Just in time for Valentine’s Day, here’ s super easy and totally fantastic-tasting small chocolate cake that is low carb, gluten free and flourless! Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But it is the best! I scored this recipe from All Recipes latest magazine and I only had to make a couple of changes to make it into low carb deliciousness. I add vanilla whey powder to mine, which is gluten free in case you’re wondering (although check to be sure the brand you use says it’s gluten free), but it isn’t required. I just like the extra taste and texture that it brings to the cake. So, feel free to omit it. I also added a little espresso coffee powder, which kicks up the chocolate flavor a little. I topped it with miniature orange slices, but a few raspberries would be great on top also.
By the way, if you have valentine heart molds, this recipe would be super-special made in heart shapes, then topped with a bit of sugar free raspberry jam and a teaspoon of whipped cream. If I had thought of this sooner, I’d have done it!
Prepare two small cake molds, 3 1/2″ each, with parchment paper on the bottom, then spray with baking spray.
In a medium bowl, melt chocolate chips and butter for about 20 seconds and stir together. Stir in the powdered coffee until it’s dissolved, then add the remaining ingredients and mix together well.
Spoon batter into each of the prepared molds. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until cake pulls away from the side of the molds and a toothpick comes out almost clean. Cool in the molds for 10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to continue cooling. Serve with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar substitute on it or a dollop of whipped cream.
Serves two or four. This cake is so rich, one half a cake really is enough, but if you want the whole thing, it’s still low carb. Omit the orange slices to save carbs.
Nutrition Info per cake (without orange slices): Calories: 233.5 Fat: 23.2 g Net Carbs: 4.2 g Protein: 5 g
Nutrition Info per 1/2 small cake (4 servings to a recipe): Calories: 116.7 Fat: 11.6 g Net Carbs: 2.1 g Protein: 2.5 g
This was an experiment inspired by a recipe I saw to make chocolate covered rum balls from stale brownies. Well, I had some stale Atkins Brownies in my pantry. By stale, I mean over two years old and usually these things get pretty hard by that point. As it turned out, they weren’t as hard as I thought they might be, but just a little dry.
But they wouldn’t work for recipe I originally saw, so I transformed them into these delicious Brownie Rum Balls that are wonderful and the next best thing to the real version. Plus, they are easy to make.
Brownie Rum Balls
… or Bourbon Balls or Brandy Balls
5 Atkins Brownie Bars, stale are fine (1 pkg)
5 tablespoons Almond Flour
3 tablespoons rum, bourbon or brandy (to taste)
3 tablespoons sugar substitute
3 to 4 tablespoons Powdered Sugar Substitute
Break or cut the brownies into five or six pieces each and put in a microwavable bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and microwave another 20 seconds, then stir again, until the brownies are all melted and can be blended together.
Add almond flour and granulated sugar substitute and stir together, then add rum (bourbon or brandy) and mix together until it all holds together in a dough. The dough will be moist but able to shape. If it is too moist add a little more almond flour.
Put wax paper or parchment paper down on a baking sheet. Use a teaspoon to get about 1/2 teaspoon of the dough and roll into a ball. Place on the paper. Repeat with the rest of the dough. The balls should be about 1/2 inch in size and you should get about 35 to 36 balls from the dough.
Let sit and dry a little, then put powdered sugar substitute on a saucer and roll each ball in the powdered sugar, then put back on the paper to dry.
Once dry the balls can be put in a wax paper lined box or a tin until ready to eat. Makes 35 or 36 balls.
Nutrition Info: per ball (35 per recipe) Calories: 30.2 Fat: 1.5 g Net Carbs: 0.4 g Protein: 1.9 g
Tip: If you don’t have powdered sugar substitute, you can make it by putting 1/4 cup sugar substitute in a blender and blending until it is powdered. OR you can simply roll the balls in granulated sugar substitute.
I am working on my cookbook project, which I plan to have out in March 2015, but as a bit of a teaser and as a little Holiday thank you to all my supporters and friends, I’ve put together a low carb recipe Holiday Baking booklet, called “Holiday Cakes, Cookies and Candy the Low Carb Way”. It’s got recipes from this site and some that haven’t been posted here in a neat little booklet on a PDF file that you can download and open on your tablet or print out. It makes a 6″x 9″ format booklet, so you would have to trim and bind it to make a booklet that size, or just print and put in a binder.
