Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (Low Carb & Gluten Free)

Well it looks like I'm back again, almost a year and half later (oops!). I haven't been blogging as much because school this year has been super busy and stressful, but now I hope I can post more now that summer's soon approaching. I'm also on a cleansing diet for my acne problems and I can't eat any sugar, which has been surprisingly hard for me. So, I decided I needed to have treat every one in a while, but still without sugar. Today, I craved ice cream. I was looking on Facebook and saw a two ingredient ice cream recipe that you can make without an ice cream maker and had to try it out. Of course, it called for sweetened condensed milk, which I cannot have. But, if you remember back last May, I posted a recipe for low carb, sugarless sweetened condensed milk that tastes exactly like the original canned stuff. So, off I went, and created this lovely thing, and with only two ingredients (well, plus the flavourings)! You can make this with or without the flavourings, or add different ones to make your own. This recipe also only has about 9g of net. carbs and 0g of sugar as opposed to a brand name ice cream which has 23g of net carbs and 22g of sugar.

I've also been toying around with my new bestie, KRISDA semi-sweet chocolate chips. They are sugar free, artificial sweetener free, gluten free, GMO free, artificial colour and flavour free and Maltitol free. They're also low in net. carbs and high in fibre! I added these to my ice cream base and they were amazing. You could also melt them down or create a ganache with them to top off your ice cream.

Makes about 5 cups of ice cream

Ingredients

1 recipe low carb sweetened condensed milk (click here for the recipe)

2 cups cold whipping cream

1 tsp pure peppermint or mint extract (optional)

1 cup KRISDA semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk and whipping cream until thick. Add extract and whisk for about 1 or 2 more minutes. Fold in chocolate chips. Transfer ice cream into an air tight container and freeze for 2 hours. Scoop and enjoy.

Nutritional Info (per about a half cup)

Low Carb Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Calories: 280

Total Fat: 27 . 3g

Sat. Fat: 17 . 8g

Cholesterol: 77mg

Sodium: 29mg

Carbs: 17 . 1g

Fibre: 8 . 6g

Net. Carbs: 8 . 5g

Sugars: 0g

Protein: 2 . 6g

Low Carb Ice Cream (without flavourings, etc.)

Calories: 196

Total Fat: 20 . 9g

Sat. Fat: 13g

Cholesterol: 77mg

Sodium: 26mg

Carbs: 2 . 7g

Fibre: 0 . 6g

Sugars: 0g

Protein: 1g

Ben and Jerry's Mint Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Calories: 240

Total Fat: 15g

Sat. Fat: 10g

Cholesterol: 60mg

Sodium: 40mg

Carbs: 24g

Fibre: 1g

Net. Carbs: 23g

Sugars: 22g

Protein: 4g

Magic Seven Layer Cookie Bars (Low Carb & Gluten Free)

Happy New Year everyone! Hope all of you had an amazing Christmas. I definately did with both sides of my family. Now only 166 more days until summer! I was doing some holiday baking, and my mother requested I make some Seven Layer cookie bars that she saw on Healthy Indulgences. I thought that I had made enough unhealthy things for the rest of the family, so I made them. They were so good! The original recipe calls for sweetened condensed milk and the Healthy Indulgences recipe calls for a low carb caramel sauce but since my recipe for sweetened condensed milk is just so great and tastes exactly the same as the Eagle Brand stuff, I decided to use that instead (which is an older post from May 2013). 

Makes about 18 bars

Ingredients for "graham cracker" crust

2 tbsps butter, melted

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsps xylitol

1/16 - 1/8 tsp stevia powder

Pinch of salt

1 egg white

Directions

Preheat oven do 350F.  In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients except the egg white. Beat egg white, add to crust mixture and beat until dough forms. Press crust into a greased 8x5 loaf pan and bake for about 10 minutes. Let cool.

Ingredients for the rest of the bars

3/4 cup chopped 70-85% chocolate

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

One batch low carb sweetened condensed milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Evenly coat the cooled crust with chocolate chunks. Sprinkle chopped walnuts, slivered almonds and coconut over the chocolate chunks. Pour sweetened condensed over the whole surface of the bars, getting it into every little nook and cranny of the coconut. Press down lightly with a non-stick spatula to make the surface even. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting. Enjoy!

Adapted from a Healthy Indulgences recipe

Nutritrional Info (per one bar)

Low Carb

Calories: 268

Total Fat: 25 . 2g

Sat. Fat: 13g

Cholesterol: 35 . 6mg

Sodium: 39 . mg

Carbs: 10 . 5g

Fibre: 4 . 8g

Net. Carbs: 5 . 7g

Sugars: 2g

Protein: 4 . 6g

Classic

Calories: 316

Total Fat: 18 . 3g

Sat. Fat: 10g

Cholesterol: 16 . 7mg

Sodium: 125mg

Carbs: 35g

Fibre: 1 . 7g

Net. Carbs: 33 . 3g

Sugars: 23 . 3g

Protein: 5g

Red Velvet Cupcakes (Low Carb & Gluten Free)

Well look who's back... me!

Sorry I havent been posting but you know school. I also performed in a play my school was presenting and there was tons of practice time involved. It was so much fun and I helped with baking for concession so I wasn't completely slacking off... But I'm now back with a brand new recipe! I know a lot of my recipes are chocolatey so I thought I would branch out a bit, and try something new. Low carb cupcakes are pretty hard to make, sometimes they dont puff up or burn around the edges and are raw in the middle but these turned out amazing! Of course the time I try to make red velvet I dont have red food colouring, so I had to use burgandy and pink but at least they were reddish, right? Other than the colouring, they were amazing! My nana said they were the best cupcakes she had ever had in her whole life, and she worked at a bakery for 10 years! Come on, they must be good, you know you want to try one...

Makes 18 cupcakes 

Ingredients for cupcakes

2 cups almond flour

1 cup xylitol

3 tbsps cocoa powder

1 tsp guar gum

2 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

6 oz plain greek yogurt

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp stevia

1/3 cup whole milk

Red food colouring

Makes about 2/3 cup icing

Ingredients for cream cheese frosting

4 oz (half a brick) plain cream cheese, softened

2 tbsps butter, softened

2/3 - 1 cup powdered xylitol

1/4 heavy cream

Pinch of stevia

Directions for cupcakes

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk almond flour, xylitol, cocoa powder, guar gum, baking powder, baking soda and salt until combined. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat greek yogurt, butter and eggs together. Add vanilla, stevia and milk and mix. Now add half the almond flour and beat until combined, then add the rest. Now add your food colouring until you get a nice, dark red colour. Pour batter into muffin tins about 3/4 full and bake for 30-40 minutes and until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for at least 20 minutes and frost.

Directions for frosting

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth and there are few lumps. Add in powdered xylitol, heavy cream and stevia and beat until combined. Frost cooled cupcakes and enjoy!

Adapted from a All Day I Dream About Food blog recipe

Nutritional Info (Per one cupcake with 1 tbsps frosting)

Low Carb

Calories: 183 

Total Fat: 12 . 7g

Sat. Fat: 4g

Cholesterol: 46 . 8mg

Sodium: 164 . 6mg

Carbs: 4 . 3g

Fibre: 2g

Net. Carbs: 2 . 3g

Sugars: 1 . 3g

Protein: 5 . 2g

Classic

Calories: 280

Total Fat: 13g

Sat. Fat: 4 . 5g

Cholesterol: 45mg

Sodium: 140mg

Carbs: 42g

Fibre: 0 . 5g

Net. Carbs: 41 . 5g

Sugars: 34g

Protein: 3g