Nutty Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are super simple and slightly altered from the "Everything Healthy" blog. I added in some almond butter and instead of using quick oats I decided to try them with coconut flour. Click here to check out the "Everything Healthy" blog. I plan on using these cookies as pre-workout fuel because they are a little more carby than what I normally eat. I am happy that there is not any added sweetener, maybe adding an egg and taking out a banana could cut the natural sugars?

Unfortunately my grocery store was out of dark chocolate chips so this recipe uses the standard semi-sweet ones. Next time I am going to cut up dark chocolate if this happens again. This one is a work in progress, if you have any suggestions let me know:)

Heads up do not taste the batter, you will want to eat ALL of it!

Ingredients: 
-2 small browned bananas
-3 tablespoons of almond butter
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1/2 cup of coconut flour
-1/4 cup of chocolate chips

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease pan.
3. Mash together almond butter and banana.
4. Add vanilla.
5. Mix in coconut flour until all of coconut flour is lumpily consistent.
6. Add in chocolate chips.
7. Bake for 15 minutes.

Nutrition:
Calories: 112
Fat: 5.7g
Carbohydrates: 14.2g
Fibre: 3.8g
Sugar: 6.6g
Protein: 2.6g

Dark Chocolate Walnut Cookies

I love these cookies. They are very filling and relatively easy to make. I have experimented with how to deal with the dark chocolate, I tend to like to have the big chunks on top of the cookies to melt over the cookie. Even eating the cookie dough is amazing! 

I will take better pictures the next time I make the cookies, hopefully soon! 

Ingredients:
3 cups of almond flour
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 cup of melted unsalted butter
1/2 cup of powdered sweetener (I use splenda or stevia)
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of Cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of unsweetened almond milk
4 teaspoons of vanilla
1 90% Cocoa Lindt chocolate bar (you will use most of it)

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Combine salt and powdered sweetener.
3. Whisk eggs and vanilla into the melted butter.
4. Stir in salt and sweetener mixture to the butter mixture.
5. Mix the rest of the dry ingredients together and then add to dry mixture.
6. Chop up the walnuts and dark chocolate bar (I save a few of the squares so that I don't use the entire bar, it is a little much). As you can see I am a little lazy about chopping...
7. Grease the pan with coconut oil.
8. Shape dough into 12 equal sized balls.
9. Bake for 12 minutes (if you have a small oven it may be less).

Nutritional Info (rough numbers on per cookie):
Calories: 296
Total Fat: 27.9g
Carbs: 7.8g
Fiber: 3.8g
Sugars: 1.8g
Protein: 8.3g

Chickpea Almond Butter Chocolate Cookies

This was my first food experiment using chickpeas.

I think it went pretty well, it created tasty and moist cookies.

My boyfriend likes them fully cooled, I like them both warm and cooled.

Before you can even really start making the cookies you will need to soak your chickpeas for about 12 hours. Below are before (left) and after (right) photos of my chickpeas.

Yup, your chickpeas do not look appealing right now... we are about to fix that! 

Procedure
1 1/4 cup of chickpeas
1 half bar of 90% cocoa chocolate (50g)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup of warmed unsweetened, unsalted almond butter
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 tablespoon of unsweetened almond milk (I used coconut almond milk)
2 tablespoons of Fry's Cocoa Powder
2 teaspoons of vanilla

*dash of salt (if you have unsalted almond butter, if you use salted then don't worry about it)

Procedure
1. Soak chickpeas in water for at least 12 hours. I added a teaspoon of almond extract to the mixture hoping it would soak in a little bit.
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
3. After your chickpeas have soaked drain them and put the chickpeas in a food processor.
4. Warm almond butter in the microwave for around 45 seconds.
5. Add all ingredients, but the chocolate bar.
6. While the other ingredients are mixing into one big ball of dough, chop up the chocolate bar into makeshift chocolate chips.
7. Once the ingredients are mixed into one big, even ball of dough (no chickpea lumps), move it into a medium bowl and hand mix in chocolate bits.
*If the mixture is not mixing well add another tablespoon of almond milk
8. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
9. Make rounded lumps of dough (around an inch).
10. Press each lump down with a fork.
11. Bake for around 9 minutes.
12. Let cool for around 5 minutes.

Each batch should make about 18 cookies.

Nutritional Information To Come...

Low Carb Cookies & Cream Cake

Little, but mighty. 

I baked this cake the other day. I really, really liked it. It is small, but very filling. I baked mine in two layers, but you could make the mix in just one big cake. I really want to incorporate peanut butter with this cake in the future. I consider a slice of this cake a treat. It has about 7 carbs per slice and a ton of fat and protein. 

Side view

Ingredients
Cake
3 Cups of Almond Flour
3 Tablespoons of Sweetener
3 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder
2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
5 Eggs
2 Teaspoons of Vanilla

Icing
1/4 Cup of Melted Butter
5 Oz of Cream Cheese
1/4 Cup of Whipping Cream
1 Teaspoon Coconut Oil
2 Teaspoons of Vanilla
1/4 Teaspoon of Cinnamon 
2 Tablespoons of Sweetener
3 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder
1/4 Bar of 99% Cocoa Chocolate (I use Lindtt)

Prep Work
-Preheat oven to 350.
-Grease cake pan. 


