My birthday was a couple weeks ago and since I love ice cream cakes, my family got me a Cold Stone birthday cake which is a combination of red velvet cake and birthday cake ice cream. It was not low carb, but I’ve been in maintenance so long, I don’t think twice about splurging to celebrate special occasions.
To get back on track after a couple weeks of higher carb eating, I wanted to try baking a low carb red velvet cake. A lot of eggs are required when using all coconut flour, so I chose to use a blend of half Carbquik and half coconut flour. That way, I could reduce the amount of eggs by half.
The result was a cake that tasted very close to a regular high carb one. Next time, I may double the recipe to make a regular two layer cake. Chopped pecans would also be a nice addition to sprinkle on top. This time I kept it simple because I wasn’t sure how it was going to come out.
Red Velvet Cake
¼ cup butter, softened
¾ cup granular erythritol
¼ teaspoon stevia extract powder
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅓ cup Carbquik
⅓ cup coconut flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup plain yogurt
red food coloring
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
¾ cup powdered erythritol
¼ teaspoon stevia extract powder
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Grease 9-inch round cake pan with shortening and dust with cocoa.
Beat erythritol and stevia into butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix in vanilla extract.
In separate bowl, combine dry ingredients (Carbquik, coconut flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt). Beat in half the dry mixture into wet mixture. Then beat in half the yogurt, then the rest of the dry mixture, and then the rest of the yogurt. Mix in red food coloring (I used about 1/4 teaspoon of gel). Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25-30 min. Remove from pan and allow to cool.
To make frosting, beat together cream cheese and butter until well combined. Beat in sweeteners until fluffy. Mix in vanilla extract.
Makes 1 single layer cake (about 10-12 slices)
Net carbs per slice: 2g
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Lately, I have been taking a bit of a break from cooking and baking. I’ve just been feeling hungry all the time and getting by on small snacks. However, I noticed we have a lot of frozen blueberries left in our freezer from last summer’s crop so I need to start making room as blueberry season is only a couple months away. I’ll probably make some regular blueberry muffins for my husband and son today. For me, I made these low carb scones. They aren’t very sweet so others may want to drizzle some sweet glaze on top or sprinkle a little sweetener on each scone before baking.
Blueberry Scones
1 ½ cups almond flour
½ cup coconut flour
¼ cup sugar alternative, I used Swerve
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter, chilled
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
½ teaspoon blackstrap molasses
⅓ cup heavy cream
⅓ cup almond milk
2 eggs
Mix flours, sweetener, baking powder and salt. Cut butter into dry mix. Add blueberries and stir to coat berries. In separate bowl, whip together molasses, cream, almond milk and eggs. Slowly pour wet mix into dry mix and stir just until dough forms. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a ball and flatten into a circle. Cut each dough circle into 6 triangles. Bake triangles for about 15-20 minutes at 375 degree F.
Makes 12 servings
Net carbs per serving: 5g
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Mousse is a great dessert because it satisfies a sweet tooth without being too heavy after dinner. Last year, I made a couple different key lime pies. Both were good, but I don’t always feel like making a pie crust. I thought about just whipping up some of the filling and pouring it into a pie plate. However, since it has been a while since my last blog post, I decided to try a new recipe. This time, I modified a chocolate mousse recipe to use key lime instead of cocoa. I wasn’t sure if using juice in place of cocoa was going to thin out the mousse, so I added three tablespoons of ground lecithin granules to help thicken it. I know that lecithin is often used as a substitute for egg yolks and yolks are used to help thick things like pudding so I gave it a try. The mousse came out light and airy with a great key lime flavor.
Key Lime Mousse
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
¼ cup cold water
⅓ cup boiling water
1 cup low carb sugar substitute (I used liquid sucralose)
1 tablespoon lime zest
3 tablespoons lecithin granules, ground fine
2 cups cold whipping cream
⅔ cup key lime juice
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small bowl; let stand 2 minutes to soften. Add boiling water; stir until gelatin is completely dissolved and mixture is clear. Cool slightly.
