Tag: Monk Fruit

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Cookies (Keto)

On By celestelindIn Crafting2 Comments

I’m in love with peanut butter! Generally I prefer Peter Pan Honey Roast Crunchy peanut butter – but in actuality, I will take almost ANY peanut butter I can get ahold of.

In the grocery stores, you will find prepackaged mixes for peanut butter cookies, by Betty Crocker (I think) – when the kids were little (and I was too!) I would mix these up, add some chocolate chips, and then, get this, roll them in brown sugar before baking. OMGOODNESS whatever was I thinking? (They were delicious!!)

Nowadays I have learned that less sugar is better, but I still crave those cookies! so I had to come up with a keto friendly version. I’ve been stalling, because, you see, I still had a couple of those package mixes in the cupboard; but I finally mixed them up and gave the cookies to my Sunday school kids! They didn’t mind one bit that there was real sugar in them!

So here’s your Recipe:

Ingredients

1/2 cup Monk Fruit
1/2 cup Golden Monk Fruit
1/2cup peanut butter
1/4cup Crisco Butter-flavored shortening
1/4cup butter, softened
1 XL EB egg
1 1/4 cups Almond flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 pkg Hershey’s Sugar-free Chocolate chips

(Easily doubled)

Mix the butter, shortening, peanut butter, Monk Fruit, and eggs until well blended. Add in the almond flour, soda, powder and salt, and mix until smooth, and all dry ingredients have been incorporated in. Toss in the Sugar-free chocolate chips, and mix these in by hand. At this point, you can put the dough in the refrigerator for a couple of hours if you want, or you can start rolling them into balls right away. This makes about 25 fairly large cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350°F. Let them cool long enough so you don’t burn your fingers! They get chewier the next day.

<2gm saturated fats, and 1.2gms carbs/cookie, assuming 25 cookies for the batch

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy!!

Low Carb PumpkinBread

On By celestelindIn Recipes2 Comments

It’s officially pumpkin spice season! Temperatures here in North Florida dipped down into the 60’s (brrr!) and this girl went looking for a cozy blanket and Hot Chocolate! My sweetheart has been saying for a couple of weeks now, “isn’t it time for pumpkin things?” and I kept telling him, “no, no, it’s too hot out!”

Well, it’s time! As you may remember, my recipes are not totally carb free, but are a lower carb version of the foods we love. I won’t bore you with the photos of the mixing bowl and ingredient, because if you follow this blog, by now, you are well aware of what the packages look like. So I will just skip to the recipe. One thing I have to say about the recipe for pumpkin bread that I really love, is that you can basically measure all your dry ingredients with a 2/3 measuring cup! I love doing things in groups of 3 and 6 – my swim workouts seem to always be sets of 300’s or 6 of something, and when I arrange flowers on my cards or cakes, they are generally grouped in sets of 3 as well. (Just call me goofy, won’t be he first time!)

RECIPE

2/3 cup butter flavored Crisco

4 eggs

1-1/3 cup granulated sugar

1-1/3 cup Golden Lakanto Monk Fruit

1 can (15-16oz) Libby’s canned pumpkin, 2/3 cup water

1-1/2 tsp salt. 2 tsp baking soda. 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon. 1 tsp ground cloves. 2/3 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

1-2/3 cups King Arther flour

1-2/3 cups Almond flour

Heat oven to 350°F, grease two 9×5 loaf pans well. Mis Crisco, eggs, Monk fruit and sugar well, until smooth. Mix all the dry ingredients except the nuts, together in another bowl, and gently fold the mixture into the wet mixture, until all is well blended. Finally add the nuts, and then pour into your loaf pans. Bake almost exactly 60 minutes at. 350°, and then turn he oven off and leave the pumpkin bread in the oven another 10-15 minutes to set. Take out of the oven, and cool about an hour, and then flip the pans over so bread is loosened from the pans. Serve warm, or wait and eat at room temperature.

