ pie-crust with lovely fluted edge, 4 hand pies, 12″ pizza crust or 6 dinner rolls which have 6.26 net carbs each if made/cut into 6 portions.

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)

 

Cherry Strudel

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.

 

 

Coconut Crust Fruit “Pizza”

This is a very old recipe of mine I modified so it is now suitable for Atkins low-carb.  It’s a pretty dessert that impresses company and yet it is so easy to make!  You make the crust a day ahead and put it all together right before serving.  The crust is very dense (not at all crumbly) and is  easiest eaten with your hands just like pizza rather than a fork!  This recipe is not acceptable for Atkins Induction, but you can enjoy it once you get to the nuts and seeds level of Atkins Phase 2 OWL.  Softening 1-2 oz. cream cheese and blending into the whipped cream is a good variation for this.  But that is not calculated in the nutritional info below.

My favorite version of this dessert is one made with fresh peaches and a few drops of almond extract added to the whipped cream.  Sooooo good!

VARIATION:  Use sliced fresh peaches, use raspberries, use blueberries.  You can also add softened cream cheese to the creamy filling and reduce the whipped cream for a firmer, richer filling. 🙂

CRUST INGREDIENTS:

1  c. unsweetened coconut

1/2 c. chopped almonds

1/3 c. Splenda (or equivalent liquid sweetener)

2 ½ T. low carb bake mix or almond flour (or 1 T. coconut flour)

2 egg whites lightly beaten with a whisk until frothy

1 tsp. almond extract

TOPPING INGREDIENTS: 1 c. heavy cream, 1T. s/f syrup like DaVinci or Torani and 1 pt. fruit.   Alternately you can use only 3/4 c. whipping cream and fold in 1/4 c. softened cream cheese if you like.  You will need to recalculate stats below if you do that, however.

DIRECTIONS: Line a pizza pan with foil.  Grease with butter a 9-10″ circle.  Combine all crust ingredients in a bowl and stir well.  Using fingers, spread and press firmly the coconut crust mixture into a 9-10″ circle on a greased sheet pan.  Bake at 325º for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool on a wire rack.  Refrigerate overnight.

The day you want to serve, place crust on flat cake plate.  Whip cream with a splash of vanilla and sweetener of your choice (I like coconut or vanilla DaVinci sugar free syrup).   Spread whipped cream evenly over coconut crust and top with raspberries, sliced strawberries or if on the fruit rung of OWL, this is good with thinly sliced peaches.  Chill for an hour and then cut into 8 wedges and serve.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 8, each serving (using strawberries) contains:

273 cals, 25g fat, 12g carbs, 5.1g fiber, 6.9g NET CARBS, 5g protein, 43 mg sodium

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are moist, dense cake-like in texture, and incredibly tasty!  My picky husband really liked these, and he usually isn’t too fond of low-carb desserts.  These are not Induction friendly due to the almond flour and nuts.  Sometimes I leave out the chopped nuts to lower calorie/carb count even more.

VARIATION:  If you like a chewier cookie, use the sugar-free honey (I use Honeytree from Walmart) instead of the DaVinci vanilla syrup.   For a crunchier cookie, bake them longer/browner.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. almond flour

¼ c. + 2T. unsweetened, plain whey protein

1 tsp. baking soda

½ c. chopped nuts

½ c. sugar-free chocolate chips

¼ c. granular Splenda

4 T. erythritol sweetener

3 T. melted, unsalted butter

1 egg, beaten

¼ c. sugar free honey+1 tsp. vanilla (about 1/4 c. DaVinci Vanilla sugar-free syrup, added slowly and just enough to create a thick batter)

1 T. water (omit if you used Davinci syrup)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl.  Add all wet ingredients.  Blend well and let batter sit for a couple minutes to firm up.  Spoon onto greased or non-stick baking sheet in 1″ globs.  They don’t spread out much when cooking, so I slightly  flattened with my fingers, but not too much.  Bake for about 12 minutes at 350º.  Cool on cloth or racks.  I got exactly 26 cookies.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 26 cookies, each contains:

