Low Carb...at Menolly's request

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Menolly
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Post by Menolly »

In my perusing of keto recipe forums, I read that whey protein isolate makes a good breading for air fried vegetables. I decided to try it with chicken thighs. I need to do a little tweaking of seasoning, and spritz the breaded chicken with some coconut or avocado oil spray before air frying, but otherwise I was quite happy with how it turned out. It was much better than the attempts I made using almond or coconut flour.

I think I'll also save the whey from my homemade Greek yogurt, and "brine" the chicken thighs in that first. While not low carb, I believe the whey is lower in carbs than buttermilk, and the acidity would be similar for brining.
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Post by Menolly »

I was asked on another cooking forum to post this recipe, and when I dug it out I realized there is absolutely no reason why it can't be made using the homemade keto egg fast noodles in place of the pasta called for.

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Post by Menolly »

*cross posted*

Last night's festive meal's dessert was a new recipe from the Kosher Keto Ladies Facebook group: a keto-fied "honey" cake. Other than a few technical baking difficulties, as I am truly not a baker, it came out great!

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The "honey" cake fresh out of the oven.

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Turned out of the pan.

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Dusted with confectioners Lakanto monkfruit sweetener blend.

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Autopsy shot.

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Since I am inexperienced with making bundt cakes, I don't think I baked it quite long enough, allowed it to cool long enough, and tried to unmold it on a wire cooling rack rather than a solid surface. So, the honey cake crumbled.
Since it crumbled in sections, we served it with Halo Top ice cream , strawberries, and sugar free whipped cream .

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The typed up recipe with my notes. Shared with permission from Lisa Libman of the Kosher Keto Ladies Facebook group.
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Post by Savor Dam »

Kudos on the film noir color palette on the autopsy shot. Worthy of an illustration for the Mick Axebrewder / Ginny Fistoulari mystery, "The Man Who Had His Cake and Ate It Too" that SRD never wrote.

A yummy cake, indeed!

Doneness is a perennial issue for bundts. Doing a keto dough, ditto. You tried both at the same time. While Baseball is still being played, I gotta say that if you bundt on your first swing, don't be discouraged if you don't hit it out of the park.

You have lots of ideas for improved iterations. Might take a while to evolve the recipe as a once-a-year holiday treat, but if it is keto, maybe it can be iterated more frequently?
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Menolly
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Post by Menolly »

Savor Dam wrote:Kudos on the film noir color palette on the autopsy shot. Worthy of an illustration for the Mick Axebrewder / Ginny Fistoulari mystery, "The Man Who Had His Cake and Ate It Too" that SRD never wrote.
Was not done intentionally. That's just how my phone camera processed the light for that photo.
Savor Dam wrote:You have lots of ideas for improved iterations. Might take a while to evolve the recipe as a once-a-year holiday treat, but if it is keto, maybe it can be iterated more frequently?
It could be made more frequently, especially as a breakfast coffee cake. But...

1. It's not an inexpensive cake to make, even if I can make a decent substitute for the Honey Flavored Syrup
2. It's one of those foods reserved for "special occasions." Sort of like, for me, anyway, gefilte fish on Passover. I love it, but I rarely eat it at other times of the year, as I don't want to get tired of it.
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Post by Menolly »

I've been making The Keto King's keto bread using the stand mixer and oven version a few times now. Earlier this week I made his keto "rye" bread. It has neither carby rye flour, nor any sourdough starter in it, so if you're looking for those flavors, you'll definitely miss them. However, I found the flavor to be quite reminiscent of a pumpernickel loaf, and was quite happy with it.

This uses vital wheat gluten and oat fiber, so while called keto and being low in carbs, it may be problematic for those with inflammation issues. It is definitely not for those who eat gluten free.

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At the end of a two hour rise in the oven.

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Cooling in the pan after a 25 minute bake.

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Set on a wire rack to completely cool after a 10 minute rest in the pan.

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Side view to show rise.

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Heel sliced off from lower end to show interior. Look at that color!

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Heel and a slice from about a quarter in to the loaf to show the difference in rise.

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Same slice sitting on my hand to give a sense of scale.

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Reuben sandwich I made with the keto "rye" bread.

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Autopsy shot of the Reuben. I was extremely happy with it.
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Post by Menolly »

French onion soup made with homemade brown chicken stock and keto "rye" bread for the croutons.

