Snickerdoodles

I am in a cookie mood. I guess the holidays do go hand in hand with always having cookies. Now that I am a Diabetic I feel the need to find low carb options for my cookie cravings. I searched online for many recipes and after checking out the carb count decided which ones were worth my sharing my precious carb count on. Many sounded wonderful but I am not about to use 6 carbs on a single cookie. For this reason I chose Snickerdoodles from this website.

http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2005/10/attempting-low-carb-dessert-recipea.html

I swear that I could not tell the difference between these cookies and the sugar laden cookies that I had before I was diagnosed with Diabetes. These were excellent. The only changes that I made with the recipe was that I used Parchment paper to bake them on. Instead of leaving them in a ball on the cookie sheet I flattened them in my hand to the size of a quarter and then dipped the tops of the cookies in the Splenda and Cinnamon mixture prior to baking.

 LOW CARB SNICKERDOODLES
(from Recipezaar.com, makes 15-20 cookies)

1/2 cup butter at room temperature (1 stick)
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1 cup granular Splenda
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

for rolling cookies:
2 T granular Splenda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

In mixing bowl, beat butter with electric mixer about 30 seconds. Add half almond flour, 1 cup Splenda, egg, vanilla, baking soda, and cream of tartar and blend well with mixer until thoroughly combined. Beat in the rest of the almond flour, cover bowl and chill one hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper. Combine 2 T Splenda and cinnamon in small dish. Shape dough into quarter size circles and dip the tops of each cookie in cinnamon-Splenda mix and put on cookie sheet 2 inches apart.

Bake 12 minutes.

 

Cream Cheese Brownies

I made these last night and am in Heaven. These were the most amazing moist treats that I have experienced since becoming a Diabetic. I have spoken openly about how I have lost 91 pounds now by following Dr. Bernstein’s Complete Diabetic Solution Plan. The best thing about his plan is that I have kept my A1C down and am completely without medication to control my Diabetes. That was my goal the entire time. I feel wonderful.

I highly recommend becoming a part of his community over at his message boards. He has one for recipes and I recently found this recipe there. You do have to be a member to access the recipe but it is free to join. Give it a try. What do you have to lose other than weight and bringing your A1C down?

I found the original recipe here.  http://www.diabetes-book.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1148644552

Since they are not sure who the originator of the recipe was I don’t mind sharing the recipe here. But please check out all of their many other recipes and message boards for support on getting healthy. I am a firm believer in Dr. Bernstein’s plan on controlling your Diabetes.

Low Carb Cream Cheese Brownies

Topping
8 ounces cream cheese  
1/4 cup Splenda  
1 egg  
1 tsp vanilla extract  
In a small bowl, beat cream cheese until extremely smooth & add splenda, add the egg & vanilla extract: mix well. Set aside.
 
 
Brownies  
1 cup butter  
3 tbsp oil
1 1/4 cups Splenda  
2 tbsp vanilla
9 tbsp cocoa powder  
4 large eggs
1 cup ground almond flour  
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
dash salt
 
Oven-350*F
Butter a 9″x13″ pan, set aside.
 
In a large saucepan, melt the butter, oil & chocolate over very low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, cool slightly.
Stir in the Splenda & vanilla.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Stir in almond flour, baking powder & salt; mix well.
Spread into the prepared pan.
Carefully spoon the cream cheese filling over the brownie base; lightly swirl filling to create a pattern. Bake approximately 25 minutes or until set. Test with a toothpick for doneness.
Cool completely then cut into squares.
 
Makes 18 square at 2.6 carbs per square

Coconut Meringue Pie

This pie was very good. I have been enjoying a slice of this after dinner every night this week. The recipe came from two places and was blended together. I found the pie crust at this site and was very pleased with the result. I will be using this pie crust on many different varieties of pies.

 

http://www.lowcarbist.com/2009/04/better-pie-crust/

 

I got the recipe below from a message board. The original recipe came from a lemon meringue pie and someone commented that they converted it to coconut by making a couple of changes. I also made a change to it and believe that this is a very result. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. Remember when making the meringue portion of this that your peaks will not be as high or stiff when you use Splenda but the taste will be just as good. The recipe came from this message board.

 

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/lowcarb-recipe-help-suggestions/612081-craving-coconut-cream-pie.html

 

 

 

Coconut Meringue Pie

6 egg yokes
1 packet unflavored gelatin
1-cup water
1-cup Sugar subs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp butter
1/3 cup unsweetened coconut

1 tsp coconut extract
1/4 tsp salt

In a large sauce pan blend all ingredients until smooth using wire whisk, then turn on the heat. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. Meanwhile cook your crust and allow to cool.

Whip up the 6 egg whites until soft peaks form. Sprinkle with 1 tsp cream of tartar and 1/4 cup Sugar Subs, continue whipping until stiff peaks form.

