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  #1   ^
Old Sat, Feb-19-11, 08:40
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
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Posts: 14,606
 
Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 136%
Location: USA
Default Sorta Shortbread, with many topping variations

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened at room temperature or in the microwave at lowest setting
1/2 cup vanilla whey protein powder (I use unsweetened Solgar)
1/2 cup granular (baking) Splenda
1 egg
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup almond flour

Optional topping:
1/4 cup low sugar jam or other topping (variations below)

Let butter soften at room temperature (or if you're impatient like I am, use the microwave on lowest setting to soften the butter.) The first step is to cream the butter with the whey protein and the Splenda. I can do this by hand, but it's certainly within the realm of a hand mixer. If you are using unflavored whey protein, add 1/4 tsp vanilla or other extract. If you are using a flavored whey protein, that will work too.

Add egg, baking soda, and cream of tartar to make a thick batter, then add almond flour gradually to turn it into dough (you might consider the horsepower of your hand mixer at this point, and switch to a spoon.) You can chill the dough for a few hours, or overnight, for easier handling, but I don't need to because I've been putting all the batter into a cheap storage bag, cutting off the corner, and using that to squeeze out the batter; much less mess and less scraping, plus I shape it more easily that way.

Preheat the oven to 350F. You can drop dough by spoonfuls (teaspoonfuls) onto the cookie sheet. You can use parchment paper, or my favorite, a silicone baking mat, to ensure they keep their shape. Also, see if you can get a "cookie lifter" to use instead of a pancake turner; the cookie lifter is thinner and has a sharper leading edge.

If I'm going to add any toppings, I squeeze the dough out into a spiral that creates a nice little cavity on top. You do want to contain the fillings; they will probably melt and you don't want it running down the sides of your cookie (though it doesn't spoil their taste, just their looks.) I like to combine raspberry and orange low sugar jam.

There are so many variations for toppings. You can use fresh or frozen berries, mashed, to make your own "jam." Use half peanut butter for a PBJ cookie. A SF chocolate chip (pointy end down) in each one makes a Thumbprint Fudge version. Combine cream cheese and chopped walnuts for elegance. Chopped pecans moistened with DaVinci's caramel syrup creates a Pecan Sandie effect. Or just sprinkle them with some Splenda mixed with a favorite spice, or a mix like pumpkin pie spice.

Bake cookies about 12-14 minutes, until edges start to brown. The cookies will puff up (that's the cream of tartar) and contain the filling if you have put it into an adequate space; surrounded by dough, not on top of it! Store in a sealed container.

For the whole thing (divide by your number of cookies, I get 27-30)
Carb Prot Fat Fib Cals
42.06 116.86 158.63 11.99 1967

--without any toppings; roughly 1 carb per cookie, and the little dab of topping adds a fraction to each one.

This is my "go to" cookie recipe because it's so low carb and so versatile, using ingredients that are easy to get from a health food store. Using so much whey protein powder was a gamble that really paid off; to my palate, it adds sweetness enough to let me cut down the Splenda, and imparted a softness that makes a nice change from the usual "crumbly" texture of almond flour.

They also add a "wow" factor to my entertaining. My non-low carbing friends are visibly impressed the first time they see such "normal looking" cookies, and they are even more impressed when they taste them. "Are you pulling my leg? These are low carb?" is my favorite compliment when they are tried by co-workers.

Another tip to make it easy to whip up a batch is to put all the premeasured dry ingredients into that cheap storage baggie and keep them in the freezer. Then just pull them out, add the stick of butter and the egg, and transfer the dough back into the same storage bag to dispense the batter.

Enjoy!
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  #2   ^
Old Sat, Feb-19-11, 09:06
ringamajig's Avatar
ringamajig ringamajig is offline
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Posts: 7,280
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 237.0/209.0/160 Female 5'5"
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Location: Northern CA
Default

Thanks for the recipe WB. Shortbread cookies is one of my favs. I will be trying it out this weekend and will let you know what we think.
Rox
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  #3   ^
Old Sat, Feb-19-11, 15:46
hypoqueen's Avatar
hypoqueen hypoqueen is offline
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Plan: Atkins/CAD
Stats: 245/242/145 Female 64"
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Hi WereBear,

I just made these and ate 3 of them with some tea for lunch. Yum! They do take sorta like shortbread. They have a delicious flavor and what really surprised me was the texture. They were shortbread-like and nice and crispy. We were able to lift them off the pan with our fingers and eat them nice and warm. Good with tea, but I would have loved a nice glass of cold milk. I used the low sugar raspberry jam and I finely chopped pecans with some DaVinci Kahlua syrup. I liked the jam best.

I think I'll try keeping the dough, in the bag, in the refrig so I can make them fresh when I want them. I'm also going to try adding a little almond extract to part of the dough and see how it tastes. I'll let you know.

Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Update:
I added about 1/8 of a tsp. of almond extract to 1/3 of the dough. I squeezed the dough out in 2 1/2" x 1" rectangles and added some chopped almonds to the top. They tasted a lot like the Finska Kakor (Finnish cakes) I make at Christmas. I would add some more almond extract next time, as the vanilla whey is a bit overpowering. I'm having a hard time keeping my boys from polishing these off.

I think I got 30 cookies of various sizes (hard to know since little hands keep sneaking them!)They don't usually like the LC sweets I make. I'll have to hide them

Last edited by hypoqueen : Sat, Feb-19-11 at 17:25.
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  #4   ^
Old Sat, Feb-19-11, 17:00
ringamajig's Avatar
ringamajig ringamajig is offline
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Posts: 7,280
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 237.0/209.0/160 Female 5'5"
BF:
Progress: 36%
Location: Northern CA
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I have these in the oven right now, they smell great! I used GNC Vanilla whey protein powder and almond meal from TJ's as that is all that I had. I also added 1 tsp of vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp of almond extract, plus 6 drops of Ezsweetz as I will not be using any toppings and I like my stuff on the sweet side. I also only got 15 cookies out of mine, so I will count as 2 net carbs each cookie.

I will update once I have tasted.
Rox

Update

YUMMMMMMM. Note to self, do not need the EzSweetz next time.

Last edited by ringamajig : Sat, Feb-19-11 at 17:10.
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  #5   ^
Old Sun, Feb-20-11, 09:11
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
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Posts: 14,606
 
Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 136%
Location: USA
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by hypoqueen
I would add some more almond extract next time, as the vanilla whey is a bit overpowering.


I just got some unflavored whey for further experimenting, since vanilla is not always the background I might want.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hypoqueen
They don't usually like the LC sweets I make. I'll have to hide them



Quote:
Originally Posted by ringamajig
Update

YUMMMMMMM.


I am incredibly happy they worked out so well! I've variated baking recipes before, but this is the first one where I could really say it's MY recipe.
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  #6   ^
Old Sun, Feb-20-11, 17:20
freckles's Avatar
freckles freckles is offline
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Plan: Atkins Maintenance
Stats: 213/141/150 Female 5'4 1/2"
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Location: Dallas, TX
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Have you tried freezing these? They're in the oven now, but as good as the batter tastes I can see how these might disappear pretty quickly.
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  #7   ^
Old Sun, Feb-20-11, 17:40
freckles's Avatar
freckles freckles is offline
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Plan: Atkins Maintenance
Stats: 213/141/150 Female 5'4 1/2"
BF:
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Default

I just dropped them by teaspoonfuls. Forgot to sprinkle with splenda...but they are still delicious! I wanted to get a hang of how big they should be and everything before trying any fillings. This is a keeper recipe for sure! Thank you, WereBear!!!
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  #8   ^
Old Sun, Feb-20-11, 19:16
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
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Posts: 14,606
 
Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 136%
Location: USA
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by freckles
Have you tried freezing these? They're in the oven now, but as good as the batter tastes I can see how these might disappear pretty quickly.


Heh heh; never tried it. They don't hang around my house for too long, either. This is why I bake them in small batches. For my own protection!

Last edited by WereBear : Mon, Feb-21-11 at 06:03.
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  #9   ^
Old Sat, Mar-26-11, 21:46
kaarren's Avatar
kaarren kaarren is offline
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 204/173/150 Female 5'5"
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WereBear, these sound great!
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  #10   ^
Old Sun, Oct-02-11, 04:48
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
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Posts: 14,606
 
Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 136%
Location: USA
Default

Bumping as cold weather approaches... so versatile it's now my go-to "Christmas cookie" recipe.
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  #11   ^
Old Sun, Oct-02-11, 08:26
Buttoni's Avatar
Buttoni Buttoni is offline
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Plan: LC/OMAD
Stats: 199/188/130 Female 5'3"
BF:5'5" tall
Progress: 16%
Location: Temple, Texas
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These sound real good, WB. I'll have to give them a try my next craving for shortbread. I LC'ed a Michelle Obama shortbread recipe last year but wasn't all that excited about that one. Can't wait!
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  #12   ^
Old Thu, Nov-22-12, 21:27
jeanyyy's Avatar
jeanyyy jeanyyy is offline
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Plan: HCG/LCHF
Stats: 224/201/190 Female 5'6"
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Mmmm these DO sound good, even over a year since the last post.... copying!!
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  #13   ^
Old Fri, Nov-23-12, 18:19
quicksand quicksand is offline
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Plan: south beach
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I am going to make these,all I need is the almond flour
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  #14   ^
Old Fri, Nov-23-12, 19:34
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TeresaTX TeresaTX is offline
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Plan: whole food
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Is this blanched almond flour or almond meal?
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  #15   ^
Old Sun, Nov-25-12, 19:28
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
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Posts: 14,606
 
Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 136%
Location: USA
Default

I use the Bob's Red Mill; basic almond flour.
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