Low-carb desserts wanted, esp peanut butter based. Also info on low-carb substitutions.

WANTED:
I have been craving some kind of peanut butter flavored sweet treat, but I’m not thrilled with the recipes I’ve found so far (not having tried them, but I am a very good cook generally and I am pretty good about predicting the results of a recipe after reading it, especially if it has particular ingredients that have a particular way of flavoring or changing the texture of something.)

I have read a couple of recipes for low-carb peanut butter fudge, and such a thing sounds appealing in theory, but the recipes haven’t sounded all that great- one had a lot of cream cheese, which imparts a tartness, the other had whey protein, which I don’t have around the house AND I don’t have any idea what kind of flavor or texture that imparts, so I’m hesitant to invest in some just to experiment. What does it taste like? What does it do to a recipe? Can it be replaced with coconut flour?

More Questions
And as long as I’m asking questions…I very much dislike almond flour. If a recipe sounds tempting except for the fact that it’s made with almond flour, can coconut flour substitute? If so, what adjustments must be made? Can any other nut flour substitute (i generally dislike brazil nuts, but I’ve noticed that they are actually kind of bland and might work well in certain circumstances)?

Has anyone ever used peanut butter flour? I saw it at Trader Joes a year or two ago and meant to try it out, then they stopped carrying it.

Does anyone know of a resource that breaks down the various substitution/replacement foods with information about how each is used in recipes and what can sub for what?

Something like:

[ul]
[li]Coconut flour- works well as a true flour substitute for cakes or muffins, very mild coconut flavor. Extremely dry, requires lots of extra egg, fat or other liquid to offset the dryness. [/li]
[li]psyllium husks virtually tasteless, but work well as a fry coating because they will brown and crisp.[/li][/ul]
That sort of thing.

I’ll share my current favorite low-carb dessert:
** brulee-free creme brulee**

[ul]
[li]2 pints cream or some measure of half/half, depending on your carb vs. fat tolerance[/li][li]3 egg yolks[/li][li]1 whole egg[/li][li]barely a pinch of salt[/li][li]sweetener of your choice- I use a mix of Truvia and Splenda-based syrup[/li][li]vanilla[/li][li]nutmeg[/li][/ul]

I do not have amounts on the sweetener and vanilla because those are to taste, see below.

[ul]
[li]beat the eggs with the salt[/li][li]scald the cream[/li][li]add a little hot cream while stirring to temper the eggs (if you add the hot cream all at once you will have scrambled eggs) then add a little more, then all of it.[/li][/ul]
**RE ADDING SWEETENER AND VANILLA: **I do this entirely by taste, and I do it by sweetening the eggs and adding vanilla to the eggs, making it sweeter than I would like, then I test again after adding the cream, adjusting as necessary while keeping in mind the fact that it will taste sweeter cold than it does warm or hot.

If you don’t want to risk tasting raw egg (i touch it very lightly to my tongue, so far it’s never been a problem) then sweeten the cream, but remember that if you make it perfect with only the cream, the eggs will dilute the sweetness somewhat, so account for that.

I also use A LOT of vanilla. Because I love vanilla, but that’s why it’s “to taste”.

Place ramekins in a wide pan, fill with custard mix. Sprinkle nutmeg on top. This is optional, and again, I use A LOT because I love it. YMMV.

Add hot water to the pan, enough to come up to the level of the custard inside the ramekins, and bake in a 325 oven for 25 minutes to start. the final amount of time depends on how full the ramekins are and how fussy you are. I don’t mind overcooking a little, just test with a knife. If it comes out coated, it needs more cooking.

If you eat it warm it will be looser and more liquid than it is cold. After being chilled it is very rich and creamy. Yum.

I also make a chocolate version by reserving a third of the recipe or so, melting a square of unsweetened chocolate and adding more cream, sweetening to taste. I keep adding warm cream to the chocolate/cream until it’s relatively thin, then I add in the reserved custard mix. I discovered the first time I tried this that the chocolate willl thicken the cream all by itself quite a bit, so it needs to be thinned quite a bit.

Sorry not to be more precise with all my measurements, but I’m mostly an eyeball cook. Years of practice, and I know that doesn’t help if you aren’t the same. If anyone is interested and frustrated, I’ll try to work out better measurements next time I make it.

You can also try using yolks only, that makes it ultra smooth and creamy, but I like the bit of firmness that the white adds. Also you can reduce total number of eggs, I believe that as little as one yolk per cup of cream is enough to make the custard set, but since I like it rich and eggy, I’ve never experimented with that.

I don’t have answers to your questions, but there’s lots of cooking knowledge at www.lowcarbfriends.com. Try the message boards if you can’t find your answers within the reviews or recipes sections.

Velveeta-based fudge is pretty good. Here’s a recipe for Velveeta-based peanut butter fudge; replace the powdered sugar with Splenda or Truvia powder and adjust ingredients for taste.

When I did LC my favorite treat was this concoction I created myself:

Some Trader Joe’s creamy salted peanut butter
Some flax meal (optional)
A square or two of Trader Joe’s sugar free milk chocolate, chopped rough
Some Splenda packets
Some xylitol if you have it

Mix in amounts that taste good to you

Good and actually full of protein and good fats, especially if you add flax.

Chocolate Covered Katie is a desert blog done by a vegan woman. Most of her deserts are very lightly sweetened and/or use stevia or other low calorie sweetener (never fake). She has a chocolate pie that’s fantastic and uses tofu as the base. Tofu and lots and lots of chocolate. You could control the carbs by using very dark chocolate and lightly sweetening with your favorite sweetener. I have made the pie and I did like it a lot. (I was looking for something fun for a nephew with an egg allergy.)

