Tag Archives: LC Foods

Desserts, Recipes

Derby Cheesecake Time is Coming!

Recipe: Derby Pecan Cheesecake

I promised I would do this and here it is. Just in time for this year’s Kentucky Derby on May 4th, I adapted this decadent recipe for a fabulous cheesecake celebrating the event. I made it for Easter and can attest to the incredible flavors of the dessert. In addition to changing certain ingredients to low carb ones, I did add a couple of things to the original recipe. For those who would like the full carb version, you can find it here on the Tasty.co web site.

One thing you will absolutely need to make this is a brown sugar replacement. I used a combination of LC-Foods Sweet Brown and Swerve Sugar Replacement Brown, both of which are 0 carbs. You could use all Swerve Brown as it is most like brown sugar where LC-Sweet Brown is a powder and doesn’t have the texture of brown sugar. Swerve is available at Amazon, maybe Wal-Mart, and through Netrition.com (also LC-Sweet Brown). Truvia also has a brown sugar blend that has 1 net carb per 1/2 teaspoon but also says you use half as much as you would use of brown sugar. I haven’t tried it, but I would assume that if you use it, you use 1/4 cup of Truvia in place of the 1/2 cup.

I made a small 7″-spring-form-pan cheesecake as the larger one is too much for a two-person household. Cut into eight slices, the piece is large enough for a reasonable dessert and as rich-tasting as this is, the smaller serving is enough to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Here’s a hint though. I made this with an almond flour crust standing in for a graham cracker one, but it would work perfectly well without the crust and save 1.5 net carbs on the total carb count. Next time, I plan to omit the crust.

Derby Bourbon Pecan Cheesecake

Original Recipe by Matthew Johnson
Low Carb Adapted by Rene Averett

Crust:
1 cup Almond Flour
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar Substitute
1/4 cup Butter, melted

Filling:
8 oz Cream Cheese, at room temperature
2 oz. Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup Sugar Substitute
2 tablespoons Almond Milk
1/4 cup Sour Cream
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 tablespoons Low Carb Flour
3 teaspoons Bourbon Whiskey, divided
1 Egg

Topping:
1/2 cup LC-Sweet Brown or Swerve Brown Sugar Substitute
2 tablespoons Cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 Egg Yolks
1/3 cup Sugar-free Maple Syrup,
1/4 cup Cream, warm to the touch
2 tablespoons Butter, cold
1 cup roasted Pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 325°F (170°C). Prepare the spring-form pan with parchment paper over the base. Spray the pan with baking spray.

Prepare your ingredients and have them ready ahead of time. This actually goes together pretty quickly.

For the Crust:

In a small bowl, add the almond flour, 1/4 cup sugar substitute, and melted butter. Mix together with a spoon, then spoon into the bottom of the spring-form pan and press it to cover the bottom and about half-way up the sides.

Bake for about 10 minutes to set up and lightly brown the dough. Cool.

For the Filling:

Add the cream cheese, ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup sugar substitute, and almond milk into a large bowl. Beat until blended and fluffy-looking.

Spoon in the sour cream, low carb flour, teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon of Bourbon (more if really want to taste it), and two eggs. Mix on low until the filling is smoothly blended.

Pour the mixture over the almond flour crust in the spring-form pan. Bake for one hour, then turn the oven off and let sit for 30 minutes in the oven.

While the cheesecake is sitting for 30 minutes…

Make the Topping

Add egg yolks, sugar-free Maple Syrup, and warm cream to a bowl and stir together.

In a medium saucepan, add brown sugar substitute, cornstarch, and salt then stir together and put it on a low heat setting on your stove. Add the egg and cream mixture to the pan.

Cook over low heat until the mixture thickens to a pudding texture, around 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat, then stir in the cold butter and a teaspoon or two of bourbon, depending on how much you prefer.

Fold in the chopped pecans, mixing them through. Pour the mixture over the cheesecake while it is still in the spring-form pan. Spread to make an even layer over the top. (Mine dipped in the middle a little so that well of pecan is thicker.)

Photo: Bourbon Pecan Cheesecake
You can see where I didn’t quite get the topping spread all the way to the edge. Not that there wasn’t enough of it, but I just missed it. The topping is quite thick on the cheesecake.

Put in the refrigerator to chill for a few hours and allow the topping to set up firmly. Remove the spring-form pan and slide the cheesecake off the parchment paper onto a serving plate if you want it for a formal presentation.

Serve either chilled or let come to room temperature if you wish. Sometimes the higher temperature will bring the flavors out more.

Makes eight delicious servings.