This booklet is no longer available as a download. Hope you got it downloaded and have enjoyed some of the recipes in it. I will be updating it this year and it will be coming out as a Kindle Book via Amazon in October, 2015.
This cook booklet is free to you from now until January 15th. At that point, it will no longer be linked to this page, so download it right away so you can enjoy all these sweetly delicious ways to celebrate the holidays. Please do not share the booklet file itself or post it on your own pages, but feel free to direct others to this site to download it and maybe sign up to receive notices when the site is updated. Of course, I hope to add more subscribers to the site, but I also want people to enjoy a low carb, guilt free holiday.
So, click on the cover picture to download the book. If you are on your tablet, you can download the file and open it with Adobe Reader (or any other reader) or with a Kindle application.
I think having recipes on your tablet is really a great way to cook without having a bulky book in your hand or having to print out paper. I keep thinking you could make a tablet holder on one of your cabinets by putting four large clips or brackets on the cabinet positioned to hold the tablet. So, then you have it where you can see it and still be hands free. Haven’t tried this yet, but it’s on my to do list. If you do it before I do, send me a photo and tips on how you did it and I’ll feature it on this site. Or if you have other ideas for making a holder for your Kindle or tablet, send those along.
Please let me know if you try any of the recipes – and I hope you do – and how you like them.
When it comes to a festive-looking, easy to make, no-bake cheesecake, this Pistachio cheesecake is great. It’s a twist on the pudding cheesecake that is delectably delicious and low carb.
No Bake Pistachio Cheesecake
16 oz Cream Cheese
1 pkt unflavored Gelatin Mix
1/2 cup Sugar Substitute
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 oz. Sugar-free Hazelnut Syrup (optional)
1/2 pkg Sugar Free Pistachio Pudding Mix
3/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/4 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
Crust
1/2 cup Almond Flour
1/4 cup Baking Mix or LC Flour
2 tablespoons Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground Ginger
Make the Crust:
In a small bowl, mix all crust ingredients, cutting butter through with a fork. The dough will be soft and sticky. Spray an 8×8″ cake pan with cooking spray and spread the dough over the bottom of the pan. Wet your finger tips or the back of a spoon to make spreading it easier. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool while you mix the filling.
Make the Filling:
In a small bowl, add sugar substitute and boiling water. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top and let it sit a few minutes to soften, then stir it in. Continue to stir until the gelatin completely melts, about five minutes.
In a large bowl, put the softened cream cheese and vanilla extract and mix on low speed blended. Gradually add the gelatin mixture and hazelnut syrup, if using, and continue to beat until the filling is smooth and creamy.
Mix 1/2 box of the Pistachio pudding mix with whipping cream and almond milk. Us a mixer to beat the ingredients together. Let stand for about five minutes until the pudding begins to set. Add 1/2 cup of the cream cheese mixture to the pudding and stir together with a spoon.
Pour the remaining cream cheese mixture onto the top of the baked crust and smooth it out evenly. Pour the pistachio pudding over the top and smooth without mixing it into the lower layer. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.
Cut into 12 servings, 4 slices one direction by three across the other way.
Serve with a tablespoon of whipped cream and a few chopped pistachio nuts, if desired.
Nutrition info per serving Calories:246.7 Fat: 24.2 g Net Carbs: 3.6 g Protein: 4.5 g
The Thanksgiving holiday just isn’t complete at my house without pumpkin pie. The best recipe I’ve found for it is the one on Libby’s pumpkin can, but it does need adjustments to be low carb. But this year I decided to enhance my low carb recipe to a Maple Pumpkin Pie with Pecans.
The first change is the pie crust. I made the crust with hazelnut flour mixed with a low carb flour. You can use all almond flour as a substitute for both flours. The crust will not be like a regular crust, but more like a crumble crust on the bottom. Look for almond flour or hazelnut flour in the health food section of the grocery store or at health food stores. You can also find Bob’s Red Mill low carb flour in these places also. Bob’s is not the lowest low carb flour, but it will only add about 1/2 a carb to the serving over the CarbQuick flour. The other change is using sugar substitute for the sugar and heavy whipping cream for evaporated milk.
