Gluten-Free Holiday-Spiced Carrot Cakelets With Eggnog Frosting

Gluten-Free Holiday-Spiced 

Carrot Cakelets with Eggnog Frosting

These moist, gluten-free mini carrot cakes get all the holiday feels from fragrant baking spices and a cream cheese frosting flavoured with rum and nutmeg. Don’t be tempted to skip the little bit of coconut flour, as it’s vital for getting the right texture. (You can buy just a little bit at most bulk food stores.)
Ingredients:

Cakelets
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) superfine blanched almond flour
1 tbsp (15 mL) coconut flour
1 tsp (5 mL) fine sea salt
1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking powder
1/4 tsp (1 mL) baking soda
1 tsp (5 mL) ground ginger
1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp (2 mL) freshly ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp (0.5 mL) ground cloves
1 cup (250 mL) finely shredded carrots
3/4 cup (175 mL) packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup (60 mL) canola oil
1/3 cup (80 mL) chopped walnuts, toasted
1/4 cup (60 mL) shredded unsweetened coconut
Frosting
1/2 cup (125 mL) Philadelphia-style cream cheese, at room
   temperature
1/4 cup (60 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 1/2 cups (875 mL) icing sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) dark rum or heavy cream
1/2 tsp (2 mL) freshly grated nutmeg, plus more to garnish
Pinch fine sea salt

Directions: 

For the cakelets, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).  Heavily grease a  

12-cup muffin tin (or fill with parchment paper
liners). You can add a circle of parchment to the base of each well
as extra insurance, if you’re so inclined.

Combine almond flour, coconut flour, salt, baking powder and
soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in a bowl and stir until
uniform. Set aside.

Place carrots on a paper towel–lined plate and top with another
paper towel, pressing down to absorb any extra moisture.

Combine brown sugar and eggs in a medium mixing bowl and
beat on high with an electric mixer until pale and thick, about
4 minutes. Working one at a time, add dry mixture, canola oil, carrots,
walnuts and coconut, gently folding to incorporate.

Divide batter between prepared wells. Bake until tops are nicely b
rowned and feel slightly springy when touched, 18 to 20 minutes. 

Cool for 5 minutes then run point of a thin knife around edges of each well and ease them out. Put cakelets top down on a wire rack to cool
completely.

For the frosting, combine cream cheese and butter in large mixing
bowl and beat with an electric mixer until completely smooth. Add
icing sugar and beat until combined. Add rum or cream, nutmeg and
salt. Beat until fully incorporated. Pipe or spread icing onto cooled
cakes and dust with a little fresh nutmeg.

Keto Sugar Cookie ~Keto Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Cut Out Sugar Cookies, Keto Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
Cookies:
2 ¼ cups almond flour
2 tablespoon coconut flour (can also use oat fiber)
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoon butter softened
½ cup Swerve Sweetener granular
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Royal Icing:

½ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
½ cup powdered Bocha Sweet (or powdered xylitol)
1 tablespoon egg white powder
2 to 4 tablespoon Water room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Natural food coloring

Directions
Cookies: Prepare a work surface with a silicone baking mat or a large piece of parchment paper, and dust lightly with coconut flour. Line two large baking sheets silicone liners or parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sweetener together until creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, and then beat in the almond flour mixture until dough comes together.

Turn the dough out onto the prepared work surface. Pat into a rough circle and then top with a large piece of parchment paper. Roll out to about ⅓-inch thickness. 

Using cookie cutters of choice, cut out cookies and lift carefully with a small, offset spatula or knife. Place on the prepared baking sheets and freeze for 30 minutes. Gather up the scraps and re-roll your dough, to cut out as many cookies as possible. 

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Bake the cookies 12 to 14 minutes, or until they are just starting to brown around the edges, switching and rotating the pans halfway through baking. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on pan. The cookies will still be quite soft when removed from the oven but will firm up as they cool.

Royal Icing:

In a large bowl, whisk together the sweeteners and the egg white powder. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking in between, until desired consistency is achieved. It should drizzle off the end of the whisk in ribbons, but shouldn't be too thin. Whisk in the vanilla extract.

Divide into sepate bowls and add food coloring in small amounts until the desired color is achieved.
Place icing in small ziploc bags or piping bags with the very corner snipped off to pipe outlines. Let the outlines dry at least 10 to 20 minutes before filling in.

To fill in the outlines, pipe frosting into the outline in a back and forth motion. It does not have to be perfect and there may be gaps. Then simply use a toothpick to fill the icing into the gaps. 

Let the flooded icing dry completely before adding any additional icing decoration. (Or do what I did for one cookie, add little dots of another color and swirl them in with a toothpick. So many fun options!).

Coconut Shrimp ~ Keto

Keto Coconut Shrimp

Ingredients:

1 pound raw jumbo shrimp, peeled, deveined with tails on
¼ cup coconut flour
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 whole egg, beaten
Avocado Oil, or other mild flavored Keto friendly oil
Dipping Sauce
¼ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup Sambal or Sirachi
2 tablespoons sugar-free apricot jam
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
Pinch of salt

Directions:

Add all the dipping sauce ingredients together in a small mixing bowl, and whisk until it’s well combined. Set aside and keep at room temperature, to allow the flavors to meld together while you fry the shrimp.

Add the coconut flour to bowl, the beaten egg to another and the shredded coconut to a third bowl to set up your breading station. 

Take each piece of shrimp by the tail, lightly coat in the coconut flour, shaking off any excess.

Then dip it into the egg, allowing excess egg to drip off.

And lastly, dip into the coconut, making sure the shrimp is well coated.

Heat a large nonstick skillet to medium heat and fry the shrimp for a couple of minutes on each side.

Shrimp cook super fast and the coconut will brown quickly, so be sure not to overcook them. You definitely want to stay close by and be ready to flip them quickly.

