I make tasty desserts without sugar... and flour... and gluten. What's left? Check out Healthy Indulgences Blog to find out! 
Sugar-Free Sugar Cookies for a Healthy Christmas Treat (+ a GIVEAWAY!)
At the request of a reader, I wanted to share with you my sugar-free, gluten-free Healthy Sugar Cookies. That sounds like an oxymoron, right? Stay with me here. These cookies smell and taste just as good as the cut out cookies I’ve made every year since I was little using grandma’s recipe. The aroma of sweet cookie dough (i.e. buttery vanilla-y goodness!) filled the kitchen as I gingerly rolled out the dough.
I used my grandmother’s antique cookie cutters to cut the familiar shapes that remind me of so many past Christmases. The dough I worked with was sugar-free, but the steps for making the cookies, and the accompanying feelings of nostalgia were the same.
Healthy Chocolate Whoopie Pies are here! Sugar-free, gluten-free, and finger-lickin’ good.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Healthy Indulgences readers! School’s out and baking season is here. After a semester of new beginnings during which I moved back home to Florida and started my post-baccalaureate coursework, it’s time to get back in the kitchen and go on a baking spree. I’m trading in my calculator for my camera and ditching the library for the kitchen these next few weeks, bringing you holiday sweets and a couple of GIVEAWAYS!
Update: The lemon curd post and Gary Taubes summaries are on hold until the new year. We have many seasonal goodies to make over! Stay tuned…
To kickstart the baking bonanza, here are some sugar-free, gluten-free Healthy Whoopie Pies to satisfy your sweet tooth.
They’re all the rage, and perfect for an easy, kid-friendly holiday dessert. My version of these cakey cookie sandwiches with a sweet buttercream filling tastes every bit as good as the traditional dessert chock full of flour, sugar, and shortening! Made with ground almonds, a little oat flour, pure unsweetened cocoa powder, and natural sweeteners, you can feel good about indulging in these treats after your holiday feast. Actually, they’re wonderful any time of the year. In fact, you should make these right now. You need fuel to get through all that gift-wrapping and baking, right?!
Healthy, Homemade Granola Bars (pssst… they’re Sugar-Free!)
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These are not your typical granola bars. What’s so special about ‘em? Look closely…
You don’t see any oats, do you? Or sugar. I know you can’t see there’s no sugar, but I promise you it’s not there (okay, so there’s 1 tiny teaspoon of honey in the whole recipe!). Low carbers and gluten-free eaters, take heart. These snack bars are sure to satisfy your craving for this formerly forbidden treat.
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Starting off the New Year Right with Healthy Coconut Cream Pie
Hello, friends! Happy holidays!
To ring in the new year on a healthy note, let’s make some pie. I asked y’all to request your favorite desserts to give me some inspiration for creating new recipes, and the response was overwhelming. It was foolhardy to think I could answer each of your emails during the school semester, so I’m giving you a heads up that your messages will be read during the couple of weeks before my last semester of undergraduate education.
Thank you for keeping up with this blog, even through the dry spell of no recipes which has lasted for the greater part of this year. I have learned a lot and have experienced much personal growth in my nonfoodie life this year. Admittedly, my passion had waned for cooking and healthy eating during that time period. Seeing your comments come in day after day in spite of my absence has reminded me how wonderful you guys are. Seriously. Thank you for making these recipes, and for sharing your experiences with us all. I cannot keep up with the comments at this time (need to finish my college undergraduate career first), but I do read them all! I am so impressed with your alterations and suggestions for these recipes. It’s an honor that you take time to make my concoctions in this world of conveniently packaged insulin-spiking goodies. Honestly, I relied heavily on prepackaged junk food snacks during this past year. Am getting back to eating whole foods over this winter break, and am having so much more energy!
Per your requests, here is a delicious Healthy Coconut Cream Pie to celebrate the New Year!
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Healthy Coconut Cake Bites… Grain- and Dairy-free!
