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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Butternut Squash Casserole (gluten-free)

I am not usually one to experiment with new dishes on major holidays, mostly because I don’t need the stress of a possible failure. But this year I wasn’t in the mood for the traditional, very good, but somewhat heavy sweet potato casserole.

Initially I just decided to forgo it altogether. But while I was cooking on Christmas day I kept on coming back to the cubed Butternut squash I had in the refrigerator. I was going to make soup with it after Christmas, but for some reason I decided to just go and experiment with it for Christmas dinner casserole instead.

I was going for sweet, but I wanted lighter - more flan like,  rather than a heavy casserole. But with a little bit of a crunch. And it had to be gluten-free. And it had to be with sugar since my mother in law can’t tolerate any sugar substitutes. Do however feel free to substitute with Ideal sugar substitutes.

And let me tell you - the end result was one of the best Holiday side dishes I’ve had in a long time. It was rich and creamy, but somewhat seemed light and delicate at the same time. Almost like an egg custard, but more substantial. With a decadent creaminess and a delicious little crunch from the topping!

In fact, I’m thinking of making another one today, just because it was so good and everyone enjoyed it so much, including the children. It was super delicious the next day, cold right out of the refrigerator! Almost like a pie!

We even had a couple of people that don’t like butternut squash at the table, that loved this dish!

 

 

So here is what I did!

 

Ingredients:

1 Butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed (you can also roast it and just use the roasted flesh. In that case skip the boiling!)

3/4 cup white sugar or Ideal Sugar Substitute

1  cup milk

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp. buttery vanilla baking emulsion or vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1 tbsp. vanilla custard powder (the boiling kind, not instant! Or you could substitute corn starch and up the vanilla extract to 3/4 tsp.)
3 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted


TOPPING
3 cups gluten-free checks cereal, crushed (I used the rice checks)
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar or Ideal Brown Sugar Substitute 

 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Boil the butternut squash until fork tender in plenty of water. Or roast it in the oven or cook it in the microwave. Whichever way you prefer. As long as the butternut squash is fork tender by the end of it, you’re good!

Brush a 10 inch round casserole dish with some of the melted butter. Set the rest of the butter aside.

Drain (if you boiled it) and let it sit in the colander for a few minutes so the water can really drain out. Return to pot and put them back on the stove to briefly evaporate any remaining water.

Once dry either mash or rice (it’s what I did) the butternut squash. You should have just over 3 cups of mashed/riced butternut squash.

Mix the mash with the white sugar, milk, cream, vanilla, salt, eggs and remaining melted butter. Whisk to combine well. Sprinkle in the custard powder and whisk until all is combined well.

Pour this mix into the buttered casserole dish and bake for 35  minutes.

In the meantime, combine the crushed checks, melted butter and brown sugar in a bowl. Spread over the top of the custard and return to the oven for another 20 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and crunchy and the custard is set.

Serve hot or cold. Serves 8-10.

 

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Elisenlebkuchen - low-carb, gluten-free and sugar-free

There are many things and foods that say “Christmas” to me. Especially German/Bavarian ones for me! None more so than Elisenlebkuchen however! They are a Bavarian specialty and every year I feel compelled to make them! They remind me of crisp cold winters, Christkindlmarkets with Gluehwein (German mulled wine) and ... Lebkuchen!

 

 

What makes these so special is that they are mostly comprised of nuts. They have a very delicate spice and they are moist and delicious, even after weeks of storing (if they are done right anyway!)

However, they are also very sugary in their original form.  They usually contain a lot of candied peel, sugar in the batter and then they are traditionally either covered in a thin sugar glaze or a thin coat of dark chocolate. And I mean THIN!

 

 

But, not exactly low-carb friendly, even though easily made gluten-free, which I wrote about in my recipe here last year.

So this year, I revisited the low-carb/sugar-free version! And they turned out beautifully! I made a regular version, a low-carb version and a gluten-free version since we have a lot of different allergies and ways of eating to cater for around our parts. I had to actually mark them, because I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference otherwise!

Today I do however want to focus on the sugar-free/  low-carb variety!

So, without further ado, let’s get to it!

