Month: October 2015

Hello Your Fit Day Friends!

I’m kind of on a chocolate roll these days. Funny, because I’m not even a chocolate lover. In fact, you’ll never see me go hunting for chocolate, or wear one of those Death by Chocolate T-shirts.

But still, I love making my sugar free low carb treats…and chocolate is good for us (right?)…and practically everyone I know will snatch up a piece of chocolate something, if offered.

So… I’m offering,..with my Low Carb Chocolate Pumpkin Brownie Bites!

This recipe is a variation of my Melt In Your Mouth Chocolate Chiffon Brownie Cake, the one where I used Kabocha squash (known also as Japanese pumpkin) and Splenda granules. The one that tastes like a chocolate truffle!

In this Low Carb Chocolate Pumpkin Brownie Bites recipe I’ve replaced the Splenda with erythritol and liquid stevia.

And for convenience, and because some people can’t find kabocha squash in their area, I used canned pumpkin.

Each bite melts in your mouth, and tastes just as decadent as my Chocolate Chiffon Brownie Cake. And if you let it sit in the fridge for a day it becomes nice and fudge-y!

These Low Carb Chocolate Pumpkin Brownie Bites are not too sweet, so you may want to add extra sweetener. But I think it’s really really good just the way it is!!

For most of my pumpkin baking treats I usually use kabocha squash, which is also called Japanese pumpkin.  I love kabocha and have been using it for more than 20 years. You can read about kabocha here.

So here’s how I made these brownie bites:

First, I sifted the dry ingredients together, minus some of the sweetener which is used for the egg whites.

Then I beat the egg whites in a stainless steel bowl until frothy (copper bowls are best, so they say; and you can also use glass),

at which time I added in the cream of tarter. I continued beating until soft peaks formed,

and then added in the sweetener of choice (See notes below), a little bit at a time so it wouldn’t fly around the room. (In the pictures I used erythritol and liquid Splenda)

After it was all incorporated I beat for about another 30 seconds, just until stiff peaks formed. When they are fluffy, STOP your beating!

Make sure not to over beat the whites or they can liquify again. And if they’re too stiff they will get dry and crack when you are folding in the other ingredients. If this happens make sure not to panic! Just add in another egg white and carry on. It’s a learning experience…all will be OK!!

Next I gently poured the squash/egg mixture on top of the egg whites. 

Then I folded in the squash/egg mixture until all incorporated.

So it looked like this,

Then I sifted and folded in the dry mixture, in 4 equal siftings, until no pockets of the dry mix was left visible.

This part takes a lot of patience and time. Because every time you think it’s all mixed in another little pocket appears underneath the egg whites. So you kind of have to gently lift that bubble of egg white/dry mix, and shake the spatula against the bowl when it appears, so it bursts out the dry mix hidden inside, and then keep folding. I told you this takes patience!! But it’s well worth the effort in the end!

Your final batter will look like this:

If you’re not too sure on how to fold flour, or any other ingredients into egg whites, refer to my Lemon Chiffon Poppy Seed Cake recipe directions and watch the video on folding.

Then I divided my batter evenly (about 2.5 tbsp per cup) into 8 greased muffin cups without the parchment paper-because they come out more crispy-and placed them on the middle rack. (Or you can use parchment lined muffin tins, but they are not as crisp on top and sides and bottom).

And finally, after baking in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes (while being tortured with the smell of chocolate wafting through my apartment) out from the oven they came. As hard as it was to do, I let them sit for 15 minutes.

Then I plated them up…

and devoured every last one. Well, that part wasn’t hard at all!!

Really, I did! Because my chocolate brownie bites, have 24 grams of protein for the entire batter. I’d qualify that as a complete meal!

I like to schemer some my home made coconut butter, or some of my homemade chocolate pudding , on top, to add some good fats to the experience! So go ahead, have your cake and eat it too…for dinner!!

BTW: The macros for canned pumpkin and kabocha are very similar.

Notes about Sweeteners and carb counts:

Using Splenda Granules and erythritol: The first time I made these brownies I used Splenda Granules. (Yes! I eat Splenda!) This is what helps impart that light and airy melt in your mouth texture. I find that Splenda granules bake up more like real sugar than erythritol does.

Erythritol is a heavier sweetener by weight, and I believe this makes the brownie texture slightly more dense. But this could just be my own experience with it.