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Post by Menolly »

I spent the last two days making a new-to-me keto vanilla blackberry cake for my birthday.. Everything was made from scratch, including the sugar free blackberry jam.

It came out decent.

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Post by Menolly »

Friday was a day I spent doing a couple of low carb experiments. First, I took a keto recipe for pizza crust which supposedly requires prebaking before topping and returning to the oven, and using it in place of a standard dough to make a star shaped pizza. Similar in construction to a star babka, it's more a stromboli, in my opinion. But I decided to give it a try.

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This is post assembly and second rise. As you can see, the star is assembled without prebaking the crust.

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I used 1× recipe for the keto pizza crust. The regular dough produces twice as much volume, I believe. This is on a 10" dinner plate, so it's not huge. But, it was a late lunch for three, and was plenty.

The construction calls for three filled layers and a top sealing layer. Only the top filled layer is sauced. I'm going to change that in the future, as well as serve some additional sauce on the side for dipping.

The next experiment was trying to make a keto challah. I've made this coconut flour flaxseed brioche before, and find the taste and finished crumb really reminds me of a good egg challah. But the dough is far too soft to braid.

I consulted with the recipe creator, and we decided I would try using the small silicone challah mold offered on amazon, as it's listed dimensions are similar to the size loaf pan recommended being used in the recipe. Unfortunately, I think those dimensions include the rim, as the mold itself was far too small for the entire recipe. So, I split the dough in half, covering the second half with plastic wrap and setting aside while I rose and baked the first half of the dough.

Half the recipe was a bit shy to properly fill the mold, so it didn't rise as much as I hoped.

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However, they did take on the shape nicely!

The second loaf had already risen while the first one rose in the pan and was baked. So, I'm pretty sure it over proofed. Maybe I should have put it in the refrigerator while working on the first one.

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We went ahead and cut in to both loaves, to see if the less rise affected taste or texture. Other than appearance, we didn't notice much difference.

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Erev Shabbes dinner Friday was Showtime rotisserie chicken, creamed spinach, and a couple of slices of "challah."

Overall, I would say they were fairly acceptable experiments.
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Post by Menolly »

*cross posted*

As the 7th night of Passover 2021 and Erev Shabbes approached, which SD committed to preparing dinner for, I got a little adventurous, and went outside my comfort zone. Although I decided to indulge in my homemade carby Passover meals, I did not buy any premade Passover treats. Which means I didn't buy any canisters of the various flavored coconut macaroons. I kept hearing how easy they are to make, and that fresh made are much better than the ones in the canister. I decided to give them a try.
Sucralose and saccharine are available as kosher for Passover sweeteners, but neither are really acceptable for me.. However, birch xylitol is also available as k4p, and that is acceptable for the way I eat. While I'm enjoying having matzah and potatoes during the festival, I really didn't want to add sugar where I could avoid it, such as in my coffee. Plus, birch xylitol is a 1:1 substitute for white sugar, so birch xylitol it is.
I could not find k4p sugar free chocolate chips, as the sweeteners used are not k4p, so I adapted an online recipe for ganache using unsweetened chocolate, subbing the xylitol for the sugar to sweeten the chocolate. I found a coconut macaroon recipe which uses unsweetened shredded coconut, egg whites, powdered sugar, and various extract. I adapted that to xylitol as well.
Here is what I came up with:

Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons

For the macaroons:
3 egg whites, medium not large
3/4 cup powdered xylitol
2 and 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
I tsp extract, various flavors (optional)

Preheat oven to 325F (160C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites and powdered sugar until foamy. Add extract, if using and mix in.
Add in the shredded coconut and stir gently with a spatula. Try to make a ball with your hand, squeezing the ball a little. If you think it is too dry and doesn't hold together, add one small egg white. If you think it is too moist, add a little extra coconut.
Using an ice cream scoop or a measuring tablespoon, drop macaroons on the parchment paper. You can make balls using your hands too.
Bake for 20 minutes. Open the oven and place them on the top shelf. Bake for another 2-3 minutes or until their top gets golden.
Cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
Dip in to ganache and set on parchment to dry. Pipe ganache over top.
Keep them in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