55.85 cals, 4.79g fat, 2.04g carbs,0.84g fiber, 1.2g NET CARBS, 1.8g protein, 54 mg. sodium

Mandarin Orange Cheesecake Pudding

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.  It was yummy!  My husband and I loved this one!  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 well blended.  Spoon into eight 1-cup ramekins or serving dishes of choice.  Optional garnish (not included in nutritional stats): 1-2 extra orange sections 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

Chocolate Shell

This recipe is ideal for making a chocolate shell for ice cream bars and a variety of chocolate candies.  The sky is the limit on how it can be used for candy making, including multi-layer candies.  Pictured above are bite-size sweets made with (left) peanuts, (center) coconut-pecan, and (right) almond-dried cranberries.  Since what you add to your chocolate will vary, the nutritional information will vary.  Therefore I am providing just the counts for the chocolate coating mixture.  you will then have to add the nuts or fruits you add to each piece for an accurate count. This recipe is chilled to set, but it keeps at room temperature for a fairly long period, so you can serve these creations at parties without fear they will melt on the plate. Just pop any leftovers back in the fridge for longer term storage.  They should freeze OK, too.  🙂

The base chocolate shell recipe is suitable (as written) for all phases of Atkins.  Then, once you reach Atkins Phase 2 OWL, you can add nuts, coconut meat, fruit bits to your candy (whatever is allowed on your eating plan).

INGREDIENTS FOR CHOCOLATE SHELL COATING:

1 c. sugar free chocolate chips (I use Hershey’s)

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:  Set silicone candy molds on a sheet pan.  Place your nuts, coconut, or fruit bits into each of 48 silicone candy form cups.  Next, in double boiler or a small saucepan over another pan containing boiling water, melt the butter and coconut oil.  Add the square of chocolate and melt slowly.  Add the chocolate chips, stirring constantly so the chocolate will stay smooth.  It should make a smooth, silky (not lumpy) chocolate sauce.  Dip 1 tsp. of sauce onto each candy mold slot.  There should be enough to do all 48 slots.  Then go back and put any remaining sauce as equally on the 48 candies as possible, using it all up.  The chocolate will run down around the nuts/fruit and make a solid piece of candy once chilled.  If making a smaller batch, refrigerate (or freeze) any leftover sauce in a ziploc plastic bag for future use.  Pop the sheet pan into the refrigerator for about 15-30 minutes.  When the chocolate is hard to the touch, pop ’em out from the bottom and ENJOY!  The chocolate will not totally melt if at room, but don’t leave them out for hours.  The chocolate WILL melt under the heat of your fingers if held too long.

NUTRITIONAL INFO FOR SAUCE:  Makes about 1¼ cups or 20 T. (60 tsp.).  This will be enough for 48 1″ candies.  Each tsp. contains:

19 calories, 1.79 g  fat, 0.55 g  carbs,0 .21 g fiber, 0.34 NET CARBS, 0.20 g  protein, < 1 mg. sodium

A useful chart of nutrition info for possible candy add-ins:

Chocolate Mini Bundt Cake

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

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

 

 

 

Sock-It-To-Me Cake

 

This was my mother-in-law’s favorite cake.  While still living in her own home, she made it every year at Christmas.  What didn’t get eaten at Christmas Eve dinner, was finished off with breakfast coffee Christmas morning.  She always made hers  with 1 c. chopped pecans, but I leave them out as my husband isn’t so fond of nuts.  To be more authentic, you could substitute sour cream in for the heavy cream, but carbs will be  a tad higher if you do. This recipe is not suitable until the grains rung of Atkins OWL (Ongoing Weight Loss) carb ladder.  Carbquik, much like Bisquick, has some flour in it, albeit specially processed to reduce the carb load. I order my Carbquik at Netrition.com, but you might be able to buy it at your local health food store.

