Sweets and cakes do not have to be ‘off limits’ when you eat a low carb diet or need to watch your weight. Prepared without sugar and flour they can be part of a balanced diet. I have experimented with alternative ingredients and found that I could have some sweet things AND eat in a healthy way. I am now ready to share some of these recipes with you for your enjoyment and health. I am not a qualified dietary expert, so please do check with an expert if you have any doubt about my suggestions.

I want to emphasise that the following recipes reflect my personal style of eating and therefore include dairy products, cream, eggs and nuts (but not peanuts). But in many of the recipes you can simply exclude the dairy or the cream. The Hazelnut cake, for example, does not require cream and tastes delicious just on its own. You can bake flans and sponge cakes and muffins just with almond meal, eggs and xylitol. I suggest that you experiment with any ‘normal’ recipe you like, just substitute flour with almond meal and sugar with xylitol. Also experiment with quantities, as xylitol is almost twice as sweet as sugar. Don’t limit yourself to cakes and cookies. I also make delicious breakfast pancakes, icecream, and savoury dishes such as nutslice and prawn cakes.

I have attached pages from an article on Xylitol (in Nexus Magazine) to my webpage.
I like the fact that Xylitol is not artificial and has a low GI value. But it is more expensive than sugar. Fructose is also good, it is cheaper than Xylitol but has a slightly higher GI. On balance, however, I think that the inclusion of Xylitol in the diet can make the difference between eating no sweets at all (and maybe feeling cheated and left wanting) and having some guilt free sweets some of the time.
Some references I have consulted:
THE NEW GLUCOSE REVOLUTION by Jenny Brand-Miller
LIFE WITHOUT BREAD by Christian Allan and Wolfgang Lutz
XYLITOL – OUR SWEET SALVATION article by Sherrill Sellman in Nexus Magazine No 27, December 2002.
ATKINS NEW DIET REVOLUTION by Dr. Atkins
COCONUTS – any book by Mike Foale or Bruce Fife on coconuts
Also several books and articles on low GI foods, insulin resistance, syndrome X and low carb diets, for example by Dr. Sandra Cabot.

RECIPES

Coconut Macaroons

Preheat oven to 190 C (degrees celsius), grease flat baking tray

4 egg whites - whisk in narrow, high bowl until peaks form
½ cup xylitol - add slowly while whisking for another 2 minutes
2 ½ cups shredded/dessicated/grated coconut and
juice of half a lemon - fold into egg mixture with a wooden spoon. Use same spoon to place little individual macaroons on baking tray
Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, remove from tray, cool
Please note: macaroons will not be crunchy

Coconut Choco Icecream

Whisk one can good quality coconut cream with a few teaspoons real (not the sweetened variety) cocoa powder (experiment and decide how strong you want the chocolate taste to be) and two or three tablespoons Xylitol (again – experiment as you may like it sweeter or not so sweet). Whisk for a while, then fill into individual dishes, put into freezer for half and hour, take out and stir, put back into freezer. Take out 1 hour before eating and let it thaw at room temperature.

Hazelnut Muffins

Preheat oven to 190 C, grease muffin tray.

5 large eggs - separate and whisk egg whites until stiff
In a bowl whisk/beat egg yolks with a little water and
½ cup xylitol until creamy. Using a wooden spoon mix into this
2 cups hazelnut meal, then fold in the egg whites. Spoon into muffin tin
Bake for 12 mins (24 small muffins) or 15 mins (12 normal sized muffins). Remove muffins from tin, cool
Experiment with the following:
a) Add some cocoa powder or vanilla extract or frangelico liqueur or cinnamon or crushed pecan/walnuts/macademias to mixture
c) Add more xylitol for sweeter biscuits, or use half almond meal and half hazelmeal
d) To make biscuits pour mixture on flat baking tray and cut into squares after baking (same temperature but maybe only 12 mins).

Pecan Cinnamon Biscuits

Preheat oven to 190 C, grease flat baking tray

2 handfuls Pecan nuts – crush, add to this
2 eggs – mix well, add to this
3 teaspoons cocoa powder (unsweetened) and
3 heaped teaspoons Xylitol and
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon powder, then add some
Almond Meal until pastry thickens (1/2 – 1 cup)
Spread out on flat baking tray and
Bake at 190 C for 12 –15 mins, cut into squares, cool
Note: Before cooling you can cut out stars or other shapes

Baked Ricotta Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 190 C, grease round cake tin

5 large eggs – beat with a little water and slowly add
½ - 2/3 cups Xylitol, beat until creamy, stir into this
350 g smooth Ricotta Cheese (Pantalica brand tastes good) and juice of 1 lemon, mix until smooth, add to this
1 ½ cups Almond Meal, fill into cake tin
Bake at 190 C for about 35 mins (check - do not overcook)
Experiment by adding some blueberries, apple, banana, apricots, raisins or chopped nuts to cake mixture prior to baking

Berry Baked Cheesecake
Cake as above. Pour pastry into greased baking dish, sprinkle 1-2 cups of frozen mixed berries on top and gently mix into pastry with fork so berries are just covered. Bake as above.

Hazelnut Cream Cake

Preheat oven to 190 C, grease round cake tin

6 eggs – separate and whisk whites until peaks form, slowly add 20g Xylitol to whites, beat for another minute, then beat the egg
yolks with a little water and
80g Xylitol until creamy, use wooden spoon to fold into this
250g ground Hazelnuts and some crushed Macademia nuts (optional), fold in the eggwhite mixture, pour into cake tin,
Bake at 190 C for about 35 mins (check) or until done, take out of cake tin immediately, slice twice to make 3 layers, open up and let layers cool separately. When cool whip 300 ml of Pure Cream and just before it stiffens add to cream a handful of hazelmeal and a little xylitol (also nice is PORT added to the cream instead of nuts and xylitol). Use spoon to put cream between layers, use large knife to spread remaining cream on the outside and on top (for a very decorative cake you may need to whip some more cream), decorate the top with more cream and whole hazelnuts. Cool cake in fridge before serving.
(Note: For a sweeter cake add a little more xylitol).

Festive Cherry (Berry) Cake
sometimes called ‘Blackforest Cake’
(This cake is best if made the day before and kept in the fridge)
Preheat oven to 190 C, grease round cake tin

6 eggs – separate and whisk egg whites until peaks form, beat
egg yolks with a little water and
100g xylitol until creamy, use wooden spoon to add
250g Almond Meal and
5 teaspoons unsweetened Cocoa powder,
fold stiff eggwhites into this mix, pour into cake tin and
Bake at 190 C for about 35 mins (or until done), remove from tin, cut into 3 layers, cool layers separately. When cool whip 300 ml pure cream, spread bottom layer with cream and top with well drained sour cherries (Morello cherries), add some Kirsch (clear Schnaps – not liqueur) if you want, fill second layer with cream only and use remaining cream around edges and on top (if a decorative look is required whip more cream and use decorating tool, you could also grate some dark chocolate on top).

Note: Experiment with other berries and
if you don’t add the cocoa powder you can make a

Pineapple cake
using pineapple pieces and cream between layers or just make a plain Almond Cake with no filling (add some crushed macademia nuts before baking and some Vanilla extract).
Add Rose Water for Marzipan

Pancakes (Ricotta)

3 eggs, place in bowl and mix with
125 g smooth ricotta (for example