Procedure
1. Mix the dry ingredients: Almond Flour, 3 Tablespoons of Sweetener, 3 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder, baking powder and salt. 
2. Whisk eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla in a separate bowl. 
3. Add eggs mixture to the dry ingredients. 
4. Pour into greased pan (or pans).
5. My small oven baked the cake in 30 minutes. Keep an eye on it, this will vary (of course) by oven.

Make the icing while the cake bakes. 

6. Warm (but do not completely melt) cream cheese and butter together. Mix well. 
7. Add in teaspoon of coconut oil.
8. Add in 3 tablespoons of coca powder and 2 tablespoons of sweetener.
9. Add cinnamon and refridgerate. 

10. Allow cake to cool.

11. Ice cake and shave 99% cocoa chocolate over the cake. 

Inside.

Nutritonal Information (per slice, 8 slices per cake):
Calories: 460
Total Fat: 38.3g
Carbs: 13.3g
Fiber: 6.1g
Sugars: 3g
Protein: 15.2g

Keto/Low Carb Éclair

I had a really bad craving for eclairs and so I thought I would give making them a shot. Here is my first attempt at the recipe. I experimented with a few different ways to make them, the following is the recipe for my best of the batch. 

Overall,  I really liked them. I used home made low-carb vanilla pudding and used it for the inner cream, next time I am going to use low-carb pre made  pudding. You don't need too much pudding, maybe half a pack made from a mix. My homemade pudding (found in a separate blog post) was not think enough and leaked through the bottom. I froze them to avoid leakage. This recipe should make 12, mine are a little bigger than they should be. 

Ingredients 
1/2 Cup Butter (I used salted, if you do not use salted add 1/4 teaspoon of salt)
1 Cup Water
1 1/2 Cup Almond Flour
1/2 Tablespoon Of Cornstarch
4 Eggs
2 Cups Of Vanilla Pudding
3/4 Cup Heavy Cream
1/4 Cup Granulated Sweetener
3 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
5 Squared Of 90% Cocoa Chocolate
2 Tablespoons Butter
1/3 Cup Sweetener
3 Tablespoons Of Hot Water

Prep Work
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
-Grease a cookie sheet.

Procedure
-Combine 1/2 cup of butter and 1 cup of water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, melt butter completely.
-Reduce to medium heat. Stir in almond flour, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and cornstarch. After a few minutes of brisk stirring reduce heat to low and let thicken. Remove from heat.
-Add eggs, one at a time. Mix completely.
-Put batter on cookie sheet in 1 1/2 x 4 inch strips. 
-Bake 10 minutes.
-Add more batter on the semi-firm top of each strip. Attempt to double it in size. 
-Reduce heat to 325 and bake for 15 to 20 more minutes. 
-Check on them, you want them to puff up and balloon. They will not end up being completely hollow on the inside.
-Cool on a wire rack.

For the filling:
-Beat the whip cream until soft peaks form. 
-Beat in 1/4 cup of sweetener and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
-Fold whip cream into pudding. 

-Cut the tops off of the pastries once they have cooled.
-Spoon in filling and cover. Chill or freeze.

For icing:
-Melt chocolate and 2 tablespoons of butter in saucepan in low heat.
-Stir in 1/3 cup of sweetener and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. 
-Add water, one tablespoon at a time. 

-Drizzle or smooth icing over chilled pastries. I liked to seal the top back on with the chocolate icing. I then put mine in the freezer to make sure they stuck together. 

Nutrition (per eclair)
Calories: 315
Total Fat: 30g
Carbs: 6.6g
Fiber: 1.9g
Sugars: 1.1g
Protein: 6.2g

Almond Meal Brownies

Pictured Here With Cookies & Cream Homemade
Protein Powder Ice Cream 

Yet again I could not find a pan so I used a pie pan. This recipe makes 8 equal pie pieces, nutritional information is based per piece. 

Ingredients
3/4 Cup of Almond Meal
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
40 drops of liquid sweetener 
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon Vanilla 
1 Tablespoon Granulated Sweetener
1/4 Cup Butter
2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
1 Tablespoon Chocolate Almond Milk 
1/2 Bar (25 g) Lindtt 99% Cocoa Chocolate

Prep Work
Grease an 8x8 pan or pie pan.
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Procedure
1. Mix together in medium bowl: almond meal, salt, cocoa, granulated sweetener and baking powder.
2. Melt together in a small bowl: chocolate, butter, 10 drops of sweetener.
3. Mix together in another medium bowl: eggs, the rest of the sweetener, almond milk, heavy cream, vanilla.
4. Pour melted mixture from Step 2 into mixture from Step 3.
5. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
7. Cool before cutting 


Nutritional Information (Per Slice)
Calories: 146
Fat: 14g
Carbs: 3.2g
Fiber: 1.8g
Sugars: 0.4g
Protein: 3g

Low Carb Cauliflower Brownie

Brownie Mix

I figured I would try a recipe I found online that used cauliflower to make keto brownies. I was really skeptical, but I had some cauliflower that needed to be used in my fridge so I thought I would give it a try. I am so happy I did. 