Since y’all enjoyed the chocolate cake (made with beans!) so much, I’m going to create more desserts that don’t rely heavily on almond flour a.k.a. powdered gold for low carb bakers! Does this sound like a good plan? Leave some feedback and let me know what you think.
These moist little cake bites contain all of the decadence of a classic Southern coconut cake, with none of the highly refined ingredients that make the original only an occasional treat. You could eat these sugar-free gluten-free low carb (dairy-free!) treats every day if you wanted, getting the benefits of coconut, almonds, and eggs without the grains and sugar to spike your insulin. Us low carbers can enjoy saturated fat laden coconut products precisely because we maintain a diet free of foods that release a lot of insulin. The same goes for butter, cheese, cream, bacon… basically, everything delicious in life! That is what makes this healthy lifestyle so luxurious. Embracing it for the long term is not difficult if you focus on what you CAN have!
If a low insulin diet is healthy, then what about so-called “natural sweeteners”? If you believe that saturated fat is part of a healthy paleolithic style diet, then you should also recognize the dangers that concentrated sweeteners in any form, natural or not, pose. When combined with saturated fat, high levels of carbohydrates–found in maple syrup, evaporated cane juice (Sucanat), agave, honey, brown rice syrup, molasses, etc.–release insulin, a hormone that promotes fat storage. This insulin response can lead to insulin resistance down the line, which is associated with a host of problems, including elevated triglycerides, heart disease, and diabetes.
A higher carb, lower fat diet can also be healthy, if you’re committed to it. Overall caloric restriction has shown similar benefits to a low carb diet. Find the way of eating that suits your lifestyle, and go with it!
With my recipes, it’s all about insulin. That’s my justification for using erythritol, xylitol, and even artificial sweeteners once in a blue moon at Starbucks. And for giving guidelines for using various noncaloric sweeteners in these recipes. Not everyone agrees on these points, and that is okay! That’s what so wonderful about the blogosphere–there are recipes for all dietary plans. Just do your research before accepting “natural” options automatically as the best for your body.
For more information about this, see Good Calories, Bad Calories. Check out the Google Books preview here. Taubes is apparently coming out with a version of this tome for mass public consumption. It’s a very large, dry compendium of research, which needs to be simplified for easier reading. It is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to eat a diet based on past and current nutrition research. I’m not any sort of healthcare professional–just a student and an avid reader.
And finally, the recipe! It’s a moist, tender cake, with a loose crumb. You could definitely amp up the coconut flavor with coconut extract used for half of the vanilla. Bake it into a layer for a coconut layer cake! My cream cheese frosting flavored with a bit of coconut extract would be perfect for it.
Grain-Free Coconut Cupcakes
Makes 20 mini cupcakes
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons organic coconut oil OR unsalted butter
1/4 cup blanched almond flour, packed
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (may replace 1 tsp with coconut extract)
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut, ground to a meal
1 tablespoon sifted coconut flour (sub with 2 tablespoons brown rice flour or 1 tablespoon protein powder)
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup erythritol OR 1/4 cup honey OR 1/2 cup Splenda
1/2 teaspoon NuNaturals pure stevia extract
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
With a Magic Bullet or food processor, grind shredded coconut into a fine, powdery meal. Scoop almond flour into measuring cup, and pack it in firmly with your hands, like you’re measuring brown sugar. Sweep it level. Add to coconut and the rest of the dry ingredients. Melt butter, and beat in eggs, vanilla extract, and coconut milk. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients, and beat together for a couple of minutes. Line a mini muffin pan with mini muffin papers, and spray with extra virgin olive oil spray. Alternatively, grease mini muffin wells very well with coconut oil. Pour batter almost to the top of mini muffin cups. Rap muffin tin gently on the counter to pop air bubbles. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until springy and firm to the touch. You might have to bake these longer since my oven in this apartment runs hot. Remove cakes from muffin tins as soon as they are cool to the touch, and cool on a wire rack. Dip cakes into glaze. Serve at room temperature.