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 chefs to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in her cookbooks! Order your 10-volume set TODAY for special pricing! (also available individually) from Amazon or: here

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. granular Splenda

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 c. Jennifer Eloff’s Splendid Low Carb Bake Mix (for gluten free, use her Gluten-Free Bake Mix)

1½ c. CarbQuik or other low-carb bake mix (for gluten free, use 1½ c. more Jennifer’s Gluten-Free mix)

½ c. plain whey protein

2 T. golden flax meal

1 T. coconut flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ c. + 2 T. erythritol

3 large eggs, beaten

3 T. sugar-free maple syrup

1/4 tsp. maple extract

4 T. melted butter, unsalted (for batter)

2 T. melted butter, unsalted (to drizzle on cake)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

liquid Splenda to equal 1/3 c. sugar (about 20 drops)

2 T. water

¼ c. + 1 T. heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT A FULL-SIZED 9″ CAKE.  Grease an 8″ round, deep cake pan or 8″ round ceramic baking dish (the Corning “French” vegetable dish I used is 8″ in diameter, 3″ deep and the cake rose all the way to the top without overflowing).   Mix 2 T. granular Splenda with cinnamon (and nuts, if using) on paper plate and set aside for now.  In a large mixing bowl,  measure and mix all the dry ingredients. In a separate mixing bowl, microwave melt the 4 T. butter.  Beat in egg and add all other wet ingredients and whisk until fairly smooth.  Stir wet ingredients into dry.     Blend well.   Drop approximately 1/3 of the batter onto bottom of baking dish by tablespoons sort of randomly.  Sprinkle with about 1 T. of the cinnamon topping.  Drop another layer of 1T. blobs of batter on top.  Again sprinkle with about 1 T. cinnamon topping.  Drop the final 1/3 of the batter on top in 1T. blobs and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon topping.  Drizzle 2 T. melted butter across top of cake evenly.  Pop into 350º oven and bake for about 30 minutes.  Gently remove from oven and check for doneness with toothpick stuck in center.  Mine took exactly 40 minutes.  It is done when toothpick stuck in center comes out completely dry.  Cool 5-8 minutes before tipping out onto serving platter.  Can be enjoyed either warm or cooled.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 8 slices, each contains:

250 calories, 20.7 g  fat, 14.23 g  carbs, 9.96 g  fiber, 4.27 NET CARBS  (4.6 NC if you add 2 , oz. chopped pecans), 18.49 g  protein, 218 mg sodium

 

Cranberry Refrigerator 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

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

Cranberry-Orange Nut Bread

I love to make this delicious sweet bread for this time of year without fail, but it’s good at other times of the year, too! It’s one of my oldest low-carb sweet bread recipes.  I started with a basic coconut flour bread recipe and made a few alterations and additions to transform it into a traditional cranberry orange nut bread.  This bread is quite good and will freeze nicely for up to 1 month.  This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction.

It is the coconut flour in this recipe that dictates so many eggs.  It’s one of the reasons I prefer to use other low-carb flour substitutes.  If you reduce the coconut flour and sub in some almond flour for part of it, you could then reduce the number of eggs needed.  I would recommend making the flour substitution and mixing the batter with all the other wet and dry ingredients first, then add the eggs LAST, one at a time and stirring well between additions, only using the number needed for a thick bread batter the consistency of muffin batter.  You will have to recalculate the carbs in making such a drastic change to the recipe, however.

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 chefs to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  The latest 3 volumes are mostly my recipes.  Order your 10-volume set TODAY for deep discounted pricing! The books are also available individually from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

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 a combination of other sweeteners to equal 2/3 c. sugar)

1 c. fresh cranberries, chopped

½ c. walnuts or pecans

DIRECTIONS: 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 substitute 1-2 tsp.grated orange zest.  To the wet ingredients, begin adding the dry ingredients in the order listed above.  Stir after each addition to well blend all  ingredients.  Gently fold in the chopped cranberries and walnuts.  Pour into a greased or non-stick loaf pan and bake at 350º for 50-60 minutes.

