1001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes From Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back (137 page)

Variation: Sugar-Free Vanilla Mousse to Die For! Here’s one for those non-chocoholics out there: Just use sugar-free vanilla instant pudding mix and a teaspoon of vanilla extract and omit the cocoa powder and the coffee crystals.

Yield:
6 or 7 servings

Made with 1 cup (240 ml) of cream, you’ll get 6 servings, each with 7 grams of carbohydrates, a trace of fiber, and 4 grams of protein. Made with 1½ cups (360 ml) of cream, you’ll get 7 servings, each with 6.5 grams of carbohydrates, a trace of fiber, and 4 grams of protein.

The Jell-O company invented this quite spectacular special-occasion dessert, which I had to alter in numerous ways to make it fit for low carbers. They’re responsible for the name, too. Cryptic, isn’t it? Better than the Sox? Better than playing the sax? Better than any other six desserts? Who knows? Since the nice folks at Jell-O came up with the original recipe (though the chocolate sauce was my idea!), it would be nice to use their sugar-free pudding to make this.

FOR CRUST:

1½ cups (225 g) almonds

3 tablespoons (40 g) polyol sweetener

3 tablespoons (4.5 g) Splenda

½ cup (115 g) butter, melted

½ cup (75 g) pecan halves

FOR FILLING:

8 ounces (225 g) cream cheese, softened

3 cups (720 ml) Carb Countdown dairy beverage, divided

2 (4-serving-size) packages sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix

1 batch Angel-Type Coconut (page 553)

1 batch Maltitol-Splenda Chocolate Sauce (page 551) or Sugar-Free Chocolate Sauce (page 551)

FOR TOPPING:

1½ cups (360 ml) heavy cream, chilled

1½ tablespoons (15 g) sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4).

To make the crust: Put the almonds in a food processor with the S-blade in place and run it until they’re fairly finely ground. Add the polyol and Splenda and pulse to combine.

Now pour in the melted butter and the pecan halves and pulse until the butter is melted in and the pecans are chopped medium-fine.

Spray a 9 × 13-inch (23 × 33-cm) pan with nonstick cooking spray. Dump the almond mixture into it and press it firmly and evenly into place. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. You’ll want a little time for this to cool before you put the filling on top.

To make the filling: Beat the softened cream cheese until it’s smooth. Beat in ½ cup (120 ml) of the Carb Countdown dairy beverage. Now add the 2 packages of pudding mix and the rest of the Carb Countdown. Beat for about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Now beat in 1 cup (70 g) of the Angel-Type Coconut. Spread this mixture over the crust.

Spread the Maltitol-Splenda Chocolate Sauce over the pudding layer.

To make the topping: Whip the cream with the 1½ tablespoons (15 g) of vanilla pudding mix, making whipped topping. Spread this over the chocolate layer.

Take the remaining coconut and stir it in a dry skillet over medium heat until it acquires just a touch of gold. Sprinkle the toasted coconut evenly over the whipped topping. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Yield:
12 servings

Each with 10 g protein; 14 g carbohydrate; 4 g dietary fiber; 10 g usable carbs. Carb count does not include polyol sweetener.

Helen was my dad’s mom, and this was our family’s traditional Christmas dessert the whole time I was growing up. People have threatened to marry into the family to get the secret recipe, but since this is the decarbed version, it’s not secret! It is still high-carb enough that you’ll want to save it for a special occasion, though.

2 cups (480 ml) half-and-half

1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream

1 cup (240 ml) water

6 slices “lite” white bread (5 grams of usable carbs per slice or less—the squishiest you can find)

3 ounces (84 g) unsweetened baking chocolate

cup (16 g) Splenda

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract Pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C, or gas mark 5).

Combine the half-and-half, cream, and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring it just up to a simmer.

While it’s heating, spray a large casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray, tear the bread into small bits, and put them in the dish. Pour the hot half-and-half mixture over the bread and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Melt the chocolate and add it to the bread mixture; it’s good to use a little of the hot cream to rinse out the pan you melted the chocolate in so you get all of it. Stir well. Now stir in the Splenda, eggs, vanilla, and salt, mixing very well. Bake for 1 hour or until firm. Serve with Not-So-Hard Sauce (page 549).