~1.1g net carbs per mini cake (unglazed)
~1.3g net carbs per mini cake (glazed)
Actual size!
Coconut Milk Glaze
1 cup full fat coconut milk, chilled
4 teaspoons coconut flour OR a tiny pinch xanthan gum
Stevia and powdered erythritol, to taste
Tiny pinch sea salt
Whisk together coconut milk, and sift in coconut flour. Whisk in coconut flour until no lumps remain, then add a pinch of salt, and sweeteners. Taste and adjust sweetness level if necessary. Dip cakes into glaze and sprinkle with unsweetened coconut.
~3.5g net carbs for the whole batch of glaze
Healthy Chocolate Cake with a Secret
Cake.
Chocolate cake!
Chocolate cake made without flour, sugar, or dairy. Low carb and gluten-free, of course. Cake made out of a surprise ingredient, one that will make you wrinkle you’re nose upon hearing it. This cake is good. So good, in fact, that I had to have a mug of stevia-sweetened pomegranate tea and go to bed, so I’d stop shaving off “test” slices.
You know those feelings that come over you when you play around a bit with a recipe, adding a pinch of this and a tablespoon of that? The nervousness as you put the batter in the oven, the fiddling around with the baking time, the checking and rechecking for doneness? The anticipation as you’re cutting the cake, hoping upon hope that’s it’s not too dry, too mushy, too crumbly?
It’s always a rollercoaster of emotion… this time, with a very sweet ending. Why was this particular culinary journey so nerve-wracking?
The cake is made out of black beans. Beans, seriously!
Even if you’re the fiercest of bean haters (like I am), you’ll fall head over heels for this moist chocolate cake. I haven’t have a flour- and sugar-based chocolate cake in a very long time, so my roommates had to confirm this cake’s rockstar status. Safe to say they agreed with me, and hungrily polished off the slices I provided for them. Served with a cold glass of almond milk, it was all the more refreshing after a day spent soaking up the Carolina sun.
Note: I cut 1 single layer in half, width-wise, and stacked the semicircular halves on top of one another to achieve the 2 layer cake shown here. Just double the recipe to make a whole 2 layer cake. 
The best part about this cake is that it’s totally budget-friendly. It’s basically beans, eggs, and cocoa. That gives you no excuse to not try it, ya hear?
Healthy Flourless Chocolate Cake
Adapted from a recipe at LowCarbFriends
Makes a 9″ one layer cake
Ingredients:
1-15 ounce can of unseasoned black beans
OR 1 1/2 cup cooked beans, any color
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6 tablespoons unsalted organic butter OR coconut oil
3/4 cup erythritol + 1/2 teaspoon pure stevia extract
OR 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons honey + 1/2 teaspoon pure stevia extract
OR 1 1/4 cup Splenda (using Splenda is not recommended)
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon water (omit if using honey)
Mint Chocolate variation:
2 teaspoons mint extract (in place of 2 teaspoons vanilla)
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon water (omit if using honey)
Mint Chocolate variation:
2 teaspoons mint extract (in place of 2 teaspoons vanilla)
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9″ cake pan with extra virgin olive oil cooking spray, or just grease it with a thin layer of butter. Dust cocoa all over the inside of the pan, tapping to evenly distribute. Cut a round of parchment paper and line the bottom of the pan, then spray the parchment lightly.
Drain and rinse beans in a strainer or colander. Shake off excess water. Place beans, 3 of the eggs, vanilla, stevia (if using) and salt into blender. Blend on high until beans are completely liquefied. No lumps! Whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat butter with sweetener (erythritol or honey) until light and fluffy. Add remaining two eggs, beating for a minute after each addition. Pour bean batter into egg mixture and mix. Finally, stir in cocoa powder and water (if using), and beat the batter on high for one minute, until smooth. Scrape batter into pan and smooth the top. Grip pan firmly by the edges and rap it on the counter a few times to pop any air bubbles.
Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cake is done with the top is rounded and firm to the touch. After 10 minutes, turn out cake from pan, and flip over again on to a cooling rack. Let cool until cake reaches room temperature, then cover in plastic wrap or with cake dome (I use an overturned plastic chip bowl). For BEST flavor, let cake sit over night. I promise this cake will not have a hint of beaniness after letting it sit for eight hours! If you are stacking this cake, level the top with a long serrated knife, shaving off layers until it is flat and even. Frost immediately before serving
~58g net carbs for the whole cake using erythritol/stevia.
~6g net carbs per 1/10th
~126g net carbs for the whole cake using honey/stevia.
~13g net carbs per 1/10th
Healthy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Makes enough to thickly cover one layer, or fill and frost a halved stacked layer
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted organic butter, softened, OR 7 tablespoons nonhydrogenated shortening
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon erythritol, powdered, OR 1/4 cup xylitol, powdered
5-6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons half and half OR coconut milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt
Good-tasting pure stevia extract, to taste
Optional addition for a glossy finish:
1 fresh organic egg yolk
Preparation:
Cream the butter in a small bowl until fluffy. Powder erythritol or xylitol in a coffee grinder or Magic Bullet for a minute or two, until extremely fine in texture (reminiscent of powdered sugar). Let sweetener settle in grinder before opening the top. Stir powdered sweetener into butter with a spatula, then beat until smooth. Slowly blend in the cocoa powder (unless you want to redecorate your kitchen), vanilla, and sea salt. Beat in the half and half and egg yolk, if using. Add stevia, starting with 1/16 teaspoon. You’ll probably use less than 1/4 teaspoon. Just keep tasting and adjust sweetness to your liking.
~7g net carbs for the frosting, using erythritol
Related content from other blogs:
Purple Velvet Torte @ Elana’s Pantry
Spicy Chocolate Bean Cakes @ The Salty Cod
Amazing Black Bean Brownies @ 101 Cookbooks
Update: The vanilla version of this cake is posted here.
Update #2: As of 2012, this cake has spread its chocolaty lovin’ all over the blogosphere! Here are some of the versions of this cake I’ve stumbled upon at other blogs. Feast your eyes and try not to drool too much looking at the phenomenal creations from some very talented food bloggers! 
Dark Chocolate Cake (or cupcakes) with Dark Chocolate Frosting @ Healthy Living How-To
German Chocolate Cake @ The Healthy Advocate
Vanilla Bean Cake @ The Spunky Coconut
Healthy Flourless Chocolate Cake @ Dolly Madison Designs
Flourless Chocolate Cake @ Eating Well… Living Thin(er!)
{Secret Ingredient} Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake @ Chocolate and Carrots
Flourless, Sugarless Chocolate Cake!! @ Fully Balanced
Grain-Free Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Drizzle @ Natural Noshing
**If you’ve made a version of this cake, feel free to email me a link to your post for inclusion in the list!** 
Healthy Chocolate Cake with a Secret
Cake.
Chocolate cake!
Chocolate cake made without flour, sugar, or dairy. Low carb and gluten-free, of course. Cake made out of a surprise ingredient, one that will make you wrinkle you’re nose upon hearing it. This cake is good. So good, in fact, that I had to have a mug of stevia-sweetened pomegranate tea and go to bed, so I’d stop shaving off “test” slices.
You know those feelings that come over you when you play around a bit with a recipe, adding a pinch of this and a tablespoon of that? The nervousness as you put the batter in the oven, the fiddling around with the baking time, the checking and rechecking for doneness? The anticipation as you’re cutting the cake, hoping upon hope that’s it’s not too dry, too mushy, too crumbly?
It’s always a rollercoaster of emotion… this time, with a very sweet ending. Why was this particular culinary journey so nerve-wracking?
The cake is made out of black beans. Beans, seriously!