Combine sweetener, ground lecithin granules, and sweetener in large bowl; add whipping cream. Beat with electric mixer until mixture is stiff. Pour in gelatin mixture and key lime juice. Beat again until well blended.
Refrigerate at least one hour. Store covered in refrigerator.
Makes 8 servings
Net carbs per serving: < 2g
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Although I have an ice cream maker, I don’t use this machine as often as I should. It’s just too easy to buy low carb ice cream at a local store. However, the flavors available are very limited and I usually settle for plain vanilla as the chocolate typically tastes bad with the added splenda. There are a few gourmet ice cream shops that sell low carb ice cream, but these are seasonal places that are only open during the warmer weather and they are very expensive. Still, the sugar free flavors they offer are typically just vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.
Making homemade ice cream is really easy when using a machine. The only thing is that you have to prepare for it by placing the freezer bowl in the freezer a few days prior so that the gel inside is frozen. Getting bored of the regular vanilla ice cream, I got the machine out of storage and thought of a good flavor to try. Coconut ice cream is something that is hard to find. Locally, I’ve only seen it served in a Chinese restaurant. I still had some homemade hot fudge sauce left over, so this is going to make a great ice cream sundae. Maybe I’ll add some chopped almonds for an Almond Joy sundae.
Coconut Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups unsweetened coconut milk, or almond milk
3 tablespoons granular lecithin, ground to fine powder
¾ cup sweetener, I used Ideal (xylitol/sucralose mix)
⅛ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon coconut extract
1 ¼ c. unsweetened coconut flakes
2 tablespoons glycerin
¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
Blend all ingredients together with an electric mixer. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze per manufacturer directions. Store in a covered container in freezer.
Makes 8 servings
Net carbs per serving: 3.5g
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You may have heard of a meat crust pizza referred to as Meatza. It’s basically a seasoned ground beef mix cooked flat to make a crust then topped off with tomato sauce and cheese. You can add your favorite pizza toppings if you wish. I decided to use tomato slices instead of sauce and added some chopped spinach. If you have a favorite low carb meatball recipe, I’d give it a try for the crust because my crust tasted similar to a meatball. Next time, I may try using pizza sauce and a different, but I thought it was good with the tomatoes and spinach.
Spinach Tomato Meatza Pizza
2 eggs
½ cup parmesan cheese, grated
2 teaspoons Italian seasonings
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 pounds ground beef
2 tomatoes
9 ounces frozen chopped spinach, cooked and drained
2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
Beat the eggs with the parmesan cheese and all seasonings. Add the ground beef and mix until well combined. Spread the mixture onto a large baking sheet with sides (a jelly roll pan works well). The mix doesn’t have to fill the bottom of the pan, I made rounded ends.
Bake for about 20 minutes in a 450 degree F oven. Remove from oven and drain off any grease. Place sliced tomatoes and spinach on top then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Return to oven on a high rack near broiler. Broil until cheese is melted and brown.
Makes 8 servings
Net carbs per serving: 3g
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After several failed attempts at making a low carb yeast bread in my bread machine, I have finally succeeded. Instead of continuing to try things on my own, I went to the internet to find a validated recipe. The Gabi’s World-Famous Low Carb Bread recipe seemed like just the recipe I was looking for. I also used some of Lora’s suggestions in the recipe note by putting the liquids on bottom, the dry mix next, and the yeast sprinkled on top like my bread machine calls for. However, I didn’t turn the dough paddle off like Lora recommends.
My bread machine is the kind that bakes the bread vertically instead of horizontally. With this recipe, I set the machine for a large 1.5 pound loaf with a medium baking control selection. I let the machine run through it’s automatic cycle which took about 3 hours. I have a Welbilt bread machine, model ABM4100T, which I have owned for over ten years. Since going low carb, this machine hasn’t got much use other than for a few low carb bread mixes which tend to be a little pricey. It’s good to know that it is fairly easy to make a low carb yeast bread from scratch in the bread machine. I think one of the reasons for my original yeast bread failures was not measuring the temperature of the water. This time, I made sure my water was between 90-100 degrees F as bread making requires a lot of accuracy in measuring ingredients.