 

Low-Carb Elisenlebkuchen

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup erythritol/xylitol, powdered (measure after powdering)
  • 1 cup Ideal sugar substitute (could substitute bulk Splenda, Truvia etc. )
  • 3 tbsp. polydextrose
  • 4 tbsp. monin sugar-free syrup (vanilla)
  • peel of 3 large lemons
  • peel of 3 large oranges
  • peel of 1 large lime

  • 6 large eggs
  • 1/2 tsp EACH of the following ground spices:

Cinnamon, Cloves, Coriander, Allspice, Nutmeg, Cardamom, guar gum (xanthan works too)

  • 1/2 tsp buttery vanilla bakery emulsion or vanilla extract
  • 240g Hazelnuts; whole (8.5 oz.) *almonds/pecans/walnuts work too, but it’s not nearly as good :)*
  • 240g Hazelnuts; finely ground (8.5 oz.) - or more of the whole ones and you can grind it fine yourself
  • 50g Walnuts; coarsely chopped (1.8 oz.)

 

  • rice based baking wafers or rice paper (50mm) if you are eating gluten-free, wheat  based Oblaten if you are not. These are somewhat optional but much better with! A word on the Oblaten . Yes, they aren’t low-carb, strictly speaking. However, they only add less than o.5 carbs to your cookie, that it is worth it in my opinion. Not only do they prevent sticking, they keep the moisture in like nothing else and are an integral and traditional part of Elisenlebkuchen.

For the coating:

Sugar-free chocolate or Lindt 85% (or a combination of both) and 1 tsp coconut oil or palm shortening per bar of chocolate. It varies how much you need, depending on how much you use and how large your cookies are. For the above recipe I usually need 3 bars of Lindt and 1 tbsp. of palm shortening, if I cover them all in chocolate.

Traditionally they also come glazed with sugar glaze, which is a whole separate post by itself. And it will be at a later date, where I am comparing a couple of products to make a “sugar” glaze. For now, if you can afford the carbs, use Ideal Confectioner’s Sugar Substitute. It works just like regular powdered sugar and gives great results.

If not, just stick with the chocolate coating!

 

Preparation:

Place the peel of all the fruit, the xylitol, the polydextrose and the sugar-free syrup in a small sauce pan and under constant stirring heat until just boiling. Take the pan off the heat and set aside to cool.

Now, place the whole hazelnuts in the food processor. Start pulsing them until coarsely chopped, then add the sweetener and peel mix and pulse some more until evenly incorporated. Add the emulsion/extract and pulse to incorporate. Add the eggs and pulse some more until you  have a uniform mass.

In a separate bowl, combine the spices, walnuts and hazelnut flour. Add the mix from your food processor and thoroughly combine with a spatula.

 

 

Cover the bowl and let it sit in the refrigerator for 24 hrs. It may seem a little runny at first, but it will thicken up quite a bit in the next 24hrs.

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 F.

Lay out the baking wafers on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Scoop equal amounts of the nut mix onto the wafers and smooth out with your finger. I find that the easiest way to get the round ones uniform is to use an ice cream scoop. Scoop some nut mixture on the Oblaten and smooth the edges down. Using moist fingers can help as the dough will be a bit sticky.

 

                    

 

Of course, this year I am ahead of this little game, as my father in law made me a so called “Lebkuchenglocke” at my request, which makes this process much easier and faster! You just smear some of the dough into the bell part, place the oblate on top, hold it over your baking tray and twist. The wire on the inside goes around and releases the sticky dough and out plops the cookie! So handy, so efficient! Thank you, Jarvis!

 

          

 

 

If you are not using oblaten/baking wafers, just scoop some dough onto the parchment and press it down  a little with moistened fingers, just like you would on the baking wafers!

 

 

 

If you are using rice paper and don’t feel like cutting out lots of little circles, you can just cut rectangles. It works just as well and it’s  much faster!

 

 

Bake for 12 minutes or until the Lebkuchen are lightly golden brown. It is important that they are not quite done in the middle though. You should still see some moisture in the middle!

 

 

Set them aside to cool a little.  It’s easier to get a thinner coating of chocolate when they are still a little warm.

Melt your chocolate with the coconut oil or palm shortening.

Brush the coating on as thinly as you possibly can, but make sure everything is covered. We want an even coat, without large globs, but not so thin that the cookie underneath peaks through.

 

 

 

If you have used baking wafers, just brush on a thin coat of chocolate coating over the top of the Lebkuchen. Let completely dry for a few hours and store in a cookie tin. None of the coatings should be tacky anymore!