Even if you’re the fiercest of bean haters (like I am), you’ll fall head over heels for this moist chocolate cake. I haven’t have a flour- and sugar-based chocolate cake in a very long time, so my roommates had to confirm this cake’s rockstar status. Safe to say they agreed with me, and hungrily polished off the slices I provided for them. Served with a cold glass of almond milk, it was all the more refreshing after a day spent soaking up the Carolina sun.
Note: I cut 1 single layer in half, width-wise, and stacked the semicircular halves on top of one another to achieve the 2 layer cake shown here. Just double the recipe to make a whole 2 layer cake.
The best part about this cake is that it’s totally budget-friendly. It’s basically beans, eggs, and cocoa. That gives you no excuse to not try it, ya hear?
Healthy Flourless Chocolate Cake
Adapted from a recipe at LowCarbFriends
Makes a 9″ one layer cake
Ingredients:
1-15 ounce can of unseasoned black beans
OR 1 1/2 cup cooked beans, any color
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6 tablespoons unsalted organic butter OR unrefined coconut oil
3/4 cup erythritol + 1/2 teaspoon pure stevia extract
OR 1/2 cup honey + 1 teaspoon pure stevia extract
OR 1 1/4 cup Splenda (using Splenda is not recommended)
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon water (omit if using honey)
Mint Chocolate variation:
2 teaspoons mint extract (in place of 2 teaspoons vanilla)
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon water (omit if using honey)
Mint Chocolate variation:
2 teaspoons mint extract (in place of 2 teaspoons vanilla)
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9″ cake pan with extra virgin olive oil cooking spray, or just grease it with a thin layer of butter. Dust cocoa all over the inside of the pan, tapping to evenly distribute. Cut a round of parchment paper and line the bottom of the pan, then spray the parchment lightly.
Drain and rinse beans in a strainer or colander. Shake off excess water. Place beans, 3 of the eggs, vanilla, stevia (if using) and salt into blender. Blend on high until beans are completely liquefied. No lumps! Whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat butter with sweetener (erythritol or honey) until light and fluffy. Add remaining two eggs, beating for a minute after each addition. Pour bean batter into egg mixture and mix. Finally, stir in cocoa powder and water (if using), and beat the batter on high for one minute, until smooth. Scrape batter into pan and smooth the top. Grip pan firmly by the edges and rap it on the counter a few times to pop any air bubbles.
Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cake is done with the top is rounded and firm to the touch. After 10 minutes, turn out cake from pan, and flip over again on to a cooling rack. Let cool until cake reaches room temperature, then cover in plastic wrap or with cake dome (I use an overturned plastic chip bowl). For BEST flavor, let cake sit over night. I promise this cake will not have a hint of beaniness after letting it sit for eight hours! If you are stacking this cake, level the top with a long serrated knife, shaving off layers until it is flat and even. Frost immediately before serving
~57.6g net carbs for the whole cake using erythritol/stevia.
~5.7g net carbs per 1/10th
~125.6g net carbs for the whole cake using honey/stevia.
~12.56g net carbs per 1/10th
Healthy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Makes enough to thickly cover one layer, or fill and frost a halved stacked layer
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted organic butter, softened, OR 7 tablespoons nonhydrogenated shortening
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon erythritol, powdered, OR 1/4 cup xylitol, powdered
5-6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons half and half OR coconut milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt
Good-tasting pure stevia extract, to taste
Optional addition for a glossy finish:
1 fresh organic egg yolk
Preparation:
Cream the butter in a small bowl until fluffy. Powder erythritol or xylitol in a coffee grinder or Magic Bullet for a minute or two, until extremely fine in texture (reminiscent of powdered sugar). Let sweetener settle in grinder before opening the top. Stir powdered sweetener into butter with a spatula, then beat until smooth. Slowly blend in the cocoa powder (unless you want to redecorate your kitchen), vanilla, and sea salt. Beat in the half and half and egg yolk, if using. Add stevia, starting with 1/16 teaspoon. You’ll probably use less than 1/4 teaspoon. Just keep tasting and adjust sweetness to your liking.
