Here in the United States, the hi-carb holiday season begins next week. Thanksgiving is a complicated day for reasons every reader of this site understands, but the focus on family and food is something I treasure (even as this year’s meal will begin with a land acknowledgement). I have several diaries planned for cookies and other sweet treats that will post in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but I know that before I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes in 2016, pie was an obligatory part of my Thanksgiving meal. After I began following a ketogenic diet to manage my blood sugar (my personal net carb limit is about 25g/day) I assumed pie was off my menu, but it turns out I was wrong! If you’ve been hoping for a way to incorporate pie safely back into your repertoire, let me share with you my favorite pie crust recipe and then use it to make a delicious pecan pie! Both are from my favorite low-carb recipe site, All Day I Dream About Food (ADIDAF for short).
Before we get started, let’s talk about sweeteners safe for diabetics and their uses when cooking. I know this can be a contentious issue among folks because (1) there are so many choices; and (2) everyone’s personal metabolic response to sweeteners is different. Early on in my diabetes journey, I discovered a site with an easy to understand list of sweeteners based on their glycemic index. This list is how I learned that my skyrocketing blood sugar rise in response to foods containing the “sugar-free, zero calorie” maltodextrin made sense, because it has a glycemic index of 110 — HIGHER than regular sugar!! I limit my use of sweeteners at home to those with a glycemic index <2. From the chart at Sugar And Sweetener Guide, this gave me Erythritol, Yacon Syrup, Stevia, and Monkfruit Extract (Luo Han Guo) as options I both can use and like flavor-wise. There are others that I’ll eat when in prepared food, such as the sucralose in my flavored syrups that make my daily coffee a treat. My go-to sweetener in most of my cooking/baking is erythritol-based sweeteners such as the brand Swerve (which comes in regular, powdered and a brown sugar replacement!)
Thanks to Carolyn Ketchum at ADIDAF I learned about two other sweeteners that have changed my world: Bocha Sweet (from the kabocha squash) and Allulose. What makes these so special is that they don’t recrystallize upon cooling, don’t have the ‘cooling effect’ many people observe with erythritol (that minty-cool taste) and can be used to keep frozen things scoopable and baked goods softer. She has an ENTIRE piece on the best uses for various sweeteners and I urge you to read it.
OK, so you’re ready for pie? Let’s make pie crust! I apologize in advance for not having pretty pictures of my process; I seem to have had a photo library fail and I can’t find the series I took the last time I made pie. I promise, if you’ve ever made a press-in/graham cracker crust before, you can do this!
Easy Keto Pie Crust (From All Day I Dream About Food)
I urge you to read the recipe at the source, because as with all her recipes, every question you may have about “can I use X” or “what if Y” are answered. Here’s what I do:
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups (150g) finely ground almond flour (I use Costco’s Kirkland brand, but others work. Do NOT use ‘almond meal’ as it’s not ground finely enough)
¼ cup Erythritol (I use Swerve brand, either regular or powdered, it doesn’t matter)
¼ tsp salt
4 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
9” ceramic or glass pie plate (if you use metal grease it super well & it may burn easier, so watch!)
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 325F
2. Whisk almond flour, sweetener and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Add the melted butter, stir until it looks like coarse crumbs
4. Pour into pie plate, and use fingers to press the crust into bottom and up the sides (learn from brillig and make sure the crease between bottom and sides doesn’t get too thick!). Use a measuring cup or glass to press the bottom flat, then prick all over with a fork.
5. Bake about 10-12 minutes then remove and let cool before filling and finishing baking.
(If you need a fully baked crust bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown, cool, then add filling)
Nutritional info (10 slices): 187 cal; 12.7g fat; 3.7g protein; 3.6g carbs; 1.8g fiber
See how easy that was? Let’s continue on and make pie!
Sugar Free Pecan Pie (From All Day I Dream About Food)
Again, read the recipe especially if you don’t have the sweeteners I used.
Ingredients:
1 pie crust from above, baked 10-12 minutes and cooled
¾ cup (12 Tbs) unsalted butter
½ cup Swerve Brown (my grocery store sells this)
½ cup Bocha Sweet (find at Amazon or BochaSweet's site)
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
3 large eggs, beaten
1 ½ cup pecan halves
Steps:
1. Melt the butter and sweeteners in a saucepan, stirring over low heat just until the sweeteners dissolve.
2. Remove from heat, whisk in vanilla extract and salt.
3. Whisk in the eggs. Make sure the syrup isn’t so hot it cooks the eggs!
4. Put pecans in cooled crust and pour the filling over.
5. Bake 45 min until filling is mostly set but center jiggles if shaken. Don’t overbake!!! If the crust is browning too fast, cover with aluminum foil.
Cool completely before serving. Goes great with whipped cream!
Nutritional info (10 slices): 390 cal; 37g fat; 7g protein; 5.9g carbs; 3.2g fiber
I’d love to know what your favorite special meal desserts are!