For the ganache:
100 grams (3.5 oz) 100% dark chocolate
50 grams (1/4 cup) xylitol
1/3 cup whipping cream (any heavy cream will do)
1 tsp extract (optional)

Chop the chocolate into 1/2 inch cubes, or use chips and place in a medium bowl (use microwavable safe just in case you need help getting the chocolate to melt).
Pour your cream into a small saucepan and place on an element on the stove top. Heat on medium high. Add the sugar and stir, heating and stirring until it dissolves. If using, add the vanilla, mint or coffee extract.
Do not let the cream boil, just bring it to nearly a simmer then immediately pour half of the cream over the chocolate. Stir until you get a smooth and dark chocolaty-looking mixture, but with large lumps of chocolate in it.
Then reheat your remaining cream and pour into the mixture. Stir until smooth. If lumps still remain, microwave for five seconds (not more!) and stir again until the mixture is smooth.

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Cast of characters for the coconut macaroons. I forgot to put out my homemade vanilla flavoring I make for Passover using potato vodka. You'll see the jar I store it in later.
The chocolate chips are 100% dark chocolate with no sugar or sweetener from Trader Joe's. They're not certified k4p, but as it has nothing but chocolate, it works for me.

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I could not find confectioners birch xylitol, not even online. Instead, I use my spice grinder to powder my own. I found a half a cup of granular birch xylitol came to about the 3/4s cup of powdered birch xylitol I needed. Sweetness worked out perfectly.

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A quarter cup of the birch xylitol after being "blitzed" in my spice grinder. You can see the expansion. I did this twice to get about 3/4s cup of powdered birch xylitol.

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The macaroon ingredients, minus the vanilla: egg whites, shredded coconut (actually, I used flaked coconut, which gave me some issues), and the powdered birch xylitol.

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The egg whites and powdered birch xylitol whisked until foamy, and then homemade vanilla flavoring stirred in. I tried to whisk by hand. First lesson learned: use the whisk attachment for my hand mixer in future.

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Shredded (actually flaked) coconut gently folded in. Second lesson learned: the texture of the flaked coconut may look more elegant, but it does not absorb the liquid mixture well and is very difficult to shape. Be certain to get shredded unsweetened coconut in future.

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Macaroons shaped using an ice cream scoop and pressing to mold and extrude liquid.

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The recipe made an even dozen macaroons.

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I forgot to take a photo after the initial 20 minutes. This is after browning on the top rack.

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Cast of characters for the chocolate ganache:
100% dark chocolate chips
Heavy cream (Internet recipe called for a quarter cup, but that resulted in a thick spreadable ganache. I heated more cream to thin it out for dipping and piping, but am uncertain as to how much more I added. I adjusted the recipe above to say a third of a cup, but that may need to be adjusted yet again)
Xylitol
Homemade vanilla flavoring made from potato vodka (Regular extracts are made using alcohol derived from one of the five forbidden grains, so is considered "chametz." Of course use any extract if not observing Passover strictures.)

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The ganache was made so quickly I didn't get any photos of the process. Here are the macaroons after the bottoms were dipped in the ganache.

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The rest of the ganache put in to a zipper bag. The corner was then snipped for piping.

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I'm terrible at piping. But, I'm still happy with how they look.

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Xylitol that is corn derived is not k4p and is known for causing tummy issues. Birch xylitol is k4p and is not known to cause tummy issues as much, but SD seems to react negatively to it, possibly due to surgery years ago on his digestive track. So, I recommend having one at a time. At least until one sees how one personally reacts to it.

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I'm really happy with the flavor, level of sweetness, and the texture. Far superior to the cannister ones!
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Menolly
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Post by Menolly »

Since it is Carnival season, I decided to try making a low carb King Cake for my birthday. I didn't put a charm/baby in it, but it was a fun experiment.

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Freshly rolled and just starting to rise.

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Well, bah.
The top came off when I removed the towel after the rise.

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Fresh out of the oven. A bit brown, but I think that's the cinnamon "sugar" since the top layer came off.

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The base icing.

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The colored allulose.

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The inside. I was hoping for a lighter texture, and to be able to see the cinnamon swirls.
Ah, well.

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My piece. It's a bit dense.
But it's tasty.
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Menolly
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Post by Menolly »

Oh. My. Stars...
The density of the King Cake works very well with my cuppa joe this morning.
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