1001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes From Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back (138 page)

Which I do. Don’t try to make this with Splenda, it won’t work—the polyol sweetener somehow makes the water and the chocolate combine. It’s either chemistry or magic, or some darned thing.

cup (80 ml) water

2 ounces (55 g) bitter baking chocolate

½ cup (100 g) maltitol

3 tablespoons (42 g) butter

¼ teaspoon vanilla

Put the water and bitter chocolate in a large glass measuring cup and microwave on high for 1 to 1½ minutes or until chocolate is melted. Stir in the maltitol and microwave on high for another 3 minutes, stirring halfway through. Stir in the butter and vanilla and it’s ready to serve (or make into a pie!).

Yield:
Makes roughly 1 cup (240 ml), or 8 servings of 2 tablespoons (30 g)

Each 2 g carbohydrate and 1 g fiber, not including the maltitol, for a usable carb count of 1 g; 1 g protein.

This worked beautifully with maltitol. However, when I tried to make it with erythritol, it started out fine but crystallized and turned grainy as it cooled—though it would still have been okay used hot over ice cream, it wouldn’t have worked for the frozen pies in this chapter.

12 ounces (340 g) sugar-free dark chocolate

2 tablespoons (30 ml) sugar-free imitation honey or 2 tablespoons (25 g) polyol sweetener

2 tablespoons (30 ml) heavy cream

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon (75 ml) water

In a double boiler over hot but not boiling water, melt the chocolate. Stir in the sugar-free imitation honey, the cream, and the water. Keep hot over water while dipping cookies, fruit, or what have you.

Yield:
It’s hard to know how many things you’re going to dip!

But assuming you make 36 Chocolate Dip cookies (page 507), or dip three dozen strawberries, the dip will add to each of them trace protein; trace carbohydrate; trace dietary fiber; no usable carbs. Carb count does not include polyols in the sugar-free chocolate.

This is my sister’s recipe. It’s good on the Zucchini-Carrot Cake (page 509) or the Gingerbread (page 511).

¾ cup (180 ml) heavy cream, chilled

1 package (8 ounces, or 225 g) cream cheese, softened

½ cup (12 g) Splenda

1 teaspoon vanilla

Whip the heavy cream until it’s stiff.

In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese until very smooth and then beat in the Splenda and vanilla. Turn the mixer to its lowest speed and blend in the whipped cream. Then turn off the mixer, quick!

Yield:
9 servings

Each with 3 grams of carbohydrates, no fiber, and 2 grams of protein.

This has a wonderful flavor and texture.

1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream, well chilled

1 tablespoon (10 g) vanilla sugar-free instant pudding powder

Simply whip them together until the cream is stiff. The pudding adds a very nice texture and helps the whipped cream “stand up.” It also adds a slightly vanilla/sweet flavor to the cream, of course.

Yield:
This makes about 2 cups (480 ml), or 16 2 tablespoon (30 ml) servings

Each with only a trace carbohydrate, no fiber, and a trace protein.

This is incredible with berries as a simple but elegant dessert. I like to serve strawberries and whipped cream in my nice chip-and-dip dish—it looks so pretty! And it makes the whole thing engagingly informal. This whipped topping is also great on any dessert and terrific on Irish coffee!

You’ll need this to make the extraordinary dessert we call Better Than S-X (page 548) and several others in this book! You could use it over fresh fruit, for that matter, or anywhere you think a little coconut might be nice.

3 tablespoons (40 g) polyol sweetener

cup (80 ml) boiling water

2 cups (140 g) shredded coconut meat

In a medium-size mixing bowl, dissolve the polyol sweetener in water. Stir in the coconut, making sure the coconut is evenly damp. Cover the bowl and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes.

Yield:
2 cups (180 g), or 16 servings of 2 tablespoons each

Each with trace protein; 2 g carbohydrate; 1 g dietary fiber; 1 g usable carb. Carb count does not include polyol sweetener.

This is a nice little nibble to pass around with coffee.