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 will have:

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

Strawberry Mug Cheesecake

If you love cheesecake but want it FAST, this is your recipe!  I had the tail end of a bag of strawberries in my freezer that needed using so I whipped up this delicious quick cheesecake for a cool afternoon treat on this hot, 94º day.  Of course, you could use fresh berries or other fruit of choice but you’ll have to recalculate the serving numbers for those changes.  My husband just loved this!  Said I could make it again just any old time!  🙂  This recipe is suitable once you get to the first, nuts and berries level of Atkins (Phase 2 OWL).  It is also suitable for other Keto diets and Primal Blueprint.

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 Volume 8! You’ll LOVE these delicious recipes, so order your cookbooks from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.   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. 🙂

VARIATION:  Make your favorite low-carb pie crust and fill with this mixture for a pie and recalculate adding in for the crust carbs.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. frozen strawberries, thawed and drained of juice

3 oz. softened cream cheese

2/3 c. sour cream

1 c. heavy whipping cream

liquid Splenda (or sweetener of choice), to taste (about 10 drops)

DIRECTIONS:   Soften cream cheese on a paper plate either in microwave or at room temperature.  Place into food processor bowl.  Add the drained berries, sour cream and Splenda.  Process until smooth.   In a separate bowl, whip the cream until it forms soft peaks.  Scrape the strawberry mixture onto the whipped cream and fold the two together until well-blended.  Taste and adjust sweetener to taste.  Spoon equally into 6 serving mugs, ramekins, or dishes of choice.  Chill for 1 hour and serve.  This will firm up when the cream cheese re-chills.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 6 servings (approx. 1/2 c.), each contains:

253 calories, 25 g fat, 5.93 g carbs, 0.76 g fiber, 5.17 g NET CARBS, 2.83 g protein, 71 mg sodium

 

 

Peach Melba

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.

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 other talented cooks (myself included) to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Order your 10-volume set TODAY for special discounts! (also available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

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:

Blackberry Ice Cream

I created a delicious low-carb blackberry ice cream I think you’ll love!  I would start our 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 and stop when just right approach is safest.  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 a WIN!  🙂  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 blueberry or blackberry 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; 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

 

Garlic Dinner Rolls

My Mozzy Dough, somewhere between the Flathead Pizza Crust recipe on the Diet Doctor’s website and Jennifer Eloff’s Miracle Dough recipe, makes excellent dinner rolls.  Delicious hot with butter!  Also good split, toasted with melted butter brushed on the tops and a sprinkle of Italian herbs and Parmesan cheese.  Makes delicious toasted garlic bread!  This dough has good elasticity, flavor and is so versatile.  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

1 small clove garlic, minced

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.

CORRECTED NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes enough for a 9″-10″ pie-crust with lovely fluted edge, 4 hand pies, 12″ pizza crust or 6 dinner rolls which have 6.26 net carbs each if made/cut into 6 portions.

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)

 

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

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

Cranberry-Orange Ladyfingers

WOW!  My readers 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, a round flat circle you will cut into 12 scone wedges or a single cake using a loaf pan.  These are not suitable for Atkins Induction on several levels.  They are suitable for Phase 2 and above and Keto diets as well.

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.  Order your 10-volume set TODAY as there is a special sale right now! (also available individually) from Amazon or special prices at: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

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 dissolved in the warm water above

½ c. cranberries (fresh or homemade sugar-free dried)

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 round circle about 1/2″ thick for scones.  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 loaf, 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 portions (whatever shape you make), each contains:

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

Chocolate Blueberries

Chocolate Blueberries

There’s no law says you have to do 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.

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 each of the 5 volumes! Order your set TODAY! (also available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

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 siting 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

 

Chocolate Delights

 I saw a recipe for chocolate/coconut candy this week and got the idea to come up with a similar sweet that packed a little more fiber and nutrients.  My mother-in-law used to make a similar no-bake candy, but hers had rolled oats in it.

