Low Carb Sugar Free Pecan Pralines

September 1, 2016 GF Down Home 4 Comments

Sugar Free Pecan Pralines, are you Even Possible?

Last month my husband and I spent a weekend in Savannah, Georgia. One of my favorite things to do there is take a stroll down River Street. I love to shop, what can I say?

I admit it, I was bad on my trip. Every shop that sold food was throwing free samples at me. And, hey, who am I to turn down free food?

Ok, I probably should have stayed out of the candy shops, because no low carb girl needs to step food in there. But my husband really wanted some candy, so I was a good wife and followed him in. 🙂

Well, they were handing out fresh pralines. OMG, it was so good.

I went through the line.

Twice.

Each of the three times I went through that shop.

I told you I was bad!

I wondered if I could make homemade low carb sugar free pecan pralines that tasted just as creamy and delicious as the ones I ate in Savannah?

Specialty Ingredients Needed to Make Sugar Free Pecan Pralines

Anatomy of Keto Sugar Free Pecan Pralines

I think the blend of the natural sweeteners is what makes these pralines taste like traditional sugar-laden pralines. Natural sweeteners sometimes have an off flavor, but I found that combination of golden monkfruit and sukrin didn’t.

I know a lot of bloggers swear by powdered Swerve, but the off taste and cooling effect is honestly disgusting to me. I refuse to make anything with Swerve. I’ve been using the sukrin melis as a substitute for powdered sugar. Oh my gosh, no cooling and no aftertaste!

You might be wondering what’s in sukrin since you’ve probably never heard of it. Sukrin melis is just a erythritol and stevia blend.

I’ve been using the golden monkfruit as a substitute for brown sugar for a while now. It tastes just like brown sugar! Golden monkfruit also gives the pralines its signature brown color, too.

Traditional southern pecan pralines are made using a candy thermometer. I thought I would need one, too, and then I’m like, duh! My sweeteners don’t have the same chemical properties of sugar. I was surprised I got a nice thick creamy consistency by essentially just reducing the mixture.

A word of warning, these are REALLY sweet. I can only eat one at a sitting, so if you are worried about overeating and ruining your carb count, I think you’ll be good!

Pecan Pralines: The Perfect Low Carb Christmas Candy

BLC (before low carb) I always made some sort of Christmas candy every year. I’ve really missed my homemade candy during the Holidays.

This year I plan on making pecan pralines as a low carb Christmas candy. I will feel like I’m splurging, but at around 5 carbs a piece, I’ll still be sticking to my keto diet!

easy low carb desserts

Gluten Free Low Carb Coconut Pie

April 17, 2016 GF Down Home Leave a comment

Creamy Low Carb Coconut Pie, Yum!

I believe there are two camps of people in the world. Those who like coconut, and those who can’t stand it. I happen to be in the I-couldn’t-live-without-coconut camp. My low carb coconut pie has triple the coconut goodness that will make any coconut lover swoon.

I love to bake, but I’m not always one for spending a bunch of time on an everyday recipe. I think that’s why lately I’ve been turning to icebox pies, like my strawberry cream pie I made a few weeks ago.

This low carb coconut pie is an easy, no bake summer dessert. I wanted a coconut cream pie that was cool and creamy chocked full of coconut. This pie ticks all the right boxes!

How to Make a Gluten Free Crumb Crust

This crust is based on a recipe I saw in an old Kraft magazine that used crushed shortbread cookies, sweetened coconut, and nuts.

The shortbread cookies had to go, but I wasn’t sure what to replace them with. I wanted to keep things simple. I finally decided to settle on using 1/4 cup almond flour in place of the cookies, and organic unsweetened shredded coconut in place of the sweetened coconut.

For sweetener, I used golden monk fruit because it gives the crust a more golden color and I find it doesn’t have a funky aftertaste either.

Pulse the nuts in a food processor until fine. Add the sweetener, coconut, and almond flour. Blend until you have course crumbs. Add the butter or coconut oil and press into a 9 inch deep dish pie plate.

How to Make a Coconut Cream Pie Using Coconut Milk

Now, don’t go buy a carton coconut milk in the refrigerator section of your grocery store because it won’t work in this recipe. You have to use canned coconut milk that has no other ingredients other than coconut milk and water.

That’s sometimes hard to find, and I’ve found pure coconut cream from Amazon works a lot better anyway because I don’t have to drain off any liquid.

If you do used canned coconut milk, refrigerate for 24 hours. When you’re ready to make your low carb coconut pie, open the can and scoop out the solid cream that’s formed at the top of the can into the mixing bowl. Save the watery part for smoothies or popsicles.

Beat the cream from two cans and powdered Swerve into stiff peaks and follow the recipe as normal.