For a special treat, you can also make some sweet cinnamon butter to smear (thinly, because you don’t really need any extra sweetener – but it will make your pumpkin bread almost seem like Cupcakes.

RECIPE FOR CINNAMON BUTTER

8 oz softened butter or margarine

3 Tbsp Lakanto monk fruit (or less)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Stir and mix well, serve on Pumpkin Bread, Banana Bread, or Baked Sweet Potatoes.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy low-carb baking!!

Low Carb Lemony Cake

On By celestelindIn RecipesLeave a comment

This is a spin off from my Keto Cakelets; I simply replaced the almond extract with Lemon extract. I also did not use little cakelet molds but rather a pan with an indentation designed just for fillings.

Recipe
1/3 Cup Milk or Cream
1-1/2 tsp Lemon Extract
2/3 Cup Butter chocolate or Real Margarine
2/3 Cup Lakanto Monk Fruit
3 large EB Eggs
1 Cup Almond Flour
1/4 Cup all-purpose Flour
1-1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp salt

Heat your oven to 350. Mix in the Eggs, Butter and Monk Fruit until smooth.
Add the Cream and dry ingredients, blend until smooth again.
Add in the Lemon Extract, and pour into your prepared pan.
Bake for about 20 minutes at 350° F.

Once the cake is cooled (I squished my warm cake into this heart shaped pan, so that when cooled, it will retain the heart shape) prepare some sugar-free instant pudding with 2 cups cream, and 1/2 cup milk. Spread over the top, and decorate as desired.

Thanks for visiting!

Apricot Almond Dreams – A New Keto Thumbprint Cookie

On By celestelindIn RecipesLeave a comment

I’ve created a new cookie y’all! I’m so excited, and I think you’re gonna love it! These cookies are just a little ray of sunshine!

The taste and texture of this cookie will amaze you – you won’t believe it’s actually low carb and low calorie!

In theory this should make about 40 dreamy little cookies, but it all depends on how big you make the cookie balls.

Start off with a basic butter cookie recipe, altered for keto:

1/2 cup Land O Lakes real margarine
1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco or Coconut Oil
One large EB egg
1/2 cup Zen Sweet Monkfruit
1/2 cup Confectioners (XXX) sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup All Purpose Flour
2 cups Almond Flour
2 tsp Almond Extract
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Smuckers Sugar Free Apricot jam
Almond slices

It’s a little bit fiddly, as I don’t roll the cookie in almond slices, but rather, I arrange them around the jam.
Ready to pop in the oven!

Cream the margarine & shortening & egg. Add sweeteners, salt and blend in well. Add in the AP flour and the extracts, mix about a minute, and then gradually mix in the 2 cups of Almond Flour. Roll into small balls about 2” diameter, and place on a well greased cookie sheet. Then take something about the size of a large marble, to press into the center of each cookie to make a well (yes, like thumbprint cookies!). Now add about 1-1/2 tsp of the sugar-free Apricot jam to each well, and then gently press almond slices around the edges of each cookie. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350°, or until the bottom edges of the cookies are golden. Let them cool 10-15 minutes before removing to a plate.

Yum!

As you get more and more comfortable with the taste, frankly, you can eliminate any AP flour, and use 100% Almond Flour, and you could even drop the amount of Confectioners Sugar to perhaps 1/4 cup, and increase the Monkfruit to 3/4 cup – but remember Confectioners Sugar is already 1/2 the carbs of granulated sugar.

You will have 3-5 grams of carbohydrates per cookies, depending on how large your cookie is, if you follow the recipe exactly.

Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Bread – Lo Carb Style

On By celestelindIn RecipesLeave a comment

As per usual, the mainstays of my recipe include lots of eggs, Lakanto MonkFruit, and finely ground Almond flour. This recipe also requires Xanthen gum, which helps so much with our texture.