Work in small batches, so you don’t overcrowd the pan, which will make them harder to flip. Allow to drain on paper towels while you fry up the rest.

Serve immediately with the dipping sauce on the side.

Recipe Notes:  

Makes about 24 shrimp, with 4 servings of 6 shrimp each.

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes Keto

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes  (Keto)

These low carb Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes are like the best part of the pumpkin pie.  All creamy filling and sweet whipped cream!  A perfect keto dessert for your healthy.

These cupcakes are without the high carb crust and without all the sugar. They are just soft and gooey enough without oozing out all over your plate. Really, they are essentially little cups of crustless pumpkin pie and they will satisfy that craving instantly.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup Swerve Brown or Swerve Granular 
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Use parchment or silicon cupcake liners or you will loose most of your cupcake.

Preheat oven to 350*F and line 6 muffin cups with silicone or parchment liners.

In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk pumpkin puree, sweetener, cream, egg and vanilla until well combined.  Whisk in dry ingredients.  If your batter seems very thin, whisk in an additional tablespoon of coconut flour.

Divide among prepared muffin cups and bake 25 to 30 minutes, until just puffed and barely set. Remove from oven and let cool in pan (they will sink...that's okay, all the better for plopping your whipped cream on top!).

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.  Dollop whipped cream generously on top.

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes Recipe Notes:

Do not expect these to be like regular cupcakes. While most of my readers adore this recipe, some were surprised to find them very un-cake like. This is how they are supposed to be. Think of it as the center of the pumpkin pie with no crust.

Be sure use parchment paper or silicone cupcake liners. Either works well, but paper liners will stick terribly and you will lose most of your cupcake.

If your pumpkin puree is very thin and watery, you will probably need to add more coconut flour to dry it out.

Use Swerve Brown if you can get it. It gives this keto dessert an extra special caramel-like flavor.

This makes 6 cupcakes but you can easily double or triple the recipe and make them for a whole crowd.

Do not forget the dollop of whipped cream on top. Keto pumpkin pie heaven!

Cheesy Breadsticks

KETO BREADSTICKS

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Appetizer, Side Dish

Cheesy breadsticks which are also 

low carb, keto and gluten free.

Ingredients

Breadstick Dough:

•  1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
•  1 oz cream cheese
•  1/2 cup almond flour
•  3 tbsp coconut flour
•  1 large egg

Toppings

•  1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
•  1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
•  1 tsp finely chopped parsley

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Add mozzarella and cream cheese to a large microwave-safe bowl. Melt in the microwave at full power in 30-second intervals. After each 30 seconds, stir cheese until cheese is completely melted and uniform (see photo above). This should take around 1-1 1/2 minutes total. Do not try to microwave the full time at once because some of the cheese will overcook. You can also melt the cheese over the stove in a double boiler.

1. Add cheese ball to a food processor with dough blade attachment. Add in almond flour, coconut flour and egg. Pulse on high speed until the dough is uniform. The dough will be quite sticky, which is normal.
2. Allow the dough to cool slightly, which will also make it less sticky and easier to work with. Roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper until 1/4 inch thick. Peel top sheet of parchment paper off of dough. Move the dough (still on the bottom parchment paper) onto a baking sheet.
3. Spread 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch perimeter. Bake for about 5-6 minutes, or until edges of the dough are golden and puffy.
4. Evenly sprinkle the surface of dough with remaining mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese, leaving a 1/2 inch perimeter. Bake for 3-5 more minutes or until cheese is melted. Garnish with parsley before serving.

NOTES:

• I recommend using a food processor to make the dough because the dough is quite sticky so it's hard to mix by hand.
• Because the dough is sticky it's important to use parchment paper to roll out it as detailed in the instructions.
• This recipe calls for both almond and coconut flour because the coconut flour helps absorb the liquid and the almond flour keeps the dough from being too sweet.

Coconut Keto Bread Low Carb

Cups Of Coconut Flour:

4 Cups Almond Flour = 1 Cup Coconut Flour

2 Cups Almond Flour = 1/2 Cup Coconut Flour

1 Cups Almond Flour = 1/4 Cup Coconut Flour

Ratio 4 : 1 (This means that for every 1 cup of almond flour, use 1/4 cup coconut flour)

I’ve found this ratio to work well with almost every recipe. Coconut flour needs more moisture, because the flour is very absorbent. This is why i’ve kept the amount of eggs the same. The moisture from the eggs will absorb into the coconut flour, leaving a very nice texture without the eggy taste.

Coconut flour usually needs to rest to absorb moisture. Luckily with this bread, it is baked in the oven, so resting is not an issue for this recipe.

Keto Coconut Bread

Keto coconut bread is a fantastic substitute to my regular keto bread that is nut free, gluten free and slightly lower in calories. The bread is fluffy, sliceable and totally delicious. Just make sure you keep some for yourself, because everyone will want a slice of the action. 16 Slices, 2 Slices Per Serving.

Course Breakfast, Lunch, Snack  Cuisine Ketogenic  Prep Time 10 Mins  Cook Time 45 Mins 45 Mins Nutrition Per Serving Calories 193kcal Net Carbs 1g Fats 16g Protein 6g Ingredients: 7 large eggs 1/2  cup coconut flour 1/2 cup butter (use 1/2 cup coconut oil for dairy free) 1/2 tsp Salt 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp xanthan gum Directions: Preheat oven to 355F. Put the eggs into a bowl and beat for 1 - 2 minutes on high. Add remaining ingredients and beat again until completely mixed. Scrape into a 9" x 6" loaf pan lined with baking paper. Bake for 45 minutes. (Remove once a skewer comes out of the middle clean.) Serving size is 2 slices. Nutritional values are for two slices.