After making the Almond Joy candy bars, I thought I should make another batch without almonds and make them in egg shapes for Easter. Although that was a good idea, I ended up trying a new recipe for homemade Easter candy. I modified the Land O’Lakes buttercreams recipe slightly by using a low carb substitute for powdered sugar and coating the buttercream filling with the same chocolate I used for the Almond Joy bars. The results? OMG! These are the best low carb chocolates I have ever made. I can’t wait to try other flavors.
This recipe is super easy to make. You can make it even easier by just melting down low carb chocolate chips or bars to dip the buttercream filling in. To be honest, the buttercream was so good, I was snacking on it plain. I think a mock Cadbury egg could be made with this filling by using a yellow food dye to color a bit of the filling. All you would have to do is made small yellow “yolks” and then cover them up with the regular white colored filling. Dip the eggs into the chocolate, let set, and voila… a low carb version of the Cadbury cream egg.
Chocolate Buttercreams
¼ cup butter, softened
1 ½ ounces cream cheese, softened
¾ teaspoon flavored extract, (vanilla, orange, maple, lemon, coconut, etc)
2 cups powdered sugar one-for-one substitute, (Ideal, ZSweet, Swerve)
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
1 ounce cocoa butter
3 tablespoons powdered erythritol
⅛ teaspoon stevia extract
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine butter and cream cheese in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until smooth. Add vanilla; continue beating until well mixed. Reduce speed to low. Beat, gradually adding low carb powdered sugar replacement, until well mixed. Place mixture in refrigerator for about an hour (or at least 10 minutes in freezer) so mix is easier to work with. Use spoon or cookie scoop to scoop out even sized balls. These can be shaped into squares, made into egg shapes (for Easter), or any other shape desired. Place shaped filling in freezer while making chocolate coating.
In a chocolate melter or double boiler, melt all chocolate coating ingredients together. Remove the shaped filling from the freezer. Place each on a fork and into melted chocolate until well coated. Wipe excess chocolate off bottom of fork on side of melter and then set on non-stick sheet to harden. Repeat until each is covered in chocolate. Place finished sheets of candy in refrigerator. Let sit at least an hour then remove and place in covered container. Store in refrigerator.
Makes about 20 eggs or balls
Net carbs per piece: <1 g (after subtracting sugar alcohols)
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The weather in Southern New England has been unseasonably warm this March. Last week, we saw temperatures near 80 degrees F. No need to travel south for the typical spring vacation because we can save tons of money and enjoy the summer like temperatures at home this year. All of the early spring flowers are in bloom and more people are out walking the streets and hanging out in the parks. Life is good with the winter weather behind us.
After some unsuccessful attempts at making low carb yeast bread, I ventured into a simpler recipe. With the warm temperatures, I have been snacking on Breyer’s CarbSmart vanilla ice cream. Even our local Walmart store carries CarbSmart ice cream in the frozen food section so it’s something readily available. I make my own whipped cream in an iSi cream whipper so that I can sweeten it with a low carb sweeter like stevia. Whipped cream is usually all I put on my ice cream, but I do like hot fudge sauce when splurging. However, most commercially available low-carb hot fudge sauces either taste bad or have too much maltitol in them. I knew eventually, I would find a homemade sauce that was easy to make.
This is my version of an easy low carb hot fudge sauce that tastes awesome and is easy to prepare. It is a thick fudge sauce that will not just run off the ice cream. I used a mix of erythritol, stevia and xylitol to sweeten the sauce. It was the perfect addition to my low carb vanilla ice cream and sugar free whipped cream.
Hot Fudge Sauce
½ cup butter
3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
1 ¾ cups sugar alternative, more or less to taste
1 7.6 oz can Nestle Table Cream
⅓ cup almond milk
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Stir butter and chocolate over low heat until melted and combined. Mix in cocoa, sugar substitute, table cream, almond milk and salt. Heat slowly until a boil is reached. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Serve warm. Store in refrigerator and reheat small batches as needed.