If you didn’t use baking wafers, you will need to dip or brush your entire cookie. First a coat at the bottom, let dry, then a coat on the top of the cookie. This will also seal the moisture and flavors inside, which is essential for these!

Lebkuchen need to sit for a while to develop their prime taste and texture. They need a minimum of 6 days in that cookie tin, so take that into account when planning to make these!

They will however keep for several weeks in a cookie tin and personally I think they taste the best after they have matured for about 1-2 weeks!

 

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Friday, December 16, 2011

Christmas Goodies Round-Up

My children gleefully informed me this morning, that we are only 9 days away from Christmas!

And I thought, “Oh my, only 9 days left? So much to do, so little time!” Now I am mostly done with the whole shopping thing and I have been since the end of October really. I just needed to “top up” my gift shopping list on cyber Monday with a few more things, and I was done with that part.

However, I am way behind on the whole baking thing this year!

Usually we have several cookie baking sessions from the first of advent onwards, right up to Christmas - with the last little batch usually being the cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve!

This year however, I’ve not done much baking. Mostly  because I am catering to something like 4 different diets/ways of eating/preferences on our holidays and not all of them are compatible and then things get complicated. And a lot of these kind of goodies aren’t like my “normal” advent baking, that gets better the longer it sits and you WANT to bake it a month in advance.

So this next week, I’ll be making some goodies and I wanted to share with you some of the bounty that is available to  us in terms of tempting goodies that also keep you on plan!

 

 

There will be some Homemade Marzipan. I have already made this and it is waiting to be made into some cookies, so stay tuned for that recipe which I will post over the next few days.

Here’s a little sneak peak of the cookies in progress:

I also have the Grand Manier ready, which by the way turned out very well. The flavor is wonderful! It is a little late to be making the Grand Manier for Christmas, but you do have time to make the Quick sugar-free Amaretto!

 

How about some Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Star Meringue Cookies),

 

 

or some of Carolyn’s Cranberry Pecan Crescents (Low Carb and Gluten Free,)

 

 

 

or Chocolate Peppermint Cookies,

 

 

or Caramelized Macadamia Pecan Squares,

 

 

Or how about this Gingerbread House from Maria's Nutritious and Delicious Journal,

 

 

or the Italian Chocolate Spice Cookies from Healthy Living How To.

 

 

Also, don’t forget about lovely things like sugar-free candied ginger,  or making your own colored casting/ sanding “sugar” to decorate some cookies.

 

 

If you are looking for a good basic cut-out cookie dough, try this one:

 

 

And of course, we can’t forget delectable truffles for the holidays!

 

 

Or some Coconut Cookies by Jennifer Eloff:

 

 

And I’m thinking of making these for Christmas Eve: Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites

 

 

And look at these little beauties: Honey Nut Cookies,

 

or some Peppermint Patties,

 

 

or these Healthy Magic Cookie Bars.

 

 

Yum! One thing is for sure - there is certainly an abundance of delectable low-carb, sugar-free and gluten-free indulgences out there! There is absolutely no need for deprivation, so treat your family and yourself this holiday season and make some!

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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Low-Carb Meringues (LC, GF, SF)

Not surprisingly, following the cinnamon star cookie post, here’s one about low-carb meringues.


The recipe is pretty much the same, the method is however different and it leads to delectable, very-close-to-real-meringues, delight!  If you’re looking for the kind of meringues that are hard through and through, let them dry out thoroughly!
If you are into the crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside kind of meringue, you have to watch them a little more. It’s all in the drying time!
This is definitely one of the times where the erythritol/xylitol tendency to recrystallize works in our favor though!

Sugar-Free and Low-Carb Mini Meringues

Ingredients:
* You get much more volume out of egg whites at room temperature when whipping!

Preparation:

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 225 F.

Beat egg whites, cream of tartar, powdered erythritol and salt until frothy. Under constant beating, dust in the polydextrose, little by little.



Once you have soft peaks, add the Ideal, again little by little and under constant beating until you have somewhat stiff peaks and it will look quite glossy. It’s important to use the erythritol first, as it takes the longest to dissolve! Add everything slowly at this stage as it helps prevent the meringue from weeping later. However, don't over-beat. When ready, the mixture should be thick and glossy. (see below)



Add the bakery emulsion and whip a tad more to incorporate. Fill  the meringue mix into a Ziploc bag (or a piping bag with a fancy tip if that is what you’re going for) and snip the corner of the bag.



