Keto Low Carb Bread

I have been tinkering with a recipe lately inspired by a few ideas and recipes I have seen on the internet. One is by Maria Emmerich protein-sparing-wonder-bread, Brenda’s recipe Low carb Cloud Bread Loaf and the other is a low carb flour recipe developed by Carol Dawn on PSMF group on Facebook PSMF diet group. To find her posts you can search for Carol Dawn. Carol is very generous, sharing all of her creations and knowledge with the members. I love this group because it is so encouraging and drama free.

The first bread by Maria had a great texture but I choked on it unless it was slathered with butter or peanut butter, Brenda’s loaf is much better at Sugar Free Mom but I like the idea of lower fat as well as higher protein I put the three ideas together and added a twist of my own, made a few modifications for ease and this is what I have come up with. 

Recipe for Bread

3 eggs separated (2 for lower fat content)

8-10 ounces Liquid Egg Whites added to separated egg whites to make up 12 ounces total

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar 

Set aside the yolks.

Combine egg whites and cream of tartar in a stand mixer and beat until stiff peaks

Dry ingredients

1/8 Cup Sweetener (optional and to taste)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon oat fibre

1/8 cup coconut flour

3 tablespoon flax meal

1 tablespoon psyllium husk powder

1 Cup Egg White Protein Powder. I use the one from Now foods or the No Yolking brand *

Instructions

Mix all dry ingredients together.

Fold dry ingredients into beaten whites and add the yolks that were set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 F

Separate the eggs yolks from the whites and set aside. Add the egg whites to a 2 cup measure and top up with liquid egg white to make 12 ounces or 1 1/2 cups. Add the egg whites and cream of tartar to a mixer (I used my stand mixer with the whisk head) and beat on high with whisk attachment until stiff peaks form. 

Fold in the dry ingredients and egg yolks with a spatula being careful not to lose too much air.

Prepare a glass 5x9 loaf pan by lining the bottom and sides with parchment. This can be done by wetting a large piece of parchment and scrunching into a ball. Then lay it out and pat dry before lining the pan.

DO NOT SPRAY THE PAN! Meringue hates oil and your loaf will fall.

Using a spatula, transfer the mixture into the prepared pan while making sure to fill any air pockets. 

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes and then turn off oven and leave loaf in oven to continue cooling for another 30 minutes.

 Remove from oven and let loaf cool completely in the pan.

Once cooled you can remove from the pan by lightly pushing the loaf away from the rim and sliding a flat knife between the loaf and the pan to pop it away from the sides. the piece of parchment paper should pull away from the loaf easily.

I sliced my bread into 12 pieces.  which works out to about 73 calories, 9.9 grams protein, 1.5 grams carb and 2.1 grams fat. 

***Please note that Maria suggests allulose for the sweetener in her bread but, again, like her recommendation to grease the pan, I disagree. Meringue does not like allulose so I recommend just a stevia/erythritol blend. I make my own sweetener by blending 1 cup erythritol with 1/2 teaspoon stevia extract powder. I whip it up in my magic bullet and then store it in an air tight jar for measuring out later. I usually make up the entire bag of erythritol with the amount of stevia extract powder needed so it is ready when I bake to just measure out. I use it cup for cup like sugar.

Enjoy!

© 2021DIANE ROLFE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Keto Egg White Ice Cream

So today a light went on in my head. Something that doesn’t happen too often these days with covid-19 stress and lockdown limiting my interactions. I have been seeing posts about ice cream made with egg whites. Everyone seems to be on the PSMF (Protein Sparing Modified Fast) kick these days like they invented it themselves. It’s been around for decades and there are plenty of good Facebook groups to share recipes and guide you on your journey. This is one of my favorite pages, PSMF (Protein Sparing Modified Fast). The people in the group are helpful and share recipes without conditions.     

Anyhow I did a little google search and came up with a simple recipe that I could modify to make keto. To make it Protein Sparing just use a fat free sour cream or yogurt. It was in All Recipes, was a whopping 4 ingredients and so easy to ketofy. I doubled it, of course because summer is right around the corner. This is the original recipe Granny’s Ice Cream You can make it as low fat as you want but for my first attempt I used full fat sour cream because that's what I had in my refrigerator. 

 

Recipe

1 Cup Liquid egg white (or 8 egg whites from pasteurized eggs)

1 1/3 Cups Sour cream or plain Greek Yogurt (use fat free for PSMF)

2/3 Cup swerve or other erythritol blend (I used 1/3 cup of allulose and the rest an erythritol/stevia blend)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Flavorings or fruit as desired.

In a large metal or glass mixing bowl beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the sweetener and vanilla and continue beating until soft peaks form. Fold in the Sour cream or yogurt until well blended and then add any additional flavors or ingredients you would like.