It was my boyfriend's birthday this week and when I started telling him about my plan to make the cauliflower brownies he told me not to tell him what was in them. He soon forgot that I had ever mentioned cauliflower and I was so excited after he approved them. I thought they were great, but I was really unsure about what he would think. 

I made this in pie form, instead of a birthday cake. Normally it will make about 36 brownies. 

The result, in pie form. 

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of pureed cauliflower
3 teaspoons of brewed coffee ***optional***
1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk
1/2 bar Lindt 99% chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1/4 bar of cream cheese (2 oz)
3 eggs
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 teaspoon sweetener
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt


Prep Work:
-Puree cauliflower.
Cut off cauliflower florets and throw out the cores. Steam the florets for 8 to 10 minutes. Puree in food processor for 2 minutes. Instead of using water for texture I used brewed coffee, but this is just a little something extra I did. Water is perfectly fine to use. 
-In a medium bowel melt butter, chocolate, and cream cheese in the microwave for 1 minute. 
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
-Grease a 9x9 pan.

Procedure:
-Add almond milk to the pureed cauliflower mixture and puree together until smooth.
-Add butter and chocolate mixture to the cauliflower and almond milk mixture in the food processor. Puree until smooth.
-Add eggs to the mixture and blend.
-Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowel. Add wet ingredients to the dry mixture and then stir until smooth.
-Spread mixture evenly in pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool and then cut.

Using my ingredients this is the nutritional information per brownie (36 in total).

Nutrition Info (Per Brownie):
Calories: 53
Fat:  4.8g
Carbs: 1.1g
Fiber: 0.8g
Sugar: 0.2g
Protein: 1.4g

I recommend these brownies with sugar free caramel sauce or ice cream (or both) for garnish. 

No Bake, Keto Peanut Butter Cups

Next time I will know to smooth their tops
and level them while in the freezer.

This recipe is so easy, it took me about 10 minutes all together. 

It makes 9 peanut butter cups that will leave you feeling full afterwards. 

This snack is a good quick fix if you need a snack to survive cooking a meal. 

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of melted butter
6 pieces of 90% dark chocolate
1/4 cup of granulated sweetener
10 drops of liquid sweetener
1 tablespoon heavy cream
4 tablespoons of peanut butter
1 teaspoon of unsweetened chocolate almond milk

Prep work:
-Melt 1/2 cup of butter.
-Line a cupcake tray with cupcake papers.

Procedure:
-Melt chocolate and sweetener with the butter.
-Stir in cream, peanut butter, liquid sweetener and almond milk.
-Divide ingredients in the cupcakes papers.
-Smooth the tops for even texture on the tops (I did not worry about this). The peanut butter cups firm quickly, I recommend doing this immediately after each is poured.
-Freeze, they will firm up quickly and are able to be eaten after 10-15 minutes.


Keep the peanut butter cups in the freezer, they melt quickly. 

****An easy way to reduce carbs is to switch out the typical Kraft Peanut Butter (again, using what I have) and to use a low sugar peanut butter. 


Nutritional Information (Per Peanut Butter Cup):
Calories: 77
Total Fat: 6.8g
Carbs: 3g
Fiber: 0.8g
Sugar: 0.8g
Protein: 1.8g

Mini Keto Cheesecakes (with chocolate garnish)

    

Again, I apologize for the ugly plates.
New dishes are on my Christmas List.
Also, I drizzled this one with Smucker's
sugar free caramel sauce.

I had quite a few problems with this recipe, I am 
going to have to try it again. Below is my recipe, it is modified as I thought was needed. I will update this post as I work on perfecting it.

I found the recipe I started with way too sweet and buttery, this is the modified recipe I will now us. The following nutritional info varies by specific ingredients used. 


Yeild: 12 Cupcakes
Calories (Per Cupcake): 228
Fat: 20.5g
Carbs: 4.2g
Fibre: 0.8g
Sugar: 2g
Protein: 5.2g

Ingredients 
2 teaspoon of  vanilla
1/3 stick of butter
1/2 cup of almond meal
1/2 cup of splenda
2 eggs
2 8oz portions of cream cheese'
6 pieces of 90% Dark Chocolate


Prep Work 
-Pre-heat your oven to 350.  
-Soften the cream cheese.
-Melt the butter.

Procedure
-Stir almond meal into melted butter.
-Place a small amount of this mixture in each section of the pan, pat down to create crust. 
-Mix vanilla, eggs, splenda and cream cheese at medium speed until smooth. 
-Fill each part of pan with cheesecake mixture, until each is nearly full. 
-Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. (While baking) Cut chocolate pieces in half.
-Let pan cool and then remove cupcakes. Place a piece of chocolate on each cheesecake. This should melt on top. I added the chocolate to calm the sweetness of the initial recipe. 
-Chill cupcakes, it is worth the wait to leave them in the fridge overnight.