This recipe is not suitable for Induction, but you may enjoy it once you get to the seed/nuts rung of the Atkins Phase 2 OWL carb-reintroduction ladder.

INGREDIENTS:

1/3  c. coconut, unsweetened, toasted in oven first

4 T. melted butter

24 drops liquid Splenda or liquid stevia (or to taste)

1 tsp. erythritol

4 T. cocoa powder, unsweetened

2 T. roasted pumpkin seeds

2 T. sunflower seeds

VARIATION:  Adding chopped nuts of your choice would be a nice touch as well, but be sure to add that to your nutritional info if you add nuts.  If you are in maintenance, a few finely chopped raisins added to this recipe is very good, say 2-3 tablespoons.  Be sure to recalculate macros if you make any changes.

DIRECTIONS: Toast coconut in 350º for about 5-8 minutes.  As ovens vary, check often lest you burn it.  In medium bowl, melt the butter in microwave.  Stir in cocoa powder and erythritol, stirring until smooth.  Add coconut and all remaining ingredients and blend well.  Drop onto parchment paper, silicon mat or plate, piling into six clusters.  Place in freezer for 15 minutes to set up.  ENJOY!  Store leftovers in refrigerator or freezer.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 6 servings.  Each serving (as written) contains:

133 cals, 13.1g fat, 3.97g carbs, 2.03g fiber, 1.94g NET CARBS, 3g protein, 32 mg sodium

Apple-Caramel Snack Cake

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

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

Miniature Black Forest Cake

This has been my signature dessert for many years but of course, in it’s larger incarnation, so it would serve a crowd for dinner.  My original recipe uses real flour and real sugar.  I’ve revamped the  recipe to make it Atkins friendly now, which was quite an undertaking.  First trial wasn’t so good actually.    I’d be lying if I said this final version is as good as the original sugar-flour version. But this is a close facsimile in appearance and flavor in my and my husband’s opinion.  It may yet undergo further “fine-tuning”.

This dessert is surprisingly light, so don’t be fooled by it’s rich appearance.  It is always well-received when I serve this to guests.   This is not a terribly sweet dessert, neither the original cake nor my low-carb version.  So you may want to do some tasting for sweetness along the way in case this isn’t sweet enough for you.

There are four layers of cake and three different filling layers so it really takes a bit of effort to put together from start to finish. But none of the steps are particularly difficult nor do they require unusual ingredients.  It just takes some time and time for the flavors and Kirsch to mellow.  As you blow your daily sweetener limit on this, and it’s a bit carb pricey, I usually only do this dessert for VERY special occasions. 🙂  This dessert is not suitable until you reach Maintenance/Goal weight due to the higher carbs.

We don’t entertain as much as we used to and just for the two of us, I don’t like to make my full-size Black Forest Cake .  But on Valentine’s Day and my husband’s birthday, and sometimes for our Wedding Anniversary, I will do this very special somewhat carb-pricey cake as it is his very favorite dessert.   This recipe is not suitable until the legumes rung of OWL as I use my favorite black bean chocolate cake recipe by Lauren over at the Healthy Indulgences blog  . Lauren’s cake is actually better than the original cake modified  🙂 One of the best low-carb chocolate cakes I’ve come across to date.

For this mini Black Forest cake, I make up one whole recipe of the cake, which makes 3 small round 5″ cakes.  I use two for this recipe and reserving the third cake for some other dessert use (or freeze it).

I have carefully calculated only 2/3 of the nutritional values on cake for the serving nutritional information below.   Of course, you can attempt to cut this into 5 or 6 servings and lower the carb count, but I forewarn you cutting this cake into smaller pieces is extremely difficult given its height.  You could also substitute Eden Black Soy Beans pureed and lower the carb count considerably, but the flavor and texture of the cake will change a bit.