Liquid sweeteners, such as stevia glycerite or xylitol maple syrup can be used instead of Swerve. Granulated sweeteners do not work well in this recipe.

Easy Low Carb Desserts Don’t Have to Be Complicated

One thing that’s bugged me about baking since I went low carb is the complexity of a lot of the recipes. I just want to make desserts as quick as I used to make gluten and carb laden goodies. That’s why I like this low carb coconut pie recipe. Quick, easy, and minimal ingredients.

If you looking for simple low carb goodies, take a look at my easy low carb desserts page. Our days are filled with work and family obligations, and at the end of the day baking shouldn’t take up our precious family time.

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Low Carb Dinner Recipes

Easy Gluten Free Low Carb Stuffed Bell Peppers: Mexican Style

April 2, 2016 GF Down Home Leave a comment

Gluten Free Low Carb Stuffed Bell Peppers WITHOUT Rice!

So I was craving me some Mexican the other day and didn’t know what to fix. I had already bought ingredients for stuffed bell peppers because it was on my menu for the week. I didn’t want to go to the store, so I decided to be a domestic diva and work with the ingredients I had on hand.

Ta da! Low carb stuffed bell peppers Mexican style was born. Minus the rice and beans, of course.

Stuffed Bell Peppers? Mexican Anyone?

My husband isn’t a fan of Mexican food, but I could eat it every night of the week. He loves me though, so he doesn’t fuss when I fix Mexican every couple of weeks. He’ll eat it, just for me. But I think I won him over with this recipe, though. I had to fight him over the leftovers the next day.

Making my stuffed bell peppers recipe Mexican wasn’t really all that hard. I added Mexican spices to the hamburger, and replaced canned tomatoes with a jar of homemade salsa. I’m not going to be all cliche and say I had a fiesta going on in my mouth, but I’ll let you be the judge when you taste your own stuffed bell peppers, Mexican style. 🙂

How to Make Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers

Preheat the oven to 350 F. This recipe makes four to five stuffed peppers, depending on how big your peppers are. You can use red, yellow, or green peppers. I personally like the red because they’re so bright and pretty.

Cut the tops off of the peppers and remove the seeds and white membranes. Rinse and turn upside down on paper towels to drain.

Fill a large pot with water and bring it to boil. Add the peppers and set a timer for five minutes. Remove and turn upside down on paper towels to drain.

Brown 1 pound hamburger, 3 cloves of minced garlic, and a finely chopped onion in a large skillet. Add 1 8oz jar of your favorite chunky salsa, 2 tsp cumin, and 2 tsp chili powder. Or add two teaspoons of Mexican blend spice instead.

Remove from heat and add 1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Stir until melted.

Put the peppers into an oven safe non-stick skillet and fill with the hamburger mixture. Cook in a 350 F oven for 12-15 minutes, or until heated through. Remove from oven and top with shredded cheddar cheese and return to the oven. Bake for 5 more minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Top with sour cream and more cheese. (There was never such thing as too much cheese, right?)

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easy low carb desserts

Sweet and Spicy Low Carb Ginger Cookies Recipe

March 18, 2016 GF Down Home 1 Comment

A Low Carb Gluten Free Spice Cookie for Christmas? Yes, Please!

I’ve always had a thing about ginger spice cookies. The ginger flavor just reminds me of my Aunt Dorothy. Christmas at her house meant spice cakes and gingersnaps.

Plus, ginger cookies are so darn homey and Christmas-y. My husband and son don’t like them, but I don’t care, more for me!

So the past few Christmases or so that I’ve been gluten free and low carb, you can imagine how bummed I’ve been that I haven’t been able to eat my traditional ginger snaps. This year I decided it’s going to be different. I WILL eat ginger snaps for the Holidays!

Enter My Low Carb Ginger Cookies Recipe

This is one recipe I had to fiddle with to get it to work out right. At first, I tried making them with a mixture of almond flour and protein powder. The taste was spot on, but I might as well have been eating sawdust. Ugh.

I wasn’t really sure how to make it better, but then I got to thinking about the way I made my GF chocolate chip cookies. They had no eggs at all, and used liquid sweetener and oil to bind it together. I know gingersnaps are usually crunchy, but I was willing to overlook that as long as they tasted like gingersnaps.

When I was looking on Pinterest for a low carb gluten free spice cookie, a traditional gingersnap recipe popped up on my feed. It used brown butter to give the cookies a real rich flavor. It sounded so good, I decided to try it instead of the coconut oil. OMG, browned butter makes these cookies taste AMAZING!

For the sweetener, I used xylitol maple syrup and Lakanto golden monk fruit. I’ve fallen in love with golden monk fruit, because I’ve found it’s a pretty close low carb substitute for brown sugar.

