Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Personal Pies

This is still a work in progress... Thanksgiving Day I was jones-ing for pies and this was my best option at the time with the amount of ingredients I had around the house. I will be the first to admit these pies are a work and progress, not exactly a traditional replacement for pies. But, I will continue to make them tastier... I would love a low carb fruit personal pie (it is my current project).

Add some sugar free whipped cream and these pies should hit the spot in a pie craving. 

This recipe should make four personal pies. 

I found my Wilton personal pie presses at the dollar store, I am betting you can also find them at Bed Bath and Beyond. 

Crusts

1 1/4 cups almond flour

1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced

1/4 cup ice water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg (for egg wash)

1. Combine almond flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture, large chunks that look should form. Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. I used a non-stick pan greased with coconut oil to bake these pies. 
3. Spread pie crust over press, or into pan. I used Wilton 'Mini Pie Presses' to make my personal pies. 
4. Fill the inside of the personal pie with 2 tablespoons of filling.
5. Brush dough edges with egg wash.
6. Bake or fry your personal pies. I baked mine for 15 minutes. 

Filling

1/2 90% dark chocolate bar

2 tablespoons of unsweetened almond butter

1/2 cup of heavy cream

1/2 cup of sweetener (this time I used boxed Twin)

1/2 teaspoon of salt

     1. Chop up chocolate in a medium bowl.

     2. In a sauce pan combine almond butter, cream, sweetener and salt.

     3. Stir until smooth, and the sweetener and salt have dissolved. 

     4. Stir this mixture into chopped up chocolate.

     5. Let sit for 10 minutes.

     6. Refrigerate until ready to use in the pies. 

Nutritional Information:

To Come... 

Super Simple Pork Rind Crispy Chicken Drumsticks

I like to make these chicken drumsticks as a snack, like jumbo chicken wings.  I like them to be spicy, but you can easily season them differently (salt & pepper or honey garlic for example).


Ingredients
200g of crushed up pork rinds
4 chicken drumsticks
1 egg
2 tsps of hot sauce
seasoning (to taste)
a dash of salt and pepper.


Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, grease aluminum foil on a pan (I use coconut oil).
2. Crush up pork rinds. I like to use a spoon to crush them in a medium bowl.
3. Add dry seasonings (except salt) to pork rinds.
4. Crack egg in a separate bowl.
5. Add 1/2 tsp of hot sauce to the egg mixture (optional).
6. Add a dash of salt to the eggs mixture.
7. Let the chicken drumsticks sit in the egg mixture for about 5 minutes.
8. Roll chicken drumsticks in the crushed up pork rinds. Try to coat as much of the drumstick as possible. This will depend on how crushed the pork rinds are.
9. After you coat the entire drumstick place it on foil and bake for 15 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and flip. Spoon hot sauce over the drumstick.
11. Bake for 15 more minutes.
12. Remove from heat. Spoon more hot sauce onto the chicken (to taste).
13. Wrap foil over chicken until you are ready to serve.

Nutritional info to come...

Cheese Stuffed Pork Chops

Pork chops and pork tenderloin are a staple in our diet. They are a cheap alternative to chicken and beef. We are poor new grads so saving a few bucks on meals is huge, I imagine this would be a perfect meal for a family. For $7 we bought 5 pork chops.

Ingredients
-Pork chops (I used 5)
-2 tsp of Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb (you can also mix your own blend of herbs and garlic)
-a dash of salt and pepper
-1/2 tsp. of chili peppers
-coconut oil
-1 tsp. of hot sauce
-100-200g of your favourite cheese (we used marble)

The pork chops I used were rather thin, it was impossible to find thick cut chops at our grocer. If you can, use thick cut pork chops.

Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 350. And spread enough coconut oil over aluminum foil on pan for each pork chop.
2. Slice cheese into strips.
3. Make a length-wise slit in each pork chop that will fit your cheese. Do not cut down the entire length.
4. Stuff each pork chop with cheese.
5. Tooth pick the pork chop shut.
6. Add all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
7. Add hot sauce to the dry ingredients.
8. Dip each side of each pork chop in the spices in the bowl.
9. Bake the pork chops for 20 minutes.
10. Remove pork chops from oven and each one over. If cheese is leaking out you can try to put it back into the pork chops (or on top of them).
11. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

Nutritional Information
(to come)