Yield:
8 servings

Each with 12 grams of carbohydrates and just over 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 11 grams of usable carbs and 7 grams of protein.

Traditional hard sauce is made with sugar, butter, and egg, plus vanilla, rum, or brandy, and when it’s refrigerated it gets quite hard—hence the name. However, with Splenda instead of sugar, my hard sauce just didn’t work—it fell apart in little globs. I added cream cheese, and it all came together, but it doesn’t get quite so hard when refrigerated, which is why this is Not-So-Hard Sauce. It still tastes great, though!

1 cup (25 g) Splenda

5 tablespoons (70 g) butter, softened

teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 ounce (28 g) cream cheese, softened

Nutmeg

Use an electric mixer to beat the Splenda and butter together until well blended. Beat in the salt, vanilla extract, and egg. At this point, you’ll be sure you’ve made a dreadful mistake.

Beat in the cream cheese and watch the sauce smooth out! Mix very well, until light and fluffy. Pile the Not-So-Hard Sauce into a pretty serving dish, sprinkle it lightly with nutmeg, and refrigerate until well chilled.

Yield:
About 1 cup (240 ml), or a 2 tablespoon (30 ml) serving of sauce for each serving of Helen’s Chocolate Bread Pudding (page 549)

Each serving will have 3 grams of carbohydrates, no fiber, and 1 gram of protein.

Traditionally, Coeur a la Crème (page 541) is served with fresh strawberries, but I make this for Valentine’s Day. Since I’m generally not impressed with the quality of the fresh strawberries I can get in February, I’d rather use frozen.

1 bag (1 pound, or 455 g) frozen, unsweetened strawberries, thawed

1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice

2 or 3 tablespoons (3 to 4.5 g) Splenda

Simply pour the strawberries and any liquid in the package into a bowl and stir in the lemon juice and Splenda. Mash the strawberries a little with a fork, if you’d like; I like mine fairly chunky.

Yield:
8 servings

Each with 6 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 5 grams of usable carbs and only a trace of protein.

This is especially nice for spiffing up a simple dessert for company, using up strawberries threatening to go bad in the refrigerator, or just because it’s Tuesday.

½ cup (55 g) strawberries—fresh, or frozen with no sugar added, thawed

1 tablespoon (1.5 g) Splenda

¼ teaspoon orange extract

Assemble the ingredients in a food processor and purée. Serve over sliced melon or sugar-free ice cream or stir it into plain yogurt.

Yield:
About
cup (80 ml), or 3 servings

Each with 2 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 1 gram of usable carbs and a trace of protein.

I actually think that chocolate sauce made with only maltitol is a little better than this, but this version is less likely to cause digestion problems. Anyway, maltitol makes Splenda look cheap! Do use maltitol, not any of the other polyols, in this recipe. When I tried isomalt and erythritol in chocolate sauce, they turned grainy on me as they cooled. Maltitol makes a sauce with an excellent texture.

½ cup (120 ml) water

2 ounces (55 g) bitter chocolate

¼ cup (50 g) maltitol

¼ cup (6 g) Splenda

3 tablespoons (42 g) butter

¼ teaspoon vanilla

Guar or xanthan

Put the water and the chocolate in a 4-cup (960-ml) glass measuring cup and microwave on high for 45 to 60 seconds. Stir and microwave for another 30 seconds or until chocolate is melted.

Stir in the maltitol and microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and microwave on high for 1 more minute. Stir in the Splenda, butter, and vanilla— keep stirring until the butter is melted. If you find the chocolate sauce a trifle thin or if you find that a little of the butter refuses to be incorporated into the sauce, use just a tiny bit of guar or xanthan to thicken further. Serve right away or store in a closed container in the fridge.

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

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

This is as good as any sugar-based chocolate sauce you’ve ever had, if I do say so myself.