And then, to give it a more authentic flavor, I decided to add a tablespoon of unsulphured molasses. Yeah, I know it’s not a low carb ingredient. But a tablespoon distributed throughout 20 cookies is not bad, and each cookie has a little less than two carbs a piece.

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How to Make Low Carb Spice Cookies

The first step in the low carb ginger cookies recipe is browning the butter. Don’t know how to brown butter you say? I was kind of intimidated by this step, but it turns out it’s a whole lot easier than I thought.

How to Brown Butter

First off, you’ll have 100% more success if you use a light colored pan. Browned butter can turn to burnt butter quickly, and you can’t tell the difference unless you’ve got a dark bottomed pan.

I personally recommend the Green Pan. It’s light, and nonstick. Love it!

Melt one stick of unsalted butter, stirring constantly. It will foam a little, but that’s just the water in the butter cooking off. Continue stirring until it’s an amber color.

Don’t worry about the brown bits at the bottom. That is just cooked milk solids. Some people don’t care for it and separate it before they add it to a recipe. I personally like the flavor, and it lends a darker color to the cookies.

In a bowl, add 1 cup almond flour, 2 tbsp coconut flour, 1/4 cup Lakanto Golden Monk Fruit, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves, and 1 tsp of Valencia orange peel. (If you have a fresh orange, you can grate your own, too)

Whisk everything together until well combined.

Now add your browned butter, 1 tbsp unsulphured molasses, and 1/4 cup xylitol maple syrup.

I’ll give a bit of advice here. I’ve tried this with store brand sugar free syrup, and I got cookies with a funky rubbery texture. It might have been just the brands I tried, but I’ve only ever had success with xylitol maple syrup or honey.

Mix everything together well, and drop by teaspoonfuls onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes, or until firm. Let them sit and cool for a few minutes before you move them to a rack to finish cooling. This recipe will make approximately 20 cookies.

Even though they’re not crispy and crunchy like regular gingersnaps, this low carb ginger cookies recipe gives them the same zesty kick and taste. I hope you’ll give them a try for the Holidays, or anytime you get the ginger spice craving.

Low Carb Dinner Recipes

Gluten Free Low Carb Homemade Pizza Pockets

March 9, 2016 GF Down Home 6 Comments

Make your Own GF Low Carb Homemade Pizza Pockets

One of the things I love best about gluten free and low carb cooking, is that you can take a basic recipe, use some imagination, and, viola, you have a yummy new treat. I used my homemade low carb pizza crust recipe to make low carb homemade pizza pockets.

I admit I get jealous watching my son pop one of those store bought pockets out of the microwave. I really want instant food, too. But store bought convenience foods are unhealthy, wheat laden and full of carbs. But with a little work on the front end, you can enjoy easy “fast food” on the back end. So that’s why I wanted to rework my pizza crust recipe.

I doubled the recipe, rolled it out and sandwiched pizza sauce, toppings, and cheese in the middle and baked. I got four good sized low carb homemade pizza pockets. I ate one, and froze the others. Turns out this recipe freezes really well.

Now when I am craving a quick pizza snack, I can take it out of the freezer, pop it in the microwave for a few minutes, and I can enjoy me some hot pizza pockets!

Gluten Free Low Carb Homemade Pizza Pockets Recipe

First, make the crust. I doubled my homemade low carb pizza crust. This is the adjusted recipe below:

3 cups mozzarella cheese
4 tbsp cream cheese
1 1/2 cup certified gluten free almond flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tbsp unflavored protein powder

Melt mozzarella cheese and cream cheese in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring each time. When you have a glob of gooey cheese, you’re good.

Let cool slightly and add the remaining ingredients. Mix really well. The dough is really stiff, and I mix it with my hands to get it fully incorporated.

Now let’s make us some pizza pockets!

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pinch off a 3-4 inch ball of dough and, using your hands, press into a rectangular shape.

Your crust should be about 1/4 inch thick. Make seven more rectangles. The dough will be soft, so be careful when you handle them. If the dough gets a hole in it, just press it back together, it is very forgiving.

Spread pizza sauce to within a half inch of the edges. Next, add your toppings, such as cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, etc. Keep toppings away from the edge, too, and don’t pile it too high so the dough won’t tear or be too short.

Place the top crust over the bottom half of your pocket. Using a fork or a pastry crimper, crimp the edges. Make sure to seal the dough ALL around. You don’t want any pizza goodness oozing out in the oven.

Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy your low carb homemade pizza pocket!

For freezing, let the pockets cool completely, and wrap in saran wrap, and then place in a Ziploc bag. I’m not sure how long they’ll stay good in the freezer. Mine has never lasted for more than a week or two in there because I eat them pretty quick. 🙂

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