Welcome to today’s edition of the Kos Diabetes Group. I hope everyone made good use of their zucchini with last month’s recipes (and filed it away for late summer use!). This month I return to my sweet tooth…
As I’ve mentioned before, my Type II Diabetes diagnosis and subsequent transition to a low-carb way of eating left me feeling better than I had in years, but while my A1c was dropping, so was my belief I’d ever get to have sweet treats again! And while I’ve since learned how to satisy most of my food cravings in a low-carb way, and even find safe chocolate bars and chips for baking (thank you Lily’s and ChocZero!), holidays with a focus on packaged candies such as Halloween and Easter always remind me of what I CAN’T, not can, eat. Yes, I know that companies like Russell Stover, and even Hersheys sell “sugar-free candy” they market as “safe for diabetics”. However, the vast majority of those contain maltitol, which is similar to coconut sugar and high-fructose corn syrup in glycemic index. In my early diabetic journey I ate several small sugar-free peppermint patties while watching a movie and my blood sugar spiked to well over 200!! Whoops!
In my Life Before Diabetes, my favorite of all was Reeses. Be they regular peanut butter cups, pieces, or my favorite of all, the Eastertime Reeses Egg (which now comes in trees and, I kid you not, Mystery Shapes, which is what the trees kinda were anyway :-)). There are lots of recipes for keto peanut butter cups out there, and I have a favorite in regular rotation here. But to bring back that feeling of getting a special, egg-shaped bit of chocolate-coated peanutty goodness, I needed a dedicated recipe.
And to the surprise of no one who’s read my recipe posts both here and at Top Comments over the past six years, I found one at All Day I Dream About Food! They turn out to be ridiculously easy to make, and use items common in a low-carb pantry. And if you’re not an Easter Egg kind of person (while I’m no longer Christian, that’s my secular frame of holiday reference, and I’d love to learn special treats for other holidays!) you can make them circular or oval. I adapted the recipe based on what I (1) had at home; and (2) prefer to use, so I’ll let you know where I adapted the recipe and you can choose what you want to use! As always, I recommend reading the original blog recipe post because there are LOTS of tips there for success!
My ingredient list
INGREDIENTS
6 Tbs Peanut Butter (I used almond butter because I both like it better AND it’s what I had on hand) Whichever you use, make sure to pick no-added-sugar type!
5 Tbs Butter (I used salted)
6 Tbs powdered sweetener (I used what the recipe specified, erythritol and powedered it myself in a spice grinder. I have NO idea if other sweeteners work, probably?)
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt (I omitted because salted butter)
¾ cup defatted peanut flour (I didn’t have that, so used easily available PB Fit. It has added sugar but didn’t seem to alter the carb count much over the published recipe)
4 oz sugar-free dark chocolate (I used Lily’s Dark)
½ oz Cocoa Butter (If you don’t keep this as a pantry staple, please consider! Long shelf life, a great butter substitute in butter coffee, and versatile!
How to prepare the filling:
Making the dough and the eggs
1. Line a 13x9 pan with parchment (also make space to put this pan in the freezer)
2. Melt Butter, Peanut/Almond Butter in microwave (or stove on low), stirring until combined. Stir in sweetener, vanilla & salt, mix until smooth.
3. Add the peanut flour & stir until a stiff dough forms. If it’s wet or goopy, add more peanut flour 1tbs at a time until it feels like play-doh
4. Roll dough into 15 balls, flatten and shape into an egg-like shape. Place on the parchment paper and freeze at least one hour.
How to finish by coating the eggs in chocolate:
Mr. Brillig says mine are tastier than the real thing!
1. Chop the chocolate bar (I broke it into squares). Place into heatproof bowl with cocoa butter.
2. Set bowl over a pan of just-simmering water, stir until everything is melted and smooth.
3. Dip the frozen egg into chocolate and use a fork to coat it (I stabbed the egg w the fork, dipped it, used a small silicone spoon to coat w chocolate.
4. Tap fork against bowl to get excess chocolate off, then place back onto parchment. I used the little spoon to push the fork off, then quickly covered up the holes by spreading the chocolate over it. Work quickly because the coating hardens over the frozen egg fast!
5. Store in refrigerator until ready to eat.
My nutritional analysis per egg, YMMV depending on the ingredients you use: 141 cal; 12g fat; 7g total carbs; 5g fiber; 5g protein
I hope you have a fantastic weekend, and I’d love to see some of the diabetic-friendly sweets you’re making!