When I went the South Beach Diet back when it came out, there was a recipe on the S.B. forums for making a cake using a can of pulverized white or black beans instead of flour, eggs, and a packet of sugar-free pudding or various flavors of sugar-free Jello. Absolutely delicious stuff! No reason you couldn’t make one with peanut butter in it, I’m certain if you browse the recipe forums at southbeach-diet-com. you’ll find by now many more wonderful concoctions.

My favorite low carb treat is coconut bark made with coconut oil, cocoa, and vanilla sweetened to taste, then you freeze it a few minutes and add a spoonful of peanut butter then cover with more coconut bark fixins to make peanut butter cups. You could sweeten the peanut butter but it’s not necessary. I add in nuts sometimes. I have a batch right now with broken pecan pieces. Instead of making a peanut butter cup I melted the peanut butter in with the cocoa and oil so it’s a little softer than if it was just pure coconut oil.

I have been known to buy sugar-free chocolate or vanilla pudding and mix it with whipping cream and peanut butter. I personally prefer to leave little swirls of peanut butter instead of fully mixing it all together. It gets really thick and yummy without the cream cheesiness of a cheesecake.

I love coconut flour but I wouldn’t recommend subbing it measure for measure with almond flour. It’s much, much drier. I’ve never tried peanut flour.

When you say low-carb how low do you want to go?

People I know who do LC and the like default to berries with heavy cream, which generally sounds pretty good to me.

One thing I did that was cool was crush up pork rinds in a food processor and then use them to “bread” fried chicken. Worked pretty doggone well.

I don’t even need the cream, I became a strawberry fanatic this year. But even in California, strawberries aren’t much good in November.

I’ve been doing this for over 8 months now, and what’s happened is that I sort of naturally stay in a ketosis zone; I’m so “meh” about food so much of the time that I have to make myself eat, and the easiest thing is a slab of meat.

All to say…when I’m in the mood for dessert I can splurge a little. But great recipes that are not a splurge are much desired -my sweet tooth is tamed, but it’s not dead.

I’ve been finding myself craving peanut butter frosting: sweet, peanutty, creamy fluffy rich goo. Kinda hard to pull off with subs. But if I can find a way to enjoy something similar…

I’m also trying to find the original Atkins cheesecake recipe, the one from 1970. That was the first time I went low-carb, with my mom when I was 12. There was a cheesecake recipe in the first book that was cream cheese, gelatin, and…? It had cinnmon as a topping. My memory of it is that it was actually a yummy treat. I can’t find it, I can only find later versions made with different things.

And that’s another sweet flavor profile I miss and I really can’t figure out how to satisfy: buttery sweet cinnamon as in rolls or toast or pastry.

I saw a pumpkin bread with maple cream cheese filling yesterday that looked very easy to adapt. That could be spiced up and be very tasty…

Speaking of this…my other favorite sweet treat was to melt butter and put it in a freezer bag with pork rinds, then add cinnamon and Splenda and shake it all up.

I could never eat a pork rind straight up but this was pretty much like churros and it was amazing.

For days you don’t feel like cooking Reeses does a sugar free peanut butter cup which is quite amazing.

Sometimes it’s a good thing, sometimes it’s a bad thing, but I’m pretty sure I’m a “supertaster”, which means my palate is way too sensitive to fool with this sort of thing - the pork flavor is impossible to mask for me and that makes any attempt to make a sweet out of pork rinds means I’d have to like sweet pork flavored things. Since I don’t even like honeybaked ham…

Speaking from experience, you’ve got to be careful with these things – they’re sweetened with maltitol and maltitol can cause, uh, digestive distress in people who are sensitive to it. If you don’t know whether you’re sensitive to it or not, eat it for the first time on a night when you’re already not planning to leave the house.

I just want to put one vote for the whey crowd. Whey powder is a great way to add protein to things - and a great add-in for recipes. If it’s at all possible to go to GNC and grab some kind of small bottle or sample size, I’d urge you to do it. Plus, it makes great protein shakes (Double chocolate with vanilla soy and 2 tbsp of peanut butter is yum!). And if you like it, as a side note, I’ve generally found Amazon to be cheaper if you’re buying in bulk.

It generally “blends” away, so there is no texture added, AFAICT. Just taste.

I have a copy of the original book - does this sound right?

1/4c heavy cream
8 oz “Tem-tee” whipped cream cheese
1 1/2 envelopes gelatin
1/4c cold water
2 eggs, room temp, separated
3 T vanilla
1/4 lemon - juice and grated rind
6 tsp “sugar twin”
3/4c more heavy cream
cinnamon

YES! Exactly! Any meaningful instructions, or is it just mix it all together and bake? Since the eggs are separated I’ll bet there’s a few steps in there… You rock, btw.

Well, I don’t need to add protein to anything, since I pretty much live on protein and fat. But I see it added to recipes that leads me to think that it’s being used to add or change the texture or behavior of the other igredients. Any thoughts?

Let’s see, how does it go…
(I’m not a cheesecake fan, so I have no idea how this would come out.)

Combine 1/4c heavy cream and cream cheese, cook over low heat until melted
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water, add to above
Whisk until mixture begins to boil, remove from heat and cool
Add egg yolks, vanilla, lemon, rind and 4tsp sugar subst.

Whip 3/4c heavycream with 1tsp sugar subst., beat egg whites with 1tsp sugar subst.
Fold whipped cream and egg whites into the cool cheese mixture. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Spray a loaf pan with vegetable oil. Pour mixture into loaf pan and refrigerate.

Enjoy!