Now pipe your desired shape on the lined cookie sheets.
You could also scoop up a heaped dessertspoonful of the mixture. Using another dessertspoon, ease it on to the baking sheet to make an oval shape - or any other shape you desire.


Depending on the size of your meringues, bake for 25 minutes. Watch them and take them out earlier if they show any sign of too much browning. If they get a little beige, that’s ok, it tends to happen more with these and the flavor won’t be affected if they stay a light beige. They will however change their flavor if you let them get brown!
Turn off your oven and let the meringues sit in there for 8-10 hrs. We’re not really baking them anymore, we’re just drying them out further. I do this overnight.
In the morning your have perfectly crunchy meringues! And it takes them this long to get crunchy. They will be quite sticky, then leathery for the longest time and you might think it will never get there. And then they do!
You could also just let them sit on the counter overnight if you prefer, but make sure it’s a dry environment, otherwise it will take longer to dry out or never quite get there if you have a lot of moisture in the air!
For crunchy through and through meringues you just let them dry as long as they need. Lift one off the parchment after about 8 hours and check if it comes off all the way yet.


How long this drying takes very much depends on temperature and moisture levels in your home. It may very well take much longer for you than it does for me. Usually overnight will get me to dry through and through stage, but it’s very dry around here.
However, we’ve had rain for 3 days running, which is unusual around here and my last batch needed about 14 hours to get to crunchy on the outside and the slightest bit of a chewy center stage and 17 hours to dry all the way through. That is with half of the drying time happening on the countertop as I needed the oven for other things!
So, what I’m saying is, be patient - there seems to be no hard and fast rule on how long it will take!
All the above is for the mini meringue size shown in the picture. It will be even longer for larger sizes.


Once the meringues get to the dry stage, they will now keep in an airtight tin for several months. I haven’t tried freezing them yet!

Enjoy!!

A word on substitutions. Chances are, they won’t work.
I have experimented for years with getting the perfect sugar-free meringue and other combinations of sugar-substitutes have failed miserably for one reason or another. The only substitutions that may work are differing amounts of xylitol and erythritol and maybe replacing some of the ideal with more xylitol. It does however seem to need some of the maltodextrin that comes with the ideal to a) cut the cooling sensation from the xylitol/erythritol a bit and, b) improve the texture.
The only other substitutes that might work, are maltitol, sorbitol or isomalt based sugar substitutes. I don’t really use those for a variety of reasons.

The polydextrose is optional in a pinch. However, I would recommend using it, as it really helps to bind and stabilize the egg whites. So I would say, if you try it without polydextrose and you’re having texture issues or your meringue fell flat or was weeping (watery liquid seeping form the bottom)  and you’re sure you whipped everything sufficiently, then I would try the polydextrose next time around! It just really helps to make this meringue making business simpler!
And if you are looking for that slight chew inside the crispy meringue shell, you definitely need  the polydextrose! The chew factor won’t happen without it!


Edited to add on 5-16-2012 : I just pulled out the tin I had the left-over meringues from Christmas stored in, to see how they would do in the long run and  I am happy to report that they are just perfect. They are still the same crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth consistency they were when they went in!


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Saturday, December 10, 2011

Cinnamon Star Cookies (Zimtsterne) - revisited the low-carb way (LC, GF, SF)

Last year I posted the gluten-free, but sugared version of these traditional German Christmas cookies.

This year I want to add the sugar-free and therefore low-carb version of these lovely cookies!

 

 

 

The biggest challenge of these cookies is to get the slightly crunchy meringue top right, which isn’t an easy undertaking with sugar substitutes!

However, it has worked pretty well for me when using the ingredients I will be listing  below. However, I can’t guarantee that this will work out equally well if you start to substitute other sweeteners! Chances are it won’t as my previous attempts of meringues with other combinations, didn’t work out all that well! The only exception would be to replace everything with diabetisweet or other maltitol based sweetener. Maltitol tends to act just like sugar. I like to avoid Maltitol so it’s hardly ever in any of my recipes.

 

A quick note: The pictures are taken of the cookies made with cashew flour, rather than hazelnut as a special request. The cashews aren’t as fine as hazelnuts or almonds would be.