DIRECTIONS: 

STEP I –  Cherry Filling:The day before needed, mix the following cherry filling ingredients in small saucepan except for the xanthan gum.  Cook over medium heat stirring, adding xanthan gum in several light dustings, stirring well after each addition of xanthan gum.  This is to avoid lumps in the thickener.  I go for medium thick on this filling.  Refrigerate overnight.  If you got it too thick, not to worry.  That’ll never be noticed in this cake.  Stir it up to loosen the sauce before applying to cake.

CHERRY FILLING INGREDIENTS:

1/2 can red sour cherries in natural juice, drained, saving liquid
1/4 c. of the reserved cherry liquid
liquid sweetener to = 1/4 c. sugar (I used 1½ tsp. Fiberfit)
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum
1 T.  Kirschwasser liqueur (cherry brandy)
few drops red food coloring
1/4 tsp. almond extract

STEP II – Chocolate Mousse: The day before cake is being served, prepare the chocolate mousse.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE INGREDIENTS:

1 T. cocoa

½ pkg. (1 tsp.) unflavored gelatin

1 egg, beaten

1 c. total heavy cream

4 tsp. total granular Splenda (or 4 tsp. sugar equivalent of other sweetener)

½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 T. Kirschwasser

Combine the cocoa with gelatin, the beaten egg and ½ c. of the heavy cream in a saucepan.  Heat to boiling over medium heat and then remove from heat.  Add 2 tsp. granular Splenda and Kirschwasser and stir well.  In a separate bowl, whip the other ½ c. heavy cream until very thick and add remaining 2 tsp. of Splenda and the vanilla. Spoon a little of the whipped cream into the cooling chocolate mixture and stir to temper the chocolate a bit.  Now pour the chocolate mixture into the rest of the whipped cream and fold the two mixtures into each other until smooth.   Taste for sweetness and add liquid Splenda to your taste.  Chill the mousse overnight or for a couple hours for flavors to mellow.  Remove from fridge a bit ahead of applying to cake in case it is too stiff.

STEP III – The Cakes: The day you plan to serve, early in day, bake your cakes. I say early, because this cake needs to be assembled for at least 2-4 hours for the kirsch to soak into the bottom layer of cake.  Preheat oven to 325º.  I use this small silicone pan to bake my cakes which requires no greasing (pictured below).  But 5″ quiche pans would work for this.   Be sure to grease your pans well, and wax-paper the bottoms, too if not using silicone pans.   This batter recipe will make 3 cakes this size, however only two of the cakes are needed to make this dessert.  Save the third cake to frost for snacks or for some other use.

CAKE INGREDIENTS: (Yes, this is Lauren of Healthy Indulgence’s chocolate cake recipe……the best!)

20 oz. black beans, drained and rinsed (I just use one 15 oz. can)

5 large eggs

1 T. water

1 T. vanilla (yes, that much!)

¼ tsp. salt

6 T. unsalted butter, softened

3/4 c. erythritol, powdered

2 pkts. stevia

6 T. unsweetened cocoa powder

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 325º.  Process the erythritol to a powder (if you buy granular like me).  Add the drained, rinsed beans, soft butter, vanilla, eggs and water and process until all is smooth.  Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl and add to the mixture in the processor.  Pulse a few times to blend batter well.  Of course, this can be done with an electric mixer.  Spoon batter equally (This is really important) into the three pans.  They will be approximately 3/4 full, but don’t worry, mine did not overflow.  Place pans on a cookie sheet if using silicone pans.  If using metal pans, be sure your oven shelf is level and level pans with a skewer or metal coat hangar if need be, as cake batter needs to be level in the pans.  Bake at 325º for about 30 minutes.  Ovens vary so check and if still soft in the center, bake another 10 minutes or so. The cakes are done when dry to the touch and set in the center.  Toothpick will test dry in the center as well.  Remove from oven and completely cool before attempting to remove from the pans.

STEP IV – FINAL ASSEMBLY  AND FROSTING:

Whip 1 c. heavy cream and add ½ tsp. vanilla and a few drops of liquid Splenda, or to taste.  Set aside while you cut the cakes.