If you use Splenda, the filler that carries the sweetener has up to .9 carb per teaspoon. I don’t know the exact amount as they only show <1 carb. Xylitol and liquid sucralose have no carbs. That saves up to 36 carbs by making the switch. For those that like it, liquid Stevia also works.
For those who are phase 1 of Atkins or just don’t want a crust on your pie, you can make this without the crust. Just spray the pie pan with baking spray and pour the filling into the pan. Everything else is the same. If you want to make them in muffin pans or custard cups, go the instructions at the bottom of the page.
For more recipes for your Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday to stay on a low carb lifestyle, go toA Low Carb Winter Holiday
Hazelnut and low carb flour pie shell.
Pie Crust:
1/4 tsp Salt
3 Tbsp Cold Water
1/3 cup Shortening or Butter (cold)
1/3 cup LOW CARB BAKING MIX (CarbQuick, Bob’s Red Mill, LC Foods or Atkins)
1/3 cup hazelnut flour or almond flour
Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly spray an 8″ or 9″ deep dish pie pan with cooking spray.
In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients ( Low Carb Baking Mix and salt). Cut in shortening until pea sized balls are formed. Sprinkle water one tablespoon at a time and mix in lightly with a fork. If the dough is very moist, then only use as much water as necessary for it to form a ball. Let rest a few minutes.
Divide the dough into quarters and place in each section of a deep dish pie tin. Use your fingers to spread the crust around the bottom of the pan and work it up the edge of the pie pan about half way. Use a fork, to pierce the bottom of the crust a few times.
Bake the crust for 10-12 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Crust Nutrition Info: Calories: 72.3 g Net Carbs: .4 g Protein: 1.1 g
(I’m giving you crust only information in case you want to use it for another pie. Whether you use Almond flour, Hazelnut flour or all Baking Mix, the crust will be about the same number of carbs.)
1/12 slice of Maple Pumpkin Pie.
Pie Filling
3/4 cup Sugar substitute
1/4 cup Brown Sugar Substitute**
1/4 cup sugar-free Maple Syrup
1 tablespoon ground Cinnamon *
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon ground Ginger *
1/4 teaspoon ground Cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground Nutmeg *
3 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) Pumpkin Puree
1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/4 cup unsweetened Almond or Coconut Milk
1 cup Pecan halves (optional)
Whipped cream (optional)
• You can use 2 tablespoons Pumpkin Pie Spice for the cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Still add the clove .
** You can use white sugar substitute for the brown sugar if you can’t find any sugar free Brown Sugar. Do NOT use the Splenda Brown Sugar mix for this. It uses real brown sugar, so the carbs are quite a bit higher.
Mix sugar, salt, and spices in a small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl., then stir pumpkin, maple syrup and sugar-spice mixture. Combine milks and stir together. Gradually add to mixture as you stir it in.
POUR into prepared pie shell. Arrange the pecans over the top of the pie.
BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. After it cools down enough, about 30 minutes, I cover the pie with plastic wrap.
Serve or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.
To make a thicker pie, use 4 eggs, 3 cups of pumpkin puree and 1 cup of heavy whipping cream. This will add about 1 net carb to the count.
Makes 10 average servings or 12 small servings.
Nutrition Info per serving: 10 servings
Calories: 237 Fat: 22g Net Carbs: 4.1 g Protein: 4.4 g
Nutrition Info per serving: 12 servings
Calories: 198 Fat: 18.4 g Net Carbs: 3.4 g Protein: 3.7 g
Crustless Pumpkin Pie (Custard)
You can make these in 8 to 10 muffin pans instead of putting into a pie shell. If you’re on phase I of Atkins, the crust is definitely not a part of the plan.
To make: Simply use the recipe for the pie filling and mix it up according to the directions above, omitting the optional pecans.
Preheat the oven to 365 degrees (F.). Spray 1/2 capacity cup muffin cups or custard cups with cooking spray. Use a 1/2 cup measure to dip into the batter and fill cups to about 2/3 full.
Put muffin cups on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let cool, then cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Remove from the mold. Add a dollop of whipped cream and serve. Makes 8 to 10 servings.
Nutrition Info: 8 servings per serving
Calories: 131 Fat: 10.5 g Net Carbs: 4.3 g Protein: 3.6 g
So, click on the cover picture to download the book. If you are on your tablet, you can download the file and open it with Adobe Reader (or any other reader) or with a Kindle application.
