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

Faux Apple Pie

This is a little different than anything I have ever posted before.

I am a MASSIVE apple fan, it is my weakness whenever we go out for supper and I see an apple dessert on the menu I falter.

Not anymore. This is not the best thing for your diet, but its a heck of a lot better than jumping the wagon completely.

This is a tad different than anything I have ever posted before because it's not really a recipe, it is my guilty pleasure.

I never post anything using sugar-free flavour syrups, this is different. This is the quick and easy version of this treat. You can cut a few carbs out of the whip topping by making whip cream yourself. But, this is what I have been doing because my schedule is so busy.

Seriously, this takes about 5 minutes to throw together and will save you countless carbs if you are like me and love apple (or any dessert). You can do this with pretty much any Questbar, just treat them like pie!


Ingredients
1 Apple Pie QuestBar
2 Tablespoons of Whip Cream
1 Pump of Sugar Free Caramel Syrup

Procedure
1. Warm your QuestBar in the microwave for around 30 seconds.
2. Mix one pump of caramel syrup with whipped topping (if you are using genuine whipped cream or ice cream you may not need to do this).
3. Scoop two tablespoons of whipped topping onto QuestBar.

Nutritional Information per full dessert

Calories 192.5

Fat 6.5g

Total Carb  26.5g

Dietary Fibre 18g

Sugar 4.5g
Protein 20.1g

No Bake, Creamy Cheesecake

I made this with an aching for a coffee flavoured dessert. This was the perfect fix! I garnished mine with two different things, sugar-free caramel sundae syrup (pictured) and peanut butter. The nutritional information and ingredient lists do not include garnish.

Ingredients 
1/2 Cup of Coffee
2 Cups of Heavy/Whipping Cream
2 Teaspoons Of Vanilla
1/8 Cup of Liquid Sweetener
1 Packet of Unflavoured Gelatin 
2 8oz Bars of Cream Cheese
4 Tablespoons of Instant Coffee (I used French Vanilla flavoured) 
3/4 Cup of Sweetener




Procedure
1. Sprinkle packet of unflavoured gelatin over 1/2 cup of coffee in a small pot. 
2. Heat on medium for about 5 minutes and stir until gelatin is dissolved.
3. Remove from heat and add instant coffee, stir in one tablespoon at a time. 
4. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. 
5. While coffee mixture is cooling in the fridge, warm cream cheese in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave for 45 seconds. 

6. Beat cream cheese with 1 teaspoon of vanilla until it is smooth.
7. Once the coffee mixture has cooled a bit, add 1/2 cup of sweetener.
8. Beat together the coffee mixture and cream cheese mixture. 
9. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Stir frequently to ensure no chunks develop. 
10. While the cream cheese and coffee mixture is chilling whip 2 cups of cream with 1/8 cup of liquid sweetener, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1/4 cup of sweetener. Try to do this when the other mixture has about 10 minutes left in the fridge. This is essentially whipped cream, keep it in the fridge until you are ready for the next step. 
11. Fold whipped cream into the coffee and cream cheese mixture. 
12. Grease a pie pan or whatever you would like to use to shape your cheesecake. 
13. Spread mixture into pan. Chill (DO NOT FREEZE) overnight.


*This mixture filled a pie pan for me and I then made 6 mini-square versions in a cup-cake pan. I decided to do the nutritional information for 8 slices and then the entire mixture, divide it how you want. 





Nutritional Information (8 servings)
Calories: 413
Fat: 40.8g
Carbohydrates: 4.7g
Fiber: 0g
Sugar: 2.1g
Protein: 4.7g 


Nutritional Information (entire mixture)
Calories: 3,307
Fat: 326g
Carbohydrates: 37.2g
Fiber: 0g
Sugar: 16.6g
Protein: 37.3g 

Low Carb Mini Pavlovas

These flakey pavlova crusts are very tasty. 

They remind me of the sponge toffee inside a Crunchie chocolate bar. 

You can flavour them, for instance with banana extract or lemon juice. The recipe below is for the basic vanilla pavlova.

These are good with breakfast or as a treat for dessert. 


Ingredients
4 Egg Whites
1/2 Cup of Sweetener
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Teaspoons of Cornstarch 

Prep Work
-Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees (F).
-Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. 


Procedure
-Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, add sweetener in slowly. 
-Beat the mixture until it stiffens. 
-Add in vanilla. 
-Add in cornstarch slowly while beating.
-Spread mixture into six circles on parchment paper.
-Leave a dent in the middle of each blog for filling. 
-Bake in oven for 23-26 minutes. Remove occasionally and press down on the dent to ensure it has room for filling. 
-Turn off heat and leave in oven for 30 minutes. Each pavlova should be crispy, not moist. 


*Add fruit, whipped cream and syrups to taste just before eating. 


Nutritional Information (per pavlova):
Calories: 30
Total Fat: 0g
Carbs: 3.2g
Fiber: 0g
Sugars: 0.2g
Protein: 3.9g

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

Low Carb Vanilla Pudding

I worked this out to be part of my eclair recipe and had to try the pudding on its own. Not the lowest in carbs, but it is a satisfying treat.

Ingredients 

1/3 Cup of Granulated Sweetener

1 Tablespoon Liquid Sweetener 

1 Tablespoon Cornstarch 

1 Tablespoon Almond Meal

1 Cup Heavy Cream

1 Cup Vanilla Almond Milk

2 Eggs

1 Tablespoon Butter

1 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla

Prep Work

-Beat eggs in a small bowl.

Procedure

1. Mix together in saucepan on: almond milk, cream, liquid sweetener, sweetener, cornstarch and almond meal. 

2. Stir occasionally. The mixture should thicken. Once it begins to thicken cook and stir for 3-5 minutes.  

3. Pour one cup of the hot mixture into the eggs.

4. Pour egg mixture into the saucepan and cook for 2-4 minutes. 

5. Remove from heat and melt butter into the mixture.

6. When the butter is fully melted add in the vanilla.

7. Chill in fridge for 2-3 hours.

Nutritional Information (for 1 of 4 servings)

Calories: 302

Fat: 27.1g

Carbs: 5.2g

Fiber: 0.4g

Sugar: 0.6g

Protein: 4.0g