My favorite brands
This particular recipe has no nuts, no raisins or craisens. This is a LOW CARB Pumpkin bread. If you really want raisens in your bread, you will be seriously increasing the carb count. A cup of pecans or walnuts, chopped fine, would still be considered Keto, however, and increase your fiber intake.

For those of you who are just joining me, I am determined to lead a low carb lifestyle, without giving up my favorite foods. So I am modifying some of my favorite comfort foods (generally cookies, cake, sweet breads, lol) to be more Keto friendly.

These are fresh out of the oven,
I can almost smell it from here!!

The main caveat or takeaway is to remember that Keto Style baked goods need to be eaten quickly, as they will sink, and three days later, you won’t be interested in eating it any more.

See the texture on this slice, looks just like “normal” pumpkin bread, doesn’t it?! But for now, slather on the butter or cream cheese and enjoy!

Recipe:
6 eggs
2/3 cup butter flavored Crisco or coconut oil
1 cup Monk Fruit
1 cup Golden Monk Fruit
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 can (16 oz) packed pumpkin
1/2 cup water
2 tsps baking soda
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
One Tbsp Xanthen Gum,
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
2 cups almond flour
1-1/3cups all purpose flour

Heat oven to 350°. Grease pans (9×5”), mix shortening, sweeteners, leavening, salt and spices. Add in pumpkin. Blend until smooth. Add water, and flour, almond flour, one cup at a time, and mix until smooth. Pour evenly into two pans and bake for 70 minutes at 350°. You can cut it after 20-30 minutes.

Remember to share!
Each loaf has about 13 slices, and each slice has about 25gms carbs each.
So, low carb, but not NO carb.
Be careful, it’s delicious!!

Keto Chocolate Muffins

On By celestelindIn Crafting, RecipesLeave a comment

So this was a bad idea, a very very very bad idea! I was actually surprised by my restraint, in that I only ate two straight away!

I actually wasn’t sure that I could modify the recipe enough to make it work, but like most recipes with cocoa powder, it just requires a little bit more oil. Theoretically this makes 6 muffins. Personally I’d prefer to say just 4, but that would up my carb intake a bit, lol!

As with all keto baked goods, these taste best, pretty quick out of the oven — 20-30 minutes or so. But you could probably suffer, and have any left over, the next day, (and just microwave them for 10-15 seconds). One thing I know for sure, if there are more than 2-3 people in the house, there won’t be any left to eat tomorrow!

Take a look at the texture!

Here is the recipe:

4 EB XL eggs
3/4 cup almond flour & 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup Monk Fruit
3 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
1 tsp Xanthen Gum
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp real vanilla extract, about 1/2 cup sugarfree chocolate chips

Mix the dry ingredients together while the eggs come to room temperature, add in the coconut oil and eggs all at once, and blend in well – the dough will seem gummy or extra sticky, this is normal. Now add in the vanilla & mix again. Finally with a large spoon gently stir in the chocolate chips. Spoon into 12 regular cup cake wells, or 6 extra large ones (my preference, as I plan on eating 2 regular size ones anyway!). Bake 25 -30 minutes at 350.

These beauties only have 11 grams of carbohydrates for each regular size muffin, or 22 grams for the large one I’m going to eat. YUM!

Enjoy!

Keto Birthday Cake

On By celestelindIn CraftingLeave a comment

I wanted cake for my birthday, but didn’t want to “blow the bank”, so I modified a family favorite. It IS cake, and you COULD put candles in it, but we didn’t want to set the house on fire, so….no. Besides, the surface was kinda firm, but could’ve been potentially wobbly!

Start off with one of those cake pans that has an indentation for a filling. (Example shown above)

5 EB XL eggs
1 cup almond flour & 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 4oz baking chocolate, melted
2/3 cup Monk Fruit
4 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
1-3/8 tsp Xanthen Gum (optional, for more dense brownie texture, omit)
1-3/8 tsp Baking Powder
3/8 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp real vanilla extract

Mix all the dry ingredients together while melting your baking chocolate. Blend in the eggs and oil until smooth, and then add the melted baking chocolate last. Pour into well greased pan, and bake about 25 minutes at 350.

