Carrot Cake - Keto

A bit of a retrospective post. I made this in November for a family birthday cake. Carrot cake is usually the birthday cake of choice for Patrick but since I had started dabbling into Keto eating I decided to give this recipe a try. 
The cake is quite dense, but a lot of carrot cakes are. It was approved by all who ate it and I have to admit to sneaking slices from the left over cake from the fridge for day afterwards.
I’d make it again.
The recipe comes from the ‘Elle Herself’ facebook page.

I’ll re-type the recipe when I get the chance...

Keto Bread Rolls

This is the closest I have made yet to non keto bread. I make a double recipe of these and freeze them. They are great toasted.

With the left over egg yolk I make mayonnaise or aioli.

The recipe comes from ‘Diet Doctor’ via a friend.

For anyone into Keto - We had been buying Home Street buns while on holiday and these are easily as good and pretty easy to make.

I started Keto with these with a poached egg for breakfast each day. I made a double batch, then froze them and toasted them each day. Macros included at end based on single recipe making 6 small buns - 1 bun =1 serving

Formatting still needed for this post...when I get back from holiday!

Ingredients

5 tbsp (40 g) ground psyllium husk powder

300 ml (150 g) almond flour

2 tsp (10 g) baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

225 ml water

2 tsp cider vinegar

3 egg whites

2 tbsp (20 g) sesame seeds (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Bring the water to a boil.

Add vinegar and egg whites to the dry ingredients, and combine well. Add boiling water, while beating with a hand mixer for about 30 seconds. Don't over mix the dough, the consistency should resemble Play-Doh.

Moisten hands with a little olive oil and shape dough into 6 separate rolls. Place on a greased baking sheet. Top with optional sesame seeds.

Bake on lower rack in the oven for 50–60 minutes, depending on the size of your bread rolls. They're done when you hear a hollow sound when tapping the bottom of the bun.

Serve with butter and toppings of your choice.

GINGERNUTS

GINGERNUTS

Gingernuts are a bit of a childhood favorite, especially dunked in a hot drink.

This is a recipe I’ve made before and loved. The deep flavours added by the molasses and the heat from the three types of ginger and the pepper are amazing.

I baked them for longer because I like them really hard and crispy.

Makes about 35

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
200g butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses or treacle
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallised ginger
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1/2-3/4 cup raw sugar

METHOD
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and spices until well combined. Reserve.

2. Cream the butter and brown sugar until pale brown and fluffy. Beat in the molasses until well combined then beat in the crystallised and fresh ginger. Fold in the reserved dry ingredients in three parts, mixing until just combined each time.

3. Scrape the dough on to a large piece of plastic wrap and pat together to form a large disk. Refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 24 hours.

4. Preheat the oven to 170C and line biscuit trays with baking paper. Put the raw sugar in a small bowl. Roll a generous tablespoonful of dough (about 25g) into a ball. Press down into the sugar to flatten then put side by side on the prepared tray, sugar side up, with a small space between each.

Advertise with Stuff

5. Bake each tray of biscuits for 12-15 minutes or until the biscuits are just starting to colour around the edges. Cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to one week.

Sour Dough Bread

I was given a sour dough starter when we were at a local pizza place close to home. The owner told a story of this starter coming from Naples and it being hundreds of years old. While I'm not totally sure I buy the story, it sounds pretty impressive.

I've been making sour dough bread with varying success for the last couple of years.
I started  using the Tartain Country Bread recipe https://www.marthastewart.com/1130184/tartine-country-bread which seemed to be the 'purist' approach to sour dough bread. The success varies. 

It feels like days of steps to get a couple of loaves. It has meant that I have just not been making it as often as I'd like to.

I came across this overnight method and tried baked it today. It's great. In act one of my best loaves as far as rising ever. It has still got a 'sour' taste 

https://www.culturedfoodlife.com/…/overnight-sourdough-bre…/

I know that this method may not be so traditional, but it works for me and my busy life.

I'm still using the steps for feeding and maintaining the starter from the Tartain method...
70 g starter
100g warm water 
150g and 50/50 white and wholemeal flour.


My loaf is also one of the best I've made in terms of rising.

Ingredients

• 50 grams Bubbly Sourdough Starter(1/4 cup)
• 350 grams warm water (80 degrees F)(1-1/3 cups plus 2 tablespoons)
• 500 grams Bread Flour(4 cups plus 2 tablespoons)
• 9 grams Celtic Sea Salt

Method

You need to make sure your sourdough starter is bubbly and ready to go. If it has not been fed recently then take a few spoonfuls of sourdough starter from your fridge and give it that much flour and water and let it ferment for 6 - 8 hours.

