From August 17, 2012 on my LJ Blog.

As a bread lover, one of the things that’s always made it hard for me to stay on a low calorie or low carb diet in the past has been the desire for pastries, pies, cookies, and bread in general. With so many low carb flour options and some out-of-the-box thinking, there are possible substitutes for these items I’ve craved.
Recently, I found the recipe for “Oopsie Rolls” from Your Lighter Side’s web site. This is a simple little flour-free bread based on the Atkins Revolution Roll that Jamie made an error when making and created a new version. It’s a sturdy enough bread to handle a hamburger. Go to her web site for the original recipe if you’d like to try this roll. (You’ll find it easy and amazing!)

But it started my brain to working and I immediately made a couple of changes to give it a little more of a bread flavor and substance, adding 2 tablespoons of low carb flour (CarbQuik) and more seasonings, such as onion powder and garlic powder. Taking it one step further, I thought it would make a great cinnamon roll and came up with a tasty pecan and brown sugar topped roll. Then thought why not try it as a Danish roll? Well, the result isn’t a flaky Danish, but it is sort of like a doughnut with a fruit jam topping.  I like them and hope you will also.

Cinnamon Bun Puffers

3 large Eggs
1/8 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
3 oz. Cream Cheese
*3 teaspoons Splenda or preferred sugar substitute
*12 drops liquid Sucralose
2 tablespoons Almond Flour
1 tablespoon CarbQuick or other low carb flour
**1 tablespoon Whey Protein Powder Vanilla
1 teaspoon Cloves, ground
1 tablespoon Cinnamon, ground
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Topping
1/2 cup Pecans, chopped
2 teaspoons Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
1 tablespoon Cinnamon
2 tablespoons Butter

Icing:
1 tablespoon Cream
1/3 cup Powdered Sugar from sugar alcohols

* You can use ½ cup of Splenda if you prefer. I use the liquid sucralose since it doesn’t have any carbs in it and Splenda has a little less than 1 per teaspoon.

** You can use another tablespoon of almond flour if you prefer. I like the added texture, protein and vanilla flavor I get from the protein powder.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Separate eggs and put egg whites in a clean bowl and put the yolks in a separate bowl. To the yolk bowl, add cream cheese, ricotta cheese, protein powder, flour, Splenda, liquid sucralose , cloves and cinnamon.

Beat egg whites until frothy, then add cream of tartar and beat until egg whites are stiff. Peaks will stand on their own.

Mix the ingredients in the egg yolk and cream cheese bowl together and add vanilla. Fold the yolk mixture into the egg whites carefully so it doesn’t break down the egg whites.

Spray large muffin pan or 3″ cake round pans with cooking spray and spoon the batter into each of six cavities until they are filled. If you don’t have the pans, batter is stiff enough that you can simply spread them into six mounds on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Be sure to spray the parchment with cooking spray so they will release easily. Use a spoon to make a shallow indent in the middle of each mound.

Cook in oven for 20 minutes. About 5 minutes before the time is up, combine pecans, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and microwave for about 20 seconds to melt the butter and brown sugar.

Pull the buns out of the oven and spoon brown sugar mixture evenly over each bun. Return the buns to the oven and cook another 10 minutes until lightly browned.

Let buns cool. When they are cool, combine powdered sugar and whipping cream with enough water to make a drizzle icing. Drizzle over each bun. Store any leftovers in an air tight container.

Makes 6 buns

Nutrition Info: per bun
Calories: 225   Net carbs:  3.5 g

Danish Style Puffers

Follow recipe above for the basic cinnamon bun. Instead of putting the pecan and brown sugar topping on it, put a tablespoon of sugar free jam in the middle.

The carb count will vary depending on the brand and the type of jam. LC Foods has an excellent low carb jam that ranges from less than a carb to about 1.5 carbs, depending on the fruit. I used peach, which is 1.2 carbs, and blackberry, which is less than 1 carb, per 1 tablespoon. More easily available is Knott’s Berry Farm jams that are consistently about 3 carbs per tablespoon. The bun is about 1.5 carb less without the brown sugar and nut topping, so it evens out pretty much.

Like some doughnuts, these are delicious when warmed in the microwave about 10 seconds.

Originally POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 10/8/2012 11:25 AM