Now without further ado - the recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 3 whole Egg Whites (room temperature*)
  • 1 pinch Salt
  • 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
  • 3/4 cup of Ideal sweetener
  • 1/2 cup of Erythritol, powdered +plus more for working the dough (Xylitol works too)
  • 1 tbsp. polydextrose (optional)
  • 2 drops of stevia extract
  • 1/4 tsp butter vanilla bakery emulsion (or vanilla extract)
  • 2 tbsp. Ground Cinnamon
  • zest of one Lemon, or strips of lemon peel finely ground in food processor ***
  • 2-⅔ cups Ground Hazelnuts (also known as Filbert Nuts) - other nuts or seeds like almonds will also work**                                                           

Preparation:

* You will get more volume when beating egg whites if you first bring them to room temperature.

** If you can’t get ground hazelnuts/almonds, grind them in a food processor. It doesn’t have to be as fine as almond flour, but it should be pretty fine, with the odd bit of slightly bigger nuts. Once you’re done grinding, THEN measure them for this recipe!*

***Since we are using fresh lemon peel, I usually throw the lemon peel strips (made using a potato peeler) in the food processor, with some of the measured nuts and run it through the food processor again. Then I add the xanthan gum for even distribution and pulse a couple more times.*

 

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

 

Beat egg whites, cream of tartar, powdered erythritol and salt until frothy. Under constant beating, dust in the polydextrose, little by little.

 

 

Once you have soft peaks, add the Ideal, again little by little and under constant beating until you have somewhat stiff peaks. It’s important to use the erythritol first, as it takes the longest to dissolve!

 

 

Fill 1/3 of the meringue mix into a Ziploc bag and set aside.

 

 

Fold the cinnamon, lemon peel (if you haven’t already) and ground nuts into the remaining 2/3 of the meringue mix.

 

Line your work surface with a large sheet of plastic or parchment paper.

 

If your dough is on the very sticky side, sprinkle it with some more ground nuts and powdered sugar substitute and work the dough through a little. Mine was quite workable to begin with and didn’t need any additions.

Top with another plastic sheet or parchment paper and  roll out the dough on your plastic sheet. If the top is really sticky, add some more ground nuts etc, or line the top of the dough with another sheet of plastic and roll it out to about 1/2 inch thickness.

 

 

Peel off the top layer of plastic/parchment paper.

For the low-carb cookies I went with 1/4 inch thickness to make more! But if you do this, remember to reduce the baking time to about 8-9 minutes!

 

 

With a star cookie cutter, cut as many stars as you can get and place them on a cookie sheet. It helps to dunk the cookie cutter into some powdered sugar substitute as you go.

 

 

Reroll the left-over dough and continue cutting out stars until there is no dough left.

 

Now snip the corner of the Ziploc bag with the meringue mix.

 

 

Either, roughly pipe a thin layer of the meringue mix, spreading it out evenly all over the top of the star with the back of a small spoon. Or, and this is currently my favorite method, pipe a generous dot in the middle of the star, then pull the meringue mix to the corners with a knife. Try and keep the layer thin and as even as possible!

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the trick for the meringue top to be at it’s best. Let the cookies dry for 4 hours. This step is optional but I would recommend it as the meringue gets crispier that way. Since it’s very dry around these parts, I generally go with 4 hours of drying time. However, if  it’s damp where you are, overnight (8 hours) might do the trick. Just leave them uncovered on your counter.

Preheat oven to 300F.

Bake for 15 minutes. Don’t overbake these! You want them to be moist on the inside! Let the cookies cool completely before trying to move them. The meringue topping will crisp up a little too!

 

If you don’t want to mess around with cookie cutters and such, you could also just make snowy “kisses”. Roll a small ball of dough in your hand. Press it to about 1/2 inch height with your finger, pipe on some meringue mix. Now with these I would recommend letting them dry. Since there is more meringue topping, the drying for several hours helps to make them into crispy meringue topping rather than the lemon meringue pie type of topping! And the meringue doesn’t turn brown as quickly as the non-dried meringue either!

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the difference in the meringue for not drying (the stars) and drying (the snowy kisses)

 

 

Granted, I did leave those stars in a tad too long as they caught around the edges a little too, but see the difference in the meringue? When you let it dry out  a bit, you get a snowier white! And as you can see, they are easy to over bake! So get them out before they go that darker golden brown around the edges!

 

Oh and by the way, the above meringue recipe works GREAT as a lemon meringue pie topping!

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