While the cake is baking, prepare the fruit topping. Two packages of fresh raspberries, or about 1-1/2 to 2 cups frozen (bring to room temperature). Place in microwave safe bowl with 1/2 cup Monk Fruit, and cook 2 minutes on high. Stir and repeat. Take about 1/2 package of Knox unflavored gelatin, and sprinkle it over a tsp of lemon juice, stir it in, and add it to the raspberries. Cook one more minute on high in the microwave, and then set it aside to cool. It sets very quickly in the refrigerator, if you would like.

When the cake is cool, prepare a small box of sugar-free cheesecake flavored pudding mix with 2 cups whipping cream, and 1/2 cup milk. Whip until fluffy, and spoon into the well of the cake.

Now spoon on the raspberry pie filling. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Voila! (Let them eat cake!)

***Small disclaimer: remember, baked goods which use Xanthen gum taste best in the first 24-48 hours. They sink and become very dense if left for too long, so don’t be ashamed to share your treat with others!

Keto Blackberry Crumb Cake

On By celestelindIn Crafting, Lifestyle, Recipes2 Comments

It’s Summertime! My favorite time of year. Fruit is plentiful in the spring & summer, and I enjoy eating a lot of anti-oxidant rich berries, like Blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. When I first went keto, I didn’t allow myself ANY fruit that summer, except for fruit flavored gelatin, lol! It was a sad, sad summer. The next summer, I just had to have some fruit, and it turns out that most of my favorites are berries, which are much lower in carbohydrates that things like Mangos and Bing Cherries.

Sooo, I’ve been experimenting in the kitchen for the past couple of years, and if I do say so myself, I’ve come up with some really delicious food, that is extremely low in carbohydrates.

In case you are not aware of what to look out for, here is the skinny: no starches. No rice, potatoes, bread or pasta. No corn, and no juice, and even watch some of your fruits, like bananas and mangos – these are seriously high in frucose, which of course means high carbohydrates, or what I call a high glycemic index. Grapes, raisens and craisens too (sorry!). Seriously! It’s pretty hard at first, but after 3-4 days your tastebuds & brain get reprogrammed, and it’s all downhill from there.

Today, I’m going to share with you my modified recipe for “Cream Cheese Blackberry Crumb Cake”. Basically, I’ve just substituted Lakantos Monkfruit for the sugar, and replaced half of the flour with almond flour. NO xanthan gum required. You can also make this with raspberries or blueberries to mix it up.

This recipe is so well loved, and made so often at my house, I almost have it memorized. You will need: 

a 9″ springform pan
Filling:
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp Lakanto Monkfruit
8 oz Philly Cream Cheese
One EB egg white
2 packages of fresh or frozen blackberries – enough to cover all the cream cheese filling
Cake:
3/4 cup King Arthur All-Purpose Flour
3/4 Cup Almond Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Lakanto Monkfruit
3/4 cup of Sour Cream (I generally use Breakstones, or Publix brand)
6 Tbsp Land O’Lakes butter or margarine (softened)
One EB egg, and the yolk from the egg used in the filling
One tsp vanilla extract
Topping:
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp Lakanto Monkfruit
1/4 cup King Arthur All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup Almond Flour
3 Tbsp cold butter or margarine

Mix your filling first. In a separate bowl, make the cake batter, starting with the wet ingredients, and blending until smooth, and then adding in the sweeteners, and finally the flours. Pour 1/2 of it into a greased 9″ springform pan. Pour and smooth the filling over the top of the cake. Sprinkle the blackberries over the filling, be generous.

Cut your butter/margarine into the flour and sweeteners for the topping, and then crumble this over the top of your berries.

Bake for about 45 minutes at 350° F. It will appear a big gooey due to the cream cheese, but it will set-up nicely in about 30-40 minutes. You should be able to get at least 8 generous slices. Enjoy!