~7g net carbs for the frosting, using erythritol
Related content from other blogs:
Purple Velvet Torte @ Elana’s Pantry
Spicy Chocolate Bean Cakes @ The Salty Cod
Amazing Black Bean Brownies @ 101 Cookbooks
Update: The vanilla version of this cake is posted here.
Coconut Flour Brownies, revisited–Gluten-free and Delicious!
Coconut flour is so much fun to play with! It’s so much easier to measure out versus grinding up almonds each time I want to bake. Get some and I promise you’ll be hooked on the richness of this gluten-free, low carb “flour.”
Interjection to share some science nerdiness. Check out this study on LDL in heart attack patients. Who knew that lower LDL is associated with increased mortality? And more of the low LDL patients were diabetic. Curious, very curious…
Remember these brownies? They’re delicious when undercooked, but turn cakey and dry if you leave them in the oven a minute too long. I know how annoying it is to waste these expensive natural ingredients on recipes full of fail, so I am sorry if you have been caused grief by moisture-sucking overcooked brownies. This new and improved version of sugar-free low carb coconut flour brownies is MUCH less temperamental, and pretty much foolproof in terms of the baking time. Thanks to Buffy at Low Carb Friends for bringing this inspiring recipe to my attention! These brownies are not gooey or chewy, but fudgy and dense. They’re more milk chocolate than most chocolate treats I’ve made, which is refreshing. If you enjoy these brownies as much as my roommates do, you’ll want to stockpile coconut flour for many more batches!
A note about ingredients: Use the highest quality pastured butter you can find for optimal results. I bought a bunch of Kerrygold butter on sale, and have found that it lends such a pleasant buttery taste to everything I use it in. So worth the not-on-sale price! I’ll be using Kerrygold in the recipes you see here from now on. When baking with no sugar and no flour, it’s recommended to use the best of the ingredients we CAN work with! Also, for those of you who don’t use erythritol, I’m pretty sure these brownies would work with 1/4 cup raw honey and 3/4 teaspoon of stevia. This will add 68 grams net carbs to the recipe, making each brownie about 9.5 grams net carbs. Be aware that with the honey/stevia combo, they won’t be as sweet as traditional brownies.
Remember to keep your mitts off of these for a full night in the fridge. I don’t know why, but it seems that baked goods made with coconut flour take a full night to “settle” into their full decadent yumminess. Just make up a batch, toss ‘em in the freezer, and go to bed. Or watch SVU reruns on USA all night. Or read Good Calories, Bad Calories under the covers. Just do something to avoid cutting into this chocolately goodness until it achieves its full potential!
Then wake up and grab yourself a delicious and nutritious sugar-free low carb brownie. For breakfast. You know you want to!
Healthy Coconut Flour Brownies
Serves 12-16
Ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 sticks salted organic butter (3/4 cup), softened
OR 1 stick butter, 8 ounces sour cream (for more moist brownies)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup sifted Bob’s Red Mill coconut flour
3/4 cup erythritol or xylitol OR 1/3 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon NuNaturals pure stevia extract (increase to 1 teaspoon if using honey)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup organic heavy cream
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Brush both sides of an 8″ by 8″ (or 11″ by 7″ for thinner brownies) pan with coconut oil, or spray with extra virgin olive oil cooking spray. Place a cut square of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan.
Beat softened cream cheese with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in butter, vanilla, and sweetener. Whisk together dry ingredients. Add eggs one at a time to cream cheese mixture, and beat until incorporated. Add dry ingredients and heavy cream. Fold in nuts. Pour chocolate mixture into prepared pan, and smooth top with a spatula. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes for the wider pan, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, and top feels firm to the touch. When done, place pan on wire rack and cool completely. Cool pan of brownies overnight in the refrigerator. Slice into 12-16 squares, and serve. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container, or freeze cut brownies, individual wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil.