Scoop the mixture into a freezer friendly container that has a lid and freeze for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes to keep it from crystalizing.  

You can use 2/3 cup of an erythritol sweetener or you can substitute some for Allulose like I did. Allulose helps keep it a soft easy to scoop texture.

Note: I found it too sweet the first time I made this so I have adjusted the sweetener amount  

My full fat version was:

 90 cal, 3.8g protein, 2.1gnet carbs, 7.4g fat.

Fat free version made with fat free Greek yogurt was:

 38 cal, 6.8g protein, 2.0g net carbs, 0g fat

You should always input your own ingredients to calculate the macros of a recipe since we all use different brands.

Hope you all have a safe and healthy summer, enjoy!

LOW CARB CARROT CAKE CHEESECAKE CAKE

My sister Susan sent me a recipe for Carrot Cake Cheesecake Cake over a year ago and I have been meaning to try and ketofy it so that I try it. I made the original full carb  recipe in August for my son's birthday and got rave reviews. One of my friends asked me if I could make it for her husband's upcoming birthday but Gluten free. Since keto is by nature Gluten free and I will be there to enjoy the cake I decided to finally make a low carb version. I dabbled with the recipe prior to making the full keto version and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I hope you enjoy it.

Note :For my sweetener I make my own by blending 1/2 teaspoon Stevia extract powder (the concentrated one) with 1 Cup of erythritol. This sweetens like one cup of sugar. You can use swerve or monk fruit if you prefer. I think it is best to use a sweetener that you are accustomed to because you can make or break a recipe with a sweetener.

Recipe for Cheesecake Layer
2 packages cream cheese, room temperature (250 grams or 8 ounces each)
3/4 Cup sweetener (see note above)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large eggs at room temperature
1/4 Cup sour cream
1/3 Cup Heavy whipping cream (35%)
Preheat the oven to 325 F and move the oven rack to a lower rack. Fill a large roasting pan with about 1 inch of water and place in oven.
Prepare a 9 inch spring form pan by lining the bottom with parchment paper. and wrap the bottom exterior with tin foil to protect ant water from seeping in. Beat the cream cheese and sweetener together until smooth and well combined.
Add the salt and 2 eggs and beat again until smooth.
Finally add the sour cream and heavy whipping cream and beat until fluffy. About 2 minutes. You want the cream to thicken a bit.
Pour into prepared pan and place in the water bath inside the oven.
Bake for 45 minutes and then shut off the oven and leave for another 30 minutes.
Remove to wire rack and allow to cool for about 30 minutes before removing the side.
Place cake in freezer before you try to remove the base and parchment from the bottom or it may turn into a big sloppy mess.(speaking from experience.) while this is in freezer you can prepare the carrot cake layers.

Recipe for Carrot Cake Layers

2 Cups sweetener (see note above)

1/2 Cup butter softened

8 Large eggs at room temperature

3 Cups Almond flour

1/2 Cup Whey Isolate Protein Powder

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 Cups grated carrots

1/2 Cup sour cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F and place oven racks to center of oven.

Prepare 2 x 9 inch cake pans by lining with parchment paper and spraying with avocado oil spray or coconut oil spray.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sweetener until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well incorporated. Add the sour cream and beat until combined.

Combine all the dry ingredients except for the grated carrots. Make sure to break up any lumps with your fingers. 

Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat until well combined.

Fold in the grated carrots.

Divide mixture between the two prepared cake pans and bake for about 25 minutes or until tootpick inserted in center of cakes comes out clean,

Cool on pans for 15 minutes before removing to wire racks. Cool completely.

Recipe for Frosting

1 cup Mascarpone Cheese

1Cup Heavy whipping cream (35%)

1/4 Cup Sweetener

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract.

In a large bowl beat the cream and sweetener until almost whipped then add the Mascarpone and Vanilla and continue beating until stiff.

To assemble the cake place one layer of the carrot cake on a cake plate. Place the cheese cake layer on top and add the second Carrot cake layer.

Frost the tops and sides with the Frosting and decorate as you wish. I used Pecans and candied carrot curls for this cake but you can also use chopped pecans or walnuts, as you wish. 

The carrot curls on this cake are not low carb so I wont eat them but the cake is for someone Gluten free. If it were for myself then I would just use the pecans.

There are approximately 7 net carbs per slice it you cut it in 16 pieces but this cake is very rich and you could easily cut it in 20 for a 6 net carb count.

Enjoy!

Low Carb Zucchini Muffins

 I had zucchini's from my garden sitting on my counter top all week and there were more ready in the garden so I decided to make some muffins. I like the idea of a grab and go snack rather than a loaf so I fiddled around with my muffin recipe and came up with these delicious little gems. Hope you enjoy the recipe. 