Gently tip cakes out of pans.  Set one cake onto serving plate.  With a long-bladed serrated knife, with a gentle motion, carefully cut laterally each cake into two thin layers as even as you can get them.  Gently lift top layer off this first cake with BOTH hands slipping fingers toward center of cake to support it and prevent it breaking in half.  (I have a piece of square of sheet metal I slide under the cake to support it while moving to prevent breakage).  Gently set this layer on the counter until needed.

On bottom layer of cake, spread the cherry filling.  Carefully lift and place next thin layer of cake on top.  Now spread the chocolate mousse on top of that layer evenly.  Slice second cake in similar manner as you did the first.  Gently lift and add the third layer of cake on top of the stack.  Spread with a ½ ” of whipped cream.  Place the final layer of cake on top and now ice the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream, spreading evenly on sides and top so no chocolate cake or fillings are visible.   Dust top of cake with shaved chocolate and sling a little also on the sides.  If it falls all over the serving platter, that just makes the presentation prettier in my opinion.  If you have one, place a whole maraschino cherry with stem and a sprig of mint in the center of the cake for visual impact.

Chill well (at least 2 hours) covered with a dome or inverted soup pot.  Cut cake into four quadrants/servings.  Enjoy!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 4 adult servings, each contains:

450 cals, 28.95g fat, 24.32g carbs, 5.85g fiber, 18.47g NET CARBS (Cut into 5-6 servings to lower), 17 g  protein, 549 mg sodium

If interested in cutting into smaller servings to pull down the numbers, the entire cake has 1764 calories, 115.4g fat, 97.2g carbs, 23.4g fiber, 73.8g net carbs, 66.92 g protein and 2196 mg sodium.  So cutting into 5 pieces lowers each serving to 14.76g net carbs; cutting it into 6 pieces lowers each serving to 12.3g net carbs.  I repeat, however, it will be difficult to cut the slices this small without them falling apart on you upon slicing.  That’s one reason I always do the bigger cake version for company. 🙂

Mini 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:  Make a recipe of this frosting and use 1/2 of it to frost this small cake.  Refrigerate or freeze the remaining half for other uses.  Exactly 1/2 of the recipe has been calculated in the nutritional info below.

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.

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.  I double a small cake recipe so there are few leftovers.   This kind of portion control works best for me.  😉   Below is a photo of the silicone pan I use, but any large muffin or shortcake pan works:  This recipe is not suitable until you reach the grains level of Phase 2 Atkins.

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

Strawberry German Pancake

Who says you have to make stuffed, savory dishes with spaghetti squash?  Instead make a fluffy dessert pancake!

This is my low-carb version of a very old recipe my Mom used to make with peaches.  Mine has less egg in it than is typical (I’m not too fond of eggs). This came out delicious and my husband, who dislikes all things I serve him with spaghetti squash, could NOT tell it was even in this creation!  Don’t ya just love when you can fool someone’s taste buds that way?  🙂 Unable to find my old recipe, I just started without one.  I first cooked the squash and forked out 1 c. of the threads for this recipe, storing the rest in the freezer for another use.   Then I started throwing things on top of that into the bowl.   Sometimes the ingredients just click!  🙂  This is not suitable until the berries rung of the OWL ladder.  Anyway, I think you’ll like this should you decide to give it a go.

VARIATION:  Use fresh peaches and sugar-free peach jam instead of the strawberries. (will be higher carbs however)

INGREDIENTS FOR PANCAKE: 

1 c. cooked spaghetti squash threads

1 oz. cream cheese

2 T. butter, unsalted

2 beaten eggs

1½ pkt. Truvia sweetener, or equivalent sweetener of your choice

2 tsp. DaVinci Vanilla sugar-free syrup (or ¼ tsp. vanilla extract)

2 T. golden flax meal  (or 2 T. almond flour, or 1 T. coconut flour)

1 T. sugar-free strawberry preserves

3 oz. sliced strawberries

WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING:  1/3 c. cream, whipped.  Add 1/8 tsp. vanilla & 3 drops liquid sweetener. Stir.