Note: A word about the roasted pecans. These are easy to roast in the oven ahead of time by spreading them out on a layer of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Pour melted butter (about 1/4 cup over the top) and put in a 300 degree (F.) oven for about 8 to 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.
However, it isn’t necessary to roast the pecans unless you really want the roasted taste. You can just use raw pecans chopped up.

Photo: Nutrition Information

If you try this, let me know how you like it.  I’d love the feedback.

Breads, Italian Inspired Recipes, Pork, Product Review

Product Review & Pizza Recipe

2 Comments

LC-Pizza & Bagel Flour

I’ve been meaning to try LC Foods flour for making pizza, calzones, bagels, and English muffins for quite some time now. The only recipe actually included on the package is for pizza. I found a bagel recipe that sounded good and I tried that one before I tried to make a pizza. I can say that it works very well for the bagels. So this week, I mixed up the pizza dough and had a go of it.

First, this is a fine-textured flour that is excellent for baking these types of breads. LC Foods has severl milled flours in their online store that can be used for a variety of baking including pasta, cake, and bread, as well as the one for pizza. The flour is not as low priced as regular wheat flour, but it is a low carb flour and it’s worth the difference for a flour that is low in carbs and still produces a product that rises with yeast, tastes like bread, although not entirely like its wheat counterpart, but close enough that you can enjoy it. It’s also a sturdy pizza bread.

Note, this pizza flour is not gluten-free. It is made from a blend of wheat protein isolates, resistant wheat starches, flax seed meal and vital wheat gluten. You will need to add fast rising yeast, a bit of salt, a little sugar substitute, and olive oil to the mixture. The personal-sized pizza crust makes a 7 to 8 inch pizza round that will

For those who don’t want to make a pizza crust from scratch, LC Foods also sells a pre-made, partially cooked large pizza crust. You can add your favorite toppings and bake right at home and have a great pizza in no time.

So, on to the pizza dough and the toppings I used for this personal-sized pizza. For reference, each 1/4 cup of the flour is 2 net carbs and the whole small pizza used 3/4 cup of the flour. You can also shape the pizza dough into bread sticks, calzones, and strombolis. To make bagels or English muffins, you need to refer to a recipe for those breads as they have other ingredients and measurements. I will be putting up the basic bagel recipe next week.

I do have to say that of all the low carb flours I’ve used to try to make yeast breads, this flour has done the best job of rising, browning, and tasting very good. I give this flour my five cooking spoons of approval.

5-spoons

LC Pizza with Meatballs

This is made with LC Foods pizza and bagel flour. I bought pre-made poerk meatballs from Wal-Mart that are about 1 1/2 inch in diameter. Use a low carb pasta sauce. I used Mario Batalli’s Vodka sauce, which is one of the lowest I have found.

3/4 cup LC Pizza and Bagel Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
3/4 teaspoon rapid rise Yeast
1/2 teaspoon Sugar Substitute
1/4 cup warm Water
1 1/2 teaspoons Olive Oil

Toppings:
1/ cup Onions, chopped
3 mini Sweet Peppers
1 teaspoon minced Garlic
1/4 cup Pasta Sauce
6 medium-sized Pork Meatballs
1/2 cup Mozarella Cheese
2 tablespoons Parmesan Romano Cheese

In a medium bowl, add pizza flour, salt, yeast and sugar substitute and mix together. Add the water and olive oil and stir it together until combined and it begins to form a ball. Use your hands to knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. Clean the bowl, dry and lightly oil. Put the dough in the bowl and put in a warm place to rise. Cover with a plate. Allow it rise 30 to 40 minutes until the dough doubles.

Lightly oil a pizza pan or pizza stone. Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F.)

Pull and stretch the dough into a circle and shape with your fingers until you have about a 7 to 8 inch round. Put on the pizza pan and bake for 5 minutes to get a partial bake on it.

Meanwhile, put a teaspoon of oil into a skillet and sauté the onions and peppers until just tender, then add garlic to the mix. Remove to a bowl. Cut the meatballs in half and if not already cooked, brown them in the skillet until they are almost done.

Spread the pizza sauce on the crust, then spread the vegetables evenly. Put the meatball halves even around the pizza and sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top, then the Parmesan Romano cheese over the top of that.

Bake for 10 more minutes until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. Let cool for a few minutes to set, then cut into pieces and serve.

Makes 2 to 4 servings, depending on how hungry you are.

Nutrition Information per one-half pizza:
Calories: 404 Fat: 21.3 g Net Carbs: 10.4 g Protein: 14.7 g