~4g net carbs per 1/12th of a recipe
Healthy Banana Nut Muffins
All of my baking supplies are gone. They were taken from the dorm kitchen under the cover of night, either by a prankster or an angry cleaning lady (I’m assuming the latter). I asked around as to the whereabouts of my cake pans, mixing bowls, measuring cups, and Magic Bullet parts, and got no answers. Such is college life!
With my new limited stock of kitchen tools, I bring you these simple, comforting Banana Bread Muffins. With a touch of cinnamon and a sprinkling of pecans, these gluten-free sugar-free low carb muffins will trick your senses into thinking you are eating more than the sum of their parts. Flourless and sugarless, you might ask what exactly makes up these delicious morsels. Mashed banana, organic butter, eggs, and one of my favorite healthy ingredients… coconut flour!
Baked goods made with coconut flour are nothing short of miraculous. Lots of eggs and a bit of ground defatted coconut can be transformed into everything from English Muffins to Red Velvet Cake to Brownies to Pancakes. The possibilities are endless, and easily adaptable to a sugar-free lifestyle. For me, the best aspect of baking with coconut flour is not having to grind almonds! Every time I want to make baked goods using almond flour, I grind the sliced almonds myself with my trusty Magic Bullet blender. Being able to scoop flour directly from the bag (well, after sifting) always feels like such a luxury now!
My other recipes featuring coconut flour:
Red Velvet Cake
Not-tella Swirl Cupcakes
Crispy Pizza Crust
English Muffins
Pick up some coconut flour at your local Whole Foods, or inquire about this product at the health food store in your area. If you’re worried about coconut flour causing everything you make to taste like coconut, fear not. In fragrant, flavorful treats like these healthy banana muffins, there is not even a hint of coconut flavor to confuse your palate. These muffins would be wonderful as a banana bread loaf, baked for a bit longer at a lower temperature.
Look at all those crunchy pecans!
Banana Bread Muffins
Makes 10 muffins
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sifted organic coconut flour
4 tablespoons organic unsalted butter, softened
6 large eggs
3/4 cup mashed banana (2 medium bananas, overripe to the point of being black)
1/2 cup erythritol
1/4 teaspoon good-tasting pure stevia extract
1/4 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Beat butter with erythritol until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Combine coconut flour with baking powder, cinnamon, stevia, and salt, and beat into batter until there are no lumps. Beat in mashed banana. Fold in nuts, reserving a couple tablespoons for sprinkling the tops. Pour batter almost up the top of greased muffin papers (the shiny tins work best), and top with nuts. Bake 35 minutes, covering the muffins with a sheet of foil after the 30 minute mark. Let cool in pans for 5-10 minutes, then remove and let muffins finish cooling on a wire rack. When completely cooled, transfer to an airtight container. Store at room temperature for 24 hours, then move to the refrigerator.
~5.5g net carbs per muffin of a recipe
For best results, serve warm with a pat of Kerrygold butter!
What do YOU like to make with coconut flour? Leave a comment and share!
Related content from other blogs:
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins @ Elana’s Pantry
Wheat-free Recipes with Coconut Flour @ Cheeseslave
Coconut Bread @ Nourishing Days
Healthy Pink Pomegranate No-Bake Cheesecake
First off, take a look at this wonderful profile of Dr. Barry Groves, author of “Natural Health and Weight Loss” and his new release, “Trick and Treat: How Healthy Eating Is Making Us Ill.” Dr. Groves is an advocate of a natural high-fat, low carbohydrate diet for total health and weight management.
If you haven’t tried a No-Bake Cheesecake, now is the time. It’s the ideal dessert for a low carbohydrate diet high in nourishing fats. Each silky bite is so creamy, thick, and sweet, you can barely finish a slice of cake, even though it tastes so good that as you’re eating it, you’re sad because you’re getting closer and closer to it being gone! In addition to being a big finish to a meal, I can attest to the fact that this cake is the perfect treat to wake up to if you have a sweet tooth. A breakfast of sugar-free, gluten-free, low carb No-Bake cheesecake will keep you going through the morning, without leaving you feeling stuffed because it is so nutrient dense!