2 tablespoons (28 g) butter

1 cup (120 g) shelled walnuts, pecans, or a combination of the two

1½ to 2 tablespoons (2 to 3 g) Splenda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat and then add the nuts. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring from time to time. Turn off the heat and immediately sprinkle the Splenda and cinnamon over the top and stir to distribute. (If
you wait for the nuts to cool, the Splenda doesn’t stick nearly so well.) I like these best warm, although they’re still quite nice when cooled.

Yield:
4 or 5 servings (remember, this is just a nibble)

Assuming 4 servings, each will have 5 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 3 grams of usable carbs and 5 grams of protein.

This recipe had a very special tester—my 7-year-old friend Austin McIntosh. He gives this recipe a 10. His mom, Julie, who helped, says it’s quite easy to do and really is doable for kids, especially since no heat is involved. She also says it’s good without the nuts, too!

1 pound (455 g) cream cheese, softened

2 ounces (55 g) bitter chocolate, melted

½ cup (12 g) Splenda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ (65 g) cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Beat the cream cheese until smooth and then beat in the chocolate, Splenda, and vanilla. Stir in the chopped nuts.

Line an 8 × 8-inch (20 × 20-cm) pan with foil and smooth the cream cheese mixture into it. Chill well and then cut in squares. Store in the fridge

Yield:
64 1-inch (2.5-cm) squares

Each with 1 g protein; 1 g carbohydrate; trace dietary fiber; 1 gram carbohydrate.

This isn’t dirt-low in carbs, but it’s astonishingly delicious, with a fabulous, creamy texture. If you make only one frozen dessert from this book, make this one.

16 ounces (480 ml) peach-flavored Fruit
₂
O

1 tablespoon (7 g) unflavored gelatin

2 cups (400 grams) sliced peaches (Unsweetened frozen peach slices work great.)

¼ cup (60 ml) lemon juice

cup (8 g) Splenda

2 cups (480 ml) heavy cream, chilled

3 tablespoons (30 g) sugar-free vanilla pudding mix

Pour the Fruit
₂
O into a nonreactive saucepan and turn the heat underneath to medium-low. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Stir with a whisk as the mixture heats, making sure all the gelatin dissolves.

Add the peaches, lemon juice, and Splenda to the gelatin mixture and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the peaches are just getting tender. Transfer the mixture to a blender (this assumes your blender can take the heat—if it can’t, let the mixture cool a bit first) and pulse the blender a few times—you want to leave some small chunks of peach, rather than puréeing everything completely smooth.

Let the peach mixture cool until it’s room temperature—it should be syrupy but not gelled for the next step.

Pour the chilled heavy cream into a large mixing bowl and add the pudding mix. Whip with an electric mixer until the cream stands in soft peaks. Turn the mixer to low and beat in the
peach/gelatin mixture. Beat only long enough to get everything blended and then turn off the mixer.

Pour the whole thing into an ice cream freezer. (This actually was a bit too much mixture for my freezer, so we had to eat the little bit left over unfrozen. This was not a hardship.) Freeze according to the directions that come with the freezer and then serve.

If you have leftover Peach Ice Cream, let it soften at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before serving—it’s likely to be unappealingly hard straight out of the freezer.

Yield:
Makes about 1½ quarts (1.4 L), or roughly 10 servings, assuming you’re using self-restraint, which is actually a bad bet.

Assuming you manage to share, and not pig out, each serving will have about 10 grams of carbohydrate, with 1 gram of fiber, for a usable carb count of 9 grams; 2 grams protein.

This is so rich and delicious! The polyols in this help to keep it from freezing like a rock—which it would if you used Splenda instead. Try serving it with the Sugar-Free Chocolate Sauce (page 551).

6 eggs

2 cups (480 ml) half-and-half

½ cup (100 g) polyol sweetener

3 tablespoons (45 ml) sugar-free imitation honey

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups (480 ml) whipping cream, chilled

1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, beat together the eggs, half-and-half, sweetener, honey, and salt. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly (don’t quit or you’ll get very rich scrambled eggs!), until the mixture is thick enough to coat a metal spoon and has reached at least 160°F (75°C).