Um umm, morning coffee with a piece of coffee cake… could anything be better?  Or missing from a low carb lifestyle?  Not anymore!  Although this is not recommended for phase 1.  It is definitely not on the food list and it’s iffy on phase 2.

I found the base for this recipe on the Tova Foods CarbQuick site and thought it sounded great.  Giving credit where it is due, the original recipe was contributed by nawthwoodshuntress at Low Carb Friends.  I adapted it a little more and used homemade low carb cranberry sauce in it.  It was incredibly good – so good it was hard to believe it was low carb!  I do recommend getting a box of CarbQuick for this kind of baking, but any low carb baking mix will work in it.

The low carb Cranberry Jam is easy to make.  I’m including the instructions after the recipe for my version of this coffee cake.   Obviously, this would be suitable with other low carb jams as well.

If you don’t use the whey powder and/or oat fiber or protein isolate, then substitute in 1/4 cup more CarbQuick or 1/4 cup almond flour.  If you don’t like coconut flour, substitute 1/4 cup or either of those two flours also.

Cranberry Almond Coffee Cake

1 cup whole low carb Cranberry Sauce
1cup Carbquik or other low carb baking mix
2 tablespoons Coconut Flour
2 tablespoons Vanilla Whey Powder (optional)
2 tablespoons Oat Fiber or Protein Isolate (optional)
1-1/2 teaspoons Baking powder
3/4 cup Sugar Substitute
1/2 cup Shortening
2 Eggs
1 Egg White (can use packaged liquid egg whites)
1 teaspoon Almond extract
1/2 cup Almond milk or Coconut Milk or 1/4 cup Heavy Cream and 1/4 cup water

TOPPING:
1/2 c. Almond Flour
2 tablespoon Flax Meal Cereal or 2 tablespoons Oats
1/4 c. Brown Sugar Substitute
1 teaspoon Sugar Free Maple Syrup
1/4 cup melted Butter,
1/4 cup chopped or sliced Almonds
1 teaspoon Cinnamon.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.)  Prepare a 9″ square cake pan by spraying with baking spray or grease with with butter.

For the main cake, combine low carb flours and baking powder in a small bowl; set aside. Cream 3/4 c. sugar substitute, shortening, eggs, egg whites and almond extract in a large bowl.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture.  Mix well, then add almond or coconut milk (or cream combined with water), and continue mixing until it forms a batter.

Spread half the batter into the square pan. Spread cranberry sauce  over batter.  Spread the rest of the batter over the cranberry sauce.

In another small bowl, mix the topping ingredients until they are combined into a crumble topping, then  use a spoon to distribute it over the top.

Bake for about 45 minutes.    Let cool about 10 minutes, then cut into  16 squares.

Makes 16 servings

Nutrition Info per square (with oats)
Calories: 288.1 Fat 30.9 g: Net Carbs: 4.3 g Protein: 6.0 g

Nutrition Info per square (with flax cereal)
Calories: 283.5 Fat: 30.8 g Net Carbs: 3.6 g Protein: 5.9 g

Cranberry Jam

I am a big fan of cranberry jam and the low carb version is easy to make.  Cranberries don’t really require anything to help them thicken.  I’ve added cinnamon and clove to my version, but I know not everyone is a clove fan.  You can add orange flavoring or orange zest to it, but it might change the carb count a little bit.  Pectin is not really necessary in it, but if you aren’t going to eat the jam within a couple of weeks, you might add it to help extend the life.  You can also put part of the batch into a plastic bag, press out as much air as possible and freeze it.  I used Ideal Sugar, which is a sugar alcohol substitute sugar.  It has 0 carbs.  Splenda and other sweeteners that are packaged in a filler material have a small amount of carbs in the filler, so it may increase the carb count.

1 – 10 oz package Fresh Cranberries
1 cup Sugar Substitute
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cloves (optional)
1/2 cup Water
1 teaspoon Pectin

This is pretty much the package directions. Rinse cranberries in a colander and sort out any bad ones. You will have about three cups of cranberries. Put in a medium-sized sauce pan and add water. Cook over medium high heat, add sugar substitute and stir until it is dissolved. Cook until cranberries pop. Add cinnamon and clove seasonings if you wish. Continue cooking for about 20 minutes until most of the water is gone and you have a thick consistency with the fruit.

Remove from the heat and let set up. When the jam is cooled, spoon into a clean jar with a tight lid. Store in your refrigerator. Will easily keep about three weeks or more, if it lasts that long.

The main difference from cranberry sauce is that it is cooked longer to make it thicker and more of a jam consistency.

Makes about 2 cups of Cranberry Jam or 32 one tablespoon servings.

Nutrition Info per serving based on 32 servings
Calories: 4.3 Fat: 0.0 g Net Carbs: 0.7 g Protein: 0.0 g