DIRECTIONS:  Microwave on HI a seeded spaghetti squash half cut-side down in ½” water for 13-15 minutes.  Fork out 1 c. of the threads into a mixing bowl.  Store the rest in your fridge or freezer for another use.  Preheat oven to 350º.  While squash threads are still hot, mix in cream cheese and butter to melt.  Stir well.   Add eggs, sweetener, DaVinci syrup, flax meal and sliced strawberries.  Stir well.  Pour into buttered pie plate or quiche dish.  If you prefer a perfect circlar appearance, pour into buttered individual 4″ round mini pie/cake pans.  Bake at 350º for about 20-25 minutes (only 15 min. for smaller round ones) or until center is set.  Remove and cool almost completely (top layer cannot be even warm really, but bottom one will still be) or the whipped cream topping will melt and be a runny mess, spoiling visual appearance greatly.  Cut into quarters and carefully lift 1 quarter out onto each of 2 serving plates.  Spread half the strawberry preserves on each in a thin layer.  Place another quarter of the pancake nicely on top and top with half the whipped cream topping.  Serve at once and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 2 servings each containing:  (calculated using flax meal):

356 calories, 29 g  fat, 12.5 g  carbs, 4.85 g  fiber, 7.65 g  NET CARBS, 10.5 g  protein, 217 mg sodium

 

Individual Raspberry Cream Cake

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)

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

Pineapple-Pecan Cookies

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.

Chocolate Shell

This recipe is ideal for making a chocolate shell for ice cream bars and a variety of chocolate candies.  The sky is the limit on how it can be used for candy making, including multi-layer candies.  Pictured above are bite-size sweets made with (left) peanuts, (center) coconut-pecan, and (right) almond-dried cranberries.  Since what you add to your chocolate will vary, the nutritional information will vary.  Therefore I am providing just the counts for the chocolate coating mixture.  you will then have to add the nuts or fruits you add to each piece for an accurate count. This recipe is chilled to set, but it keeps at room temperature for a fairly long period, so you can serve these creations at parties without fear they will melt on the plate. Just pop any leftovers back in the fridge for longer term storage.  They should freeze OK, too.  🙂

This recipe is suitable (as written) for all phases of Atkins.  Once you reach Atkins Phase 2 OWL, you can add nuts, coconut meat, fruit bits or whatever is allowed on your eating plan to your candies.

INGREDIENTS FOR CHOCOLATE SHELL COATING:

1 c. sugar free chocolate chips (I use Hershey’s)

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:  Set silicone candy molds on a sheet pan.  Place your nuts, coconut, or fruit bits into each of 48 silicone candy form cups.  Next, in double boiler or a small saucepan over another pan containing boiling water, melt the butter and coconut oil.  Add the square of chocolate and melt slowly.  Add the chocolate chips, stirring constantly so the chocolate will stay smooth.  It should make a smooth, silky (not lumpy) chocolate sauce.  Dip 1 tsp. of sauce onto each candy mold slot.  There should be enough to do all 48 slots.  Then go back and put any remaining sauce as equally on the 48 candies as possible, using it all up.  The chocolate will run down around the nuts/fruit and make a solid piece of candy once chilled.  If making a smaller batch, refrigerate (or freeze) any leftover sauce in a zip plastic bag for future use.  Pop the sheet pan into the refrigerator for about 15-30 minutes.  When the chocolate is hard to the touch, pop ’em out from the bottom and ENJOY!  The chocolate will not totally melt if at room, but don’t leave them out for hours.  The chocolate WILL melt under the heat of your fingers if held too long.

NUTRITIONAL INFO FOR SAUCE:  Makes about 1¼ cups or 20 T. (60 tsp.).  This will be enough for 48 1″ candies.  Each tsp. contains:

19 calories, 1.79 g  fat, 0.55 g  carbs,0 .21 g fiber, 0.34 NET CARBS, 0.20 g  protein, < 1 mg. sodium