Pour filling into cooled crust, top with meringue and bake until light brown (400*). Put in refrigerator over night. DO NOT cut this until very very very cold, because you’ll have coconut soup.

 

Low Carb Dark Chocolate and Strawberry Friands

I love this recipe. I found it on an Australian message board for low carbers and had to translate measurements from grams to cups and temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit. The original recipe came from this site.

 

http://www.apinchofhealth.com/forum/vbb/showthread.php?t=6094

 

I had a problem with them sticking in my pan and will try using Pam spray next time instead of my Pampered Chef oil spritzer. I don’t think that I got even enough coverage. I may even try adding the egg whites to the mix prior to the chocolate and strawberries as the recipe suggest.

 

No matter what the recipe was wonderful and even my daughter-in-law enjoyed them. I highly recommend trying them. It was just enough coconut to balance off the strawberries.

 

The chocolate candy bar is very bitter but very low carb. I have gotten used to it over the past few months and love it. The Splenda and other ingredients lessen the bitterness of the chocolate to a degree. Even if you don’t like this chocolate you will probably enjoy this configuration.

 

 

Low Carb Dark Chocolate and Strawberry Friands

Serves 12

½ cup strawberries, chopped or halved
½ cup Lindt Excellence 85% cocoa candy bar, chopped or broken into smallish pieces
1 1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup of coconut flour or other flour of your choice
6 egg whites
1 cup splenda
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter melted, cooled
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease muffin/friand pans.

Mix all dry ingredients together, add vanilla to butter then mix into the flours. Add chocolate and strawberries and then add egg whites.

Spoon into muffin pans evenly and bake in oven for around 25-30 minutes.

 

Almond Pound Cake

Do you recall my sister picking up some baking pans for me a few weeks ago? Well I am finding uses for them and have to share my finds. This pan is a mini loaf pan.

 

 

Isn’t it adorable? I am sure that there are others out there that get excited about cookware. My sister called me yesterday to have me look at Walmart’s website to see a Texas Muffin Pan. I was impressed but believe that I will have to have the castle or train muffin pans to make goodies for Caleb the spectacular grandchild. J

 

I love pound cake and found a website with a recipe that I swear I was unable to tell the low carb from the regular carb laden pound cake. I took the cake to work with me this morning and shared it with my wonderful co-worker Tiffany. She either really loved it or faked it very well. J

 

I tried going back to the website today and for some reason the website was down. I am adding the link to the original but will copy the recipe below just in case the link doesn’t work.

 

http://www.cookingcache.com/lowcarb/almondpoundcakelowcarb.shtml?rdid=rc1

 

 

Almond Pound Cake (Low Carb) Recipe

Ingredients

·                               1 cup butter softened

·                               1 cup Splenda

·                               5 eggs

·                               2 cups almond flour

·                               1 tsp baking powder

·                               1 tsp lemon extract

·                               1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 350°F.

2.     Cream butter and Splenda.

3.     Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each.

4.     Mix almond flour with baking powder; Add to egg mixture a little at a time.

5.     Add extracts.

6.     Pour into 9″ Greased cake pan. (I used mini loaf pan)

7.     Bake for 50-55 minutes. (I baked for 20 minutes)

Comments
8 slices come to about 5.
8 carbs each.
Optional: Serve with whipped cream or strawberries.

Some variations were:

1.     Add cocoa and eliminate the lemon extract for chocolate pound cake.

2.     Add banana extract instead of lemon and some chopped nuts for a banana nut cake.

 

 

3 Layered Sugar Free Jello

 

3 Layered –Sugar Free Jell-O

 

2 small boxes Sugar Free Jell-O, any flavor (0 carb)

3 oz. cream cheese, softened (3 carb)

4 tbsp. heavy cream (1 carb)

 

Directions:

Pour 2 c. hot water over both boxes of Sugar Free Jell-O. Stir to dissolve. Add cream cheese. Beat with a mixer until the cheese is completely mixed in. It will be “frothy.” Stir in 2 cups cold water. Whip 4 tbsp. of heavy cream until stiff. Lightly whisk the whipped cream into the Jell-O mixture. Cover and refrigerate until firm. It will separate into 3 layers. Clear Jell-O on the bottom. A flavored cream cheese layer in the middle. A flavored whipped cream layer on top.

 

Servings: 4

Carbs 1 per serving

Low Carb Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Last week I made Cinnamon Rolls for my husband and it made me want to find a low carb version for myself. I found one and modified it a bit and came up with what is below. I really enjoyed it and it was only 6 carbs per cinnamon roll. I hope that you enjoy these too.  The orginal recipe came from The Low-Carb Comfort Food Cookbook. I think that the original recipe had a bit too much Splenda in the filling for me and I have lowered the amount some.

Low Carb Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

 

½ cup very hot water

3 Tablespoons butter, soft

3 Tablespoons cold water

2 Teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ cup Splenda

1 package rapid rise yeast

1/3 cup unbleached, all-purpose white wheat flour (I use King Arthur Flour only)

¼ cup vital wheat gluten

1 ¼ whole almond meal

½ cup soy protein powder (I use the vanilla flavored available at Walmart)

Pinch of salt

2 Tablespoons soy protein powder for rolling dough

 

Filling

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon (I use McCormick’s Saigon Cinnamon)

½ cup Splenda

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1 Tablespoon butter, melted

 

Preheat oven to 200° for 15 minutes and turn off. Lightly butter a 12-cup muffin pan (heavy guage metal is best) or use muffin liners.

 

Mix cinnamon and Splenda for the filling. Set aside.

 

Put the hot water in the bowl of your electric mixer. I used my Kitchenaide and used the flat beater. Add the butter and stir until dissolved. Add cold water, vanilla extract, Splenda and yeast. Stir, and then wait 5 minutes.

 

Meanwhile, combine the remaining ingredients except for the last 2 Tablespoons of soy protein powder in a mixing bowl and stir. Add to the liquid. Knead the dough in the mixer for about 5 minutes using the flat beater. This is a very soft dough.

 

Put the 2 Tablespoons of soy protein powder on a cutting board and put dough on top of that. Roll out to form a large rectangle. Top with melted butter and then cinnamon/Splenda mixture. Top with pecans. Begin rolling from one end to form a tight roll. Cut into two sections and then each section into 6 pieces.

 

Place into muffin pans and put into warm oven for 35-40 minutes to raise. To bake, set temperature to 325°. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until done. Cool. These rolls freeze well. Thaw at room temperature.

 

 

 

Key Lime Cheesecake

Yesterday was a perfect day. It began with my sister coming to visit and we worked on crafts until about 1:00. Then my son, daughter-in-law and grandson came to visit. Caleb is getting so big. After Stephen took his family home to take naps my sister and brother-in-law and I left to go shopping. Since I have lost 67 pounds now I desperately needed heavy clothes. I have been freezing to death at work. None of my clothes from last winter fit me now.

I found all of my new clothes at Sears. I love that store. Their clothing is very good quality and they don’t charge a small fortune for it either.

When my family was here today I served the Ranchero Onion Burgers (also on this blog) and a new recipe that was absolutely fabulous. Caleb loved it as did all of the Diabetics present. I hope that you enjoy it too.  Usually I like to give credit to whomever created this recipe but when I did a search online for the recipe I found this exact recipe on about 20 websites so I have no idea who created it first. I did make one modification on it and I did use pecans for the crust.

 

Key Lime Cheesecake

 

Ingredients: 3 Tablespoons butter 1/2 cup ground almonds (or walnuts, or pecans) 2 Tablespoons Splenda 1 cup boiling water 1 small box (3 oz) lime sugar free gelatin 2 cup heavy cream 8-oz package Philadelphia Cream Cheese 3 Tablespoons Key Lime Juice 1 cup Splenda For Crust: Melt butter in a pie plate. Press in ground nuts mixed with 2 Tablespoons Splenda. Let chill in refrigerator. Meanwhile, make filling: Mix water with lime sugar free gelatin. Set in refrigerator to partially set up. In a bowl, whip heavy cream. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, key lime juice, and 1 cup Splenda until smooth. Very lightly mix in partially set lime gelatin. Fold in whipping cream. Pour into pie shell. Chill 2 to 3 hours. Top with additional whipped cream if desired. Serves 10 – Carbs per serving: 4.5

Toasted Pecan Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

This is one of my favorite low carb desserts. I made this last night for a big family dinner. I hadn’t made it for a very long time but will definitely be making this more often.

1 1/2 cup pecan halves chopped

18 packets sugar substitute (divided 6 and 12)

2 tbsp of butter, softened

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1 cup of cold water (divided 1/4 and 3/4)

2 pkgs of 8 oz. cream cheese softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate melted and cooled

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter 9″ springform pan (I just use a round cake pan). In med. bowl combine pecans, 6 packets sugar subsitute and butter. With hands, press pecan misture into bottom and 1″ up sides of pan. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Cool completely.

In small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water; let stand 1 minute. Stir over low heat until gelatin is dissolved. With mixer on high beat cream cheese, vanilla and remaining sugar subsitute until smooth. Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in gelatin mixture and remaining cold water until smooth. RESERVE 1 cup cream cheese mixture. Pour remaining mixture into crust.

Place reserved cream cheese mixture back into bowl. With mixer low gradually beat chocolate into cheese mixture. Dollop chocolate mixture on top of cheesecake. Swirl with knife. Chill three hours.