Makes about 2 cups of sauce
Net carbs per 2 Tablespoon serving: 2g
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There are several recipes for homemade Almond Joy Candy Bars that I’ve found on the internet. A couple are low carb versions. I’ve had my eyes on these for quite some time. As always, I like to tweak things in the recipes I find to make it my own.
This is my version of the famous chocolate covered coconut with almond candy bar. Most regular sugar recipes use sweetened condensed milk and I’m sure this makes for a chewy bar. I’m not sure how this chewy coconut center can be done without real sugar. However, the unsweetened coconut does hold together well with table cream and liquid sucralose. Although I didn’t try this with a erythritol and stevia blend for the coconut mixture, I’m sure the cream will still hold the coconut center together.
The hardest part to making this recipe is staying away from these candies once they are finished and stored in the refrigerator. I had to hide them in the back so I don’t see them every time I open the fridge. If you love coconut as much as I do and miss eating Almond Joy candy bars, this is a recipe that is well worth your time.
Low Carb Almond Joy Candy
1 7.6 oz can Nestle Table Cream
1 cup equivalent sugar substitute, I used liquid sucralose
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 ½ cups unsweetened shredded coconut
50 unsalted roasted almonds (leave these out to make Mounds candy bars)
Chocolate Coating
8 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, I prefer Ghirardelli 100% Cocao
2 ounces cocoa butter, food grade
6 Tablespoons powdered erythritol
¼ teaspoon stevia extract powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a large bowl, stir together table cream, sweetener, and vanilla extract. Mix in the unsweetened coconut. Using about one tablespoon of coconut mixture each, form into a log and set onto a parchment paper or silicon mat lined baking sheet. Place two almonds on each log (or omit nuts if making Mounds bars). Put baking sheet of logs into freezer while making chocolate coating.
In a chocolate melter or double boiler, melt all chocolate coating ingredients together. Remove the coconut logs from the freezer. Place each coconut almond log on a fork and dip bottom into melted chocolate. Then use a spoon to drizzle chocolate over top and sides until log is completely covered in chocolate. Wipe excess chocolate off bottom of fork on side of melter and then set on non-stick sheet to harden. Repeat until each log is covered in chocolate. Place finished sheets of candy in refrigerator. Let sit at least an hour then remove and place in covered container. Store in refrigerator.
Makes 25 candy bars
Net carbs per bar: 2g
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Since developing the basic quick bread recipe, I have been enjoying all kinds of variations. Although bananas are something many low carbers shy away from, I felt a true banana bread needed this ingredient. A medium banana has about 24g net carbs so adding one of these to the basic quick bread recipe only adds an extra 2g net carbs per slice. These added carbs are definitely worth it when it comes to taste. I have tried using banana extract in place of the real fruit, but it just isn’t the same.
I always have trouble when it comes to baking banana bread. It seems the time needed to fully bake the batter is so long that the outside tends to burn before its done. Therefore, I turned down the oven temperature a little and baked this bread a bit longer. Don’t be surprised if you need more time in the oven. Just keep the bread in until it passes the toothpick test and no longer has any soft areas. Another option is to divide the batter into muffin or donut molds so the baking time won’t have to be so long.
Low Carb Banana Bread
1 medium banana, mashed
½ cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons coconut oil, liquified
8 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅔ cup almond flour
⅓ cup coconut flour
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon stevia extract powder
½ cup granular erythritol
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup chopped walnuts
In medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients (almond flour, coconut flour, xanthan gum, salt, stevia, erythritol, and baking powder). Set aside.
Add mashed banana, butter, coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla extract into a food processor. Process until well blended. Add dry ingredients and process until uniform batter is formed. Mix in chopped walnuts. Pour batter into a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan.
Bake at 325F for 70-75 minutes or until top is browned and toothpick inserted comes out dry.
Makes 12 slices
Net carbs per slice: 5g
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