Low Carb Banana Muffins

Low Carb Banana Muffins

 Ingredients

3 bananas, mashed

1 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup arrowroot

1/2 cup xylitol

17 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

Frosting

8 oz whipped cream cheese

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp NuNaturals powdered stevia extract


Preparation

1. Preheat oven on 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. 
3. Next, take another mixing bowl and whisk the eggs together, thoroughly.  Pour the eggs into the dry mix and stir.
4. Pour into greased muffins tins and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until they've risen and are lightly brown.
5. Cool on cookie trays.

Make sure that the muffins are cool before frosting them.  If they aren't, then the cream cheese frosting will begin to melt while you are in the process of smoothing it on. 

Low Carb Sugar Cookies

Low Carb Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup Stevia in the Raw baking sweetener
1/4 cup Truvia
1/4 cup xylitol
2/3 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla exract
1 1/8 cup coconut flour
1/3 cup almond meal/flour
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven for 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together Stevia in the Raw baking sweetener, truvia, xylitol, butter, and coconut oil.
3. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
4. Add the next four ingredients and mix together.  The dough will be somewhat soft.  Refrigerate for two hours.
5. Shape into 1-inch balls.
6. Place an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten with the bottom of a glass that has been dipped in xylitol.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until they are slightly borwned.
8. Cool on cookie racks and enjoy!

I decided to top off my cookies by drizzling agave nectar over them and sprinkling a little extra xylitol on the top, but you can add whatever seems alluring to you.

Specialty Ingredients

Here are some of the most important key ingredients that I use in my low carb recipes. It would probably be wise to add them to your upcoming grocery list if you're planning on cooking/baking low carb meals and desserts in the future. Have fun with it!

These are grain sweetened chocolate chips, which are a great substitute for sugary/high carb chocolate chips. They do have a few carbs, but I don't even pay attention to that because I only use them every once in a while.

This is almond meal/flour, which is slivered almonds blended into a powdery substance. It's a great substitute for all-purpose flour, but it has more fat and calories than coconut flour.

This is coconut flour, which is coconut meat (without the coconut milk) blended into a a powder. It provides more protein and ten times more fiber than whole wheat flour. It can work as a all-purpose baking flour substitute as well, but it absorbs liquid easily. Therefore, the more coconut flour you use, the more liquid and eggs you need to add.

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol, which is a low carb sugar substitute that is usually derived from a natural occurance in plants. It's consistency is very similar to powdered sugar. It contains 50 to 70 percent the sweetness of your everyday table sugar, sucrose. Also, erythritol has less than 0.2 calories per teaspoon.

Stevia is an herb sweetener and sugar substitute that contains zero calories, low carbohydrates, and a low GI count. It also has 300 times the sweetness of sugar, which is why it can't be measured cup for cup. Most stevia brands tend to have a bitter and strong aftertaste, but NuNaturals is by far the least bitter out of all the brands combined!

Xylitol is another sugar alcohol that is widely used in sugar free gum and toothpaste. It fights the bacteria that causes tooth decay, which is why it's used so often. It's another great low carb, low GI sugar substitute that's farely low calorie and has a similar consistency to granulated sugar.

I hope that this information I've given you will be helpful in your future!  If you have any questions whatsoever, feel free to ask them in the comment boxes and I will answer them to the best of my knowlege.  

Low Carb Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 36 small cookies.


Ingredients
1/4 cup almond meal/flour
1 cup coconut flour
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup finely ground peanuts
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup xylitol
2 extra large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Smart Balance butter substitute, softened
1 tsp NuNaturals powdered stevia extract
1/4 cup agave nectar
2/3 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips
1/2 tsp baking powder



Preparation

1. Preheat oven for 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Grease a cookie sheet and set it aside.

3. Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl.

4. Mix eggs, Smart Balance, vanilla extract, and agave nectar in another bowl.

5. Add the dry mix and the chocolate chips to the second bowl and whisk thoroughly.

6. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

7. Take the cookie dough out of the refrigerator and roll into small balls.

8. Place the cookie dough balls onto the greased cookie sheet and flatten with the palm of your hand.

9. Slide the cookie sheet into the oven for 10 minutes and take out to cool on a cookie rack.

10. Enjoy!

I am so excited to be posting my first recipe!  I think that it's safe to say I have an actual "cooking" blog now.

Christmas 2011 Photos

Here's my family's Christmas photo from this past year.  With so many kiddos, we had a hard time trying to get all of them to smile at the same time.

 Children in age order: Abbie(17), Emma(15), Jackson(14), Libby(12), Ruby(11), Ethan(10), Jojo(7), Tate(5), and Annemarie Carolyn(4 months today).

This is the picture that makes me laugh so hard!  Half of the us are smiling and the other half either have their eyes closed or are flipped over onto their stomachs(Tate...ha ha!).

                                       The newest addition to our family, Annemarie Carolyn.