Before Bedtime ~ Making the dough

1. Gather ingredients and materials.
2. Close to your bedtime, add the bubbly sourdough starter and warm water to a ceramic bowl. Mix them together with a whisk until well combined.
3. Then add the flour and salt and combine together with a stiff spatula. You can also use your hands to get the flour fully incorporated. The dough will look a little scraggly, feel dense, and stick to your fingers. Try and scrape off as much dough from your hands as possible but don't over mix it at this point. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap for 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, flour your hands and work the dough into a smooth ball. Do this by folding the dough over and pressing it into the center until the dough starts to turn into a smoother ball.
5. Place the dough back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise overnight for 8-10 hours (around 70 degrees F). The next morning the dough will have risen in the bowl and look puffier than it did the night before.

In the Morning ~ Making and Baking the Bread

1. In the morning, use your spatula and gently pull the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. Dust your hands with flour and start at the top and fold the dough over to the center, repeating on all sides (add more flour if needed).
2. Then flip the dough over and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
3. Line an 8-inch bowl with a towel and dust generously with flour. Make sure your hands are still floured and pick up the dough and place it in the bowl with seam side up.
4. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 30 to 60 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit your pot, leaving excess so you can grab the bread and take it out of the pot. Place your parchment paper over the bowl and invert the bowl to allow the bread to release onto the paper.
5.  With a small razor blade or serrated knife, score the bread with four slashes.
6. Pick up the parchment and carefully place your bread in the pot.
7. Place the lid on the pot and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Then remove the lid and continue baking for 30 more minutes.
8. You can take it out of the pot and onto the rack to bake for 5 minutes longer to darken the bread if you'd like.
9. When bread is done, take bread out of pot and place on a wire rack to cool for about 20 minutes to an hour, although we often can't wait to eat it! Store loaf in a bag on the counter, or this bread freezes beautifully.

Apple Gingerbread Cake

Gingerbread cake was a favourite of mine as a child - especially hot with butter melting into it. I'm not sure why I have never made it as an adult. 
Today we are helped by a neighbour when the car battery was flat. Isabella and I thought it was appropriate to thank him with a cake and with eggs. Our four chickens are producing an eg a day at the moment so we have a bit of a surplus.

Ingredients

125 g	Butter
½ cup	Brown sugar
¾ cup	Golden syrup, (185ml)
2 cups	Self raising flour, sifted
½ tsp	Baking soda, sifted
1 Tbsp	Ground ginger, sifted
1	Granny Smith apple, peeling and grated
1	Egg, lightly beaten
¼ cup	Milk
2	Granny Smith apples, extra, peeled cored and quartered
1 Tbsp	Golden syrup, extra, heated
1 to dust	Demerara sugar
1 to serve	Vanilla custard

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160 degC. Place butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring, until butter is melted. Set aside to cool.

2. Place flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger in a bowl and mix to combine.

3. Add butter mixture, grated apple, egg and milk and combine. Pour into a lightly greased 20 x 30cm tin lined with non-stick baking paper.

4. Cut a row of slits in the extra apple quarters and press into the gingerbread. Brush with extra golden syrup and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake for 50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

5. Slice and serve with custard.

Greek Yoghurt Pancakes

This is our go to breakfast pancake recipe. The greek yoghurt was made in our yoghurt maker so was quite cheap.

The batter is really thick and needs quite a long time to cook. The end result is a soft fluffy pancake.
I made some with frozen berries and some plain which we ate with Maple syrup.

Greek Yogurt Pancakes

Ingredients

• 350ml of  Greek yogurt
• 2 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking soda

Instructions

1. Open the yogurt container and stir the yogurt until it’s smooth and creamy. Crack an egg over the yogurt and stir to combine leaving. The resulting mixture should be pale yellow in color and have a few lumps here and there.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda.
3. Pour yogurt/egg mixture into the bowl with the flour and baking soda. Stir to combine. The batter will be extremely thick.
4. Spoon the batter onto a sprayed griddle or pan heated to medium-high. I usually make four big pancakes, but you could also make 8 smaller ones.
5. Flip the pancakes when they start to bubble a bit on the surface. Cook until golden brown on both sides and serve with butter, syrup, fruit, Nutella….anything! Enjoy!

Crunchy Lemon Muffins

I really enjoy this recipe – super quick to make up and results in lovely moist lemony muffins with a tasty crunchy top. Lovely warm or cold and can be frozen also.

Ingredients

2 Cups self raising flour
1 Cup white sugar
Finely grated rind of 2 lemons
100g butter, melted
1 Cup milk
2 large eggs

Syrup

Juice of 2 lemons

1/4 cup white sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 200C (390F).

Mix the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl.

In the second bowl mix together the melted butter, milk & eggs.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the liquid ingredients into this. Lightly fold ingredients together until the flour is dampened. Do not over mix.

Spoon into well greased muffin tins and bake for 10-15 minutes.

While the muffins cook, mix the lemon juice and the second measure of sugar (do not dissolve the sugar). As soon as the muffins have been removed from the tins, brush them with the lemon juice topping.

Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container once cooled.

Makes 12 muffins.

Baked Breakfast Eggs

Our chickens are all back laying which means some days we get 4 eggs. Their eggs are a beautiful colour with a bright yellow yolk. They poach beautifully. I came across this recipe as I was looking for an alternative to our usual bacon and poached eggs for Sunday morning breakfast.
They came out really nicely although I used two eggs and they needed a lot longer to cook. Probably more like 20-25 minutes
I used ham from a ham leg we are working our way through, so was able to slice to size easily.
This recipe would be great when making breakfast for a large number of people. The preparing of the ramekins, bacon/ham and tomato could easily be done the night before. 
I didn't have fresh basil, but added lots of salt and pepper instead which worked well.

Ingredients

4 tsp	Butter
4 slices	Streaky bacon, or parma ham
8 slices	Tomatoes
8 leaves	Basil
8	Eggs
8 Tbsp	Cream
¼ cup	Cheese, parmesan, goat, or cheddar

Directions

1. Grease each ramekin with the butter.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the ramekins with the bacon or ham. Put slices of tomato in the bottom with the basil leaves.
3. Crack in the eggs then add the cream and season with salt and pepper. Top with cheese, if desired, then bake for 15 minutes or until the whites have set.
4. Serve with hot buttered toast.

Sticky Banana Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce

This recipe comes from my old blog, it looks pretty good and the actual taste exceeds expectations. 

Isabella is busy making it for dinner tonight.

Isabella says "One of my favourite recipes ever. Super duper yummy and super duper easy to make. 
Would recommend to caramel lovers."

Sticky Banana Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce
1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 tsp baking soda
100g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups self raising flour
2-3 bananas, sliced



For Butterscotch Sauce
1 cup brown sugar
100g butter
1 cup cream


1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line a 22-23cm square cake tin with non-stick baking spray and line with non-stick baking paper.

2. Place dates in a small bowl with 1 cup of hot water . Bring to the boil, then add the baking soda. Stir well and cool for 5 minutes.

3. Using an electric beater beat the butter and caster sugar together until fluffy and pale. Add the eggs, vanilla and flour then beat in dates and their liquid. Mix in the banana slices then pour into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

4. Serve with butterscotch sauce poured over and ice cream.


To Make the sauce
1. Place the brown sugar, butter and cream in a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until it comes to a good boil. Boil for 1 minute then pour over the pudding as a sauce.

Pear and Tamarind Chutney

Too many pears in the fruit bowl led to this recipe being found and made.
A really nice tangy chutney, but not spicy.
It's super easy and used the remainder of a jar of tamarind paste I had in the fridge.

Ingredients

8	Pears, ripe, cored and finely diced
1 cup	Tamarind puree
1 cup	Soft brown sugar
2 Tbsp	Fresh ginger, finely grated
4 tsp	Mustard seeds
½ tsp	Salt

Directions

1. Heat pears, tamarind puree, sugar, ginger, mustard seeds and salt in a pot.

1. Simmer gently, stirring frequently to prevent sticking, until the sauce is thick and the pears are tender (about 30 minutes).

1. Bottle while hot into sterilised jars and seal with sterilised screw-top lids

Seed crackers (gluten and dairy free)

Someone I worked with made a linseed cracker for morning tea and they were delicious. I found this recipe which had a number of different seeds in it and gave it a try.
They are really quick and easy to make.
I double the recipe and it spread easily over two oven trays. They could have been thinner - some were still a bit soft in the thick middle. I'd try a single recipe over one - one and a half trays.

I used baking paper over the top of the mixture to flatten it out.

The finished cracker is really nice on its own and even better with cheese and chutney.

Rather than using both chia and flax seeds you could use just half a cup of one. It is important to include one or the other because they are what break down and bind everything together.

Ingredients

½ cup	Sunflower seeds
½ cup	Pumpkin seeds
¼ cup	Sesame seeds
¼ cup	Poppy seeds
¼ cup	Linseed / flaxseed
¼ cup	Chia seeds
½ tsp	Salt
1 cup	Water
1 serving	Flaky sea salt, to sprinkle

Directions

1. Heat oven to 170C. Place all the seeds and the salt in a bowl, pour in water and mix to combine. Leave for 15 minutes for the chia and flax seeds to soften and bind everything together.
   
2. Tip out on to a baking paper-lined oven tray and spread out as thin as possible (around 4mm thick) and sprinkle with some flaky sea salt. Bake for 30 minutes.

1. Remove from the oven and slice into crackers, then return to the oven to cook for another 20-30 minutes until crisp and golden. Remove to a rack to cool then store in an airtight container.

Ketogenic low carb

one piece

Net carbs: 3 % (1 g)

Fibre: 1 g

Fat: 85 % (6 g)

Protein: 11 % (2 g)

kcal: 61