The recipe below is using erythritol, which gives the brownies a slightly different mouth feel; a bit more fudge-y.

Should you count Erythritol Net Carbs?: Personally I don’t count the sugar alcohols of erythritol into my net carb count, like some low carbers do. Erythritol has been shown not to spike insulin, and is not metabolized by our bodies, and even eating the entire cake doesn’t affect me.

But we are all individual snowflakes, so follow your bliss!

So if you choose not to count the erythritol carbs, that leaves the entire batch of brownies with 15g net carbs. That’s less than 2 grams net carbs per brownie!

However, in the nutrition info I have included total net carbs using erythritol, for those of you who count the sugar alcohol’s net carbs.

P.S- You can also bake these as a cake and enjoy the crispy corners! I prefer to bake these in one of those grocery store 7″-8″ cheap pie pans.

Alas, let’s get baking!

Note: If you prefer even more of a ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ experience and don’t mind using Splenda,  check out this chocolate ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ brownie recipe.

Low Carb Melt-In-Your Mouth Chocolate Brownie Bites

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

1 hour 5 mins

 

A low carb Paleo friendly brownie, with a slightly sticky and crispy top, that's light and airy inside, and melts in your mouth with every bite!

Author: DebbyK

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 75gram canned pumpkin
• 1 Tbsp coconut milk
• 1 tsp liquid vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp water
• 10 gram whey protein powder
• 1 Tbsp coconut flour
• 8 gram unsweetened cocoa powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp xantham gum (optional)
• ¼ cup erythritol
• ¼ tsp powdered stevia
  
  
• What You'll Need:
• Large Stainless Steel, Copper, or Glass mixing bowl
• Medium size bowl
• 2 small bowls
• Rubber spatula
• Mixer, either hand or stand
• Sifter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Lightly grease muffin tins with coconut oil
3. In a medium size bowl, separate the egg whites and the yolks (best done when the eggs are still cold straight up from the fridge). Reserve the yolks for another use.
4. Let egg whites rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes
5. Grind ¼ cup erythritol in a coffee grinder.
6. In a separate bowl, mix coconut flour, whey protein powder, baking powder, cocoa powder, salt, ¼ tsp powdered stevia and ½ of the powdered erythritol.
7. Sift the dry ingredients.
8. In another bowl, mix canned pumpkin with 1 Tbsp coconut milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 Tbsp of water. Mixture should resemble thick gravy. Don't make it too watery. If the batter gets too watery, a quick remedy would be mix about 1-2 tsp of the sifted dry ingredients.
9. By this time, the egg whites should be at a room temperature.
10. Using a hand mixer with a whisk attachment, lightly beat egg whites until foamy.
11. Lower the mixer speed, then put in ⅛ tsp cream of tartar. Increase the mixer speed and beat until soft peaks formed.
12. Lower the mixer speed, then mix in the remaining powdered erythritol. Mix it slowly until everything incorporates so you won't have powdered erythritol flying around.
13. Beat the egg whites until stiff peak formed.
14. Pour in the pumpkin/coconut milk mixture and carefully fold into the egg whites. Please watch video on folding below:
15. Once the batter is mixed, sift ¼ of the dry ingredients on`to the egg white. Carefully fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites mixture. Repeat this three more times, until you use up all the dry ingredients.
16. Fill about 2.5 Tbsp batter into each muffin tin. The batter should fill about ½ of the muffin tin if you want to make them into 8 muffins.
17. Bake in 350F for 45-50 minutes
18. Remove from oven and let sit about 15 minutes before removing from muffin tins. They come out easier this way.
19. Enjoy!

Notes

Take your time when folding all the ingredients into the egg whites. And make sure to break apart, very gently, any lumps or bubbles of dry mix that you see.

The best way to do this is by lifting the lumps onto your spatula and breaking them apart by tapping the spatula on the side of the bowl.

Using Splenda: I use ½ cup of the Splenda granules (not the baking Splenda or packets) and then powder that for the dry mix, and use ¼ cup for the egg whites.

Net Carbs: NOT Counting Erythritol, for Entire Batter: 15g
That's for the entire batter!

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 8 Calories: 28 Fat: .6g Saturated fat: .3g Carbohydrates: 7.9g Sugar: .5g Sodium: 24 Fiber: .8g Protein: 3g

3.5.3208