We all have heard of the health benefits of pomegranate seeds and juice, which are full of antioxidants and cancer-fighting phytochemicals. This delicious, seasonal fruit is relatively low in sugar, with 26g carbs in a whole pomegranate.
Preparation couldn’t be easier. You grind the nuts, bake the crust, and whip together the filling. This is another one of those desserts that will make everyone think you spent hours on it. The pomegranate arils are works of art in their own right. The little red jewels, full of tart, crimson juice, can simply be strewn about the base to make your cheesecake look fit for royalty.
The lovely blush hue of the cheesecake is not 100% derived from the pom juice. You know how I feel about a bit of artifical coloring to jazz up natural desserts. If you don’t like it, don’t use it!
Pink Pom No-Bake Cheesecake
Adapted from a recipe at AllRecipes.com
Ingredients:
Crust:
3 tablespoons organic butter (regular salted)
1 1/4 cups sliced almonds
1/2 cup (heaped) pecans or walnuts
1/4 cup GF rolled oats (replace with more almonds if desired)
1 tsp raw honey (optional)
1/8 teaspoon good-tasting pure stevia extract
3 tablespoons powdered erythritol (optional, for a sweet crust)
Filling:
2-8 oz packages cream cheese or Neufchatel 1/3 less fat cheese
1 pomegranate, yielding 3 tablespoons fresh pomegranate juice
3/4 cup erythritol, powdered
1/8 teaspoon plus 1/16 teaspoon good-tasting pure stevia extract
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Red and blue food coloring (optional)
1 cup heavy cream
Glaze (optional):
2 tablespoons fresh pomegranate juice
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon erythritol
pinch of xanthan gum
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Set cream cheese out on counter.
Grease a 9” pie dish, or line the bottom of a mini springform pan with a round of parchment paper, and grease the bottom and sides. Grind nuts and oats into a meal in food processor. Add the rest of the crust ingredients, and drizzle in butter. Pulse until a dough forms, then press into the bottom of a pie plate or mini springform pan. Bake crust for 5 minutes at 300 degrees, then turn up the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 15 minutes, or until crust is browned around the edges. Let cool on countertop or freeze for 10 minutes to speed cooling process.
Press about 1/2 cup of pomegranate seeds through a sieve to get 3 tablespoons of juice. Save the rest of the juice for glaze. Beat cream cheese for a minute until creamy, and add pomegranate juice, vanilla, stevia, and 1/4 cup erythritol, beating until smooth. Gradually add the rest of the erythritol, and beat for another couple of minutes. Add drops of blue food coloring (about 3) and red food coloring (about 10) until desired shade of pink is reached. In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream to stiff peaks. Fold heavy cream into cream cheese mixture, until most streaks are gone. Spread over crust with a spatula, and smooth the top. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight (ideal) and unmold from sides of the springform pan. Store covered in plastic wrap.
For glaze, combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until erythritol dissolves. Whisk in a tiny pinch of xanthan gum and keep stirring, off of the heat, until it thickens. This glaze does not keep, so prepare it immediately before serving. Let sauce cool and pour over individual slices of cake.
Lemon Variation: Use 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in place of the pomegranate juice.
Vanilla Variation: Use 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract and no fruit juice.
~69.5g net carbs for the whole cheesecake made with 1/2 of a pomegranate, oats in the crust (which add 11g net carbs), and no glaze
~4g net carbs for glaze
Other blog posts you might like:
How to Cut and De-Seed a Pomegranate @ Simply Recipes
Pomegranate Blackberry Dessert @ The Blog of Dr. Michael Eades
Healthy Pomegranate Cheesecake @ Associated Content
Ideas for eating pomegranates @ Gluten-Free Girl