Recipe

Dry ingredients 

4 Cups almond flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Cup sweetener

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Combine dry ingredients and set aside

Wet ingredients 

6 Eggs

1/2 Cup sour cream or Greek yogurt

1/2 Cup butter melted and cooled

1 tablespoon vanilla

3 Cups shredded zucchini

Beat together the wet ingredients Except for the zucchini, until well combined.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat until smooth. 

Finally add the 3 Cups shredded zucchini mixing until well incorporated.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Line a muffin tin with paper or silicone liners and fill 3/4 full. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes Or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean . I baked mine for 22 minutes.

Makes 24 muffins 2.6 net carbs per muffin.

Enjoy

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

As we all hunker down in our homes to avoid contact with the Covid-19 virus it seems that baking is one way to pass the time. Now that the majority of my family has adopted a low carb life style the treats I safely froze away for myself for special occasions are disappearing.
Today I decided to throw together a muffin recipe, a little different than my previous recipe but I like variety. So here is my latest recipe.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

RECIPE
Dry ingredients to combine:
1 1/2 Cups Almond flour
1/2 Cup Coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds
Zest from 1 lemon
Ingredients to beat together:
3/4 cup butter softened
1 Cup granulated sweetener (or equivalent to 1 Cup sugar)
4 eggs
1/2 cup cashew milk
Juice from 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350F and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
Beat butter and sweetener until well combined. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and beat well. You want the sweetener to dissolve well.
Add dry mixture to wet mixture and beat just until mixed.
Divide batter between the 12 muffin cups.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Makes 12 muffins, approximately 3 net carbs each.

Keto Sucre à Crème

I decided that I should give a good old fashioned French Canadian tradition a sugar free face lift this Christmas in honor of my fellow Québécois (and former Québécois) who are trying to follow a keto/low carb lifestyle through the holiday season. I only made a small batch because it is very rich.

Recipe 

1/2 Cup Allulose

1/2 Cup brown sugar substitute (Like Sukrin Gold or Swerve brown sugar)

80 ml 35% cream

1/2 Cup butter

1 Cups Swerve icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon Xanthan

Prepare a small square pan by lining bottom with parchment paper. I used a 6.5 x 6.5 pan because that’s what I had. If you double the recipe you can use a 9x9. Set aside.
Sift 1 Cups of Swerve icing sugar and set aside. Make sure the Xanthan gum is also measured and ready.

In a large, heavy bottom sauce pan melt the butter, Allulose, brown sugar substitute and 35% cream stirring until it boils.Once it has come to a rolling boil stop stirring and let boil for 3 1/2 minutes. You can scrape sides but it does not need much stirring. You should see the color turn to a dark amber. 

Remove from heat after the 3 1/2 minutes and add the 1 Cup sifted Swerve icing sugar and evenly distributed the 1/4 teaspoon Xanthan gum while whisking vigorously.You don't want to dump the Xanthan in or it will form a clump and you want silky smooth fudge.
Once the mixture is smooth, starts to come together and thicken, pour into the prepared pan. Let cool on counter for 15- 20 minutes and then refrigerate for about 2 hours before cutting into squares. You may find it easier to score the fudge after about 15-30 minutes in the fridge. It may make the cutting easier when the fudge is fully cooled.

Enjoy!

Low Carb Mini Turtle Cookies

My dear friend Gayle whom I have known nearly 50 years has decided to give the low carb way of life a shot. She has had a rough couple of years health wise and is hoping to reduce the inflammation. I am so very proud of Gayle. She is a fighter and a winner! She gave up cigarettes, alcohol and now sugar! That’s a huge lifestyle change for anyone but much harder when you are a bartender in Florida! One day at a time my friend! I will do my best to love and support you toward your journey of health. So, since Gayle is at the beginning of her journey and still craving a little treat now and then I decided to come up with a little mini treat that she can pop in her mouth for a quick fix.
Enjoy my friend. Love you.

Low Carb Mini Turtle cookies

Recipe

For the base

1 Cup Almond flour

2 tablespoons sweetener

1/4 cup butter Softened

Preheat oven to 350F

Combine the almond flour and sweetener. Mix in the softened butter until it all comes together. 

Spray a mini cupcake pan well with cooking spray, I use the avocado oil one.

Press a small amount of mixture into all 24 mini cupcake forms pressing until firm. Bake for approximately 6 minutes or until they just begin to brown. Relive from oven and cook.

For the topping

1/3 Cup butter

1/4 Cup brown sugar substitute, I use sukrin gold

1/4 Cup white sugar substitute, I make my own by blending 1 Cup erythritol with 1/2 teaspoon stevia extract powder but swerve or Allulose will also work

1/2 Cup 35% heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon Xanthan gum

1 1/2 cups pecan halves

1/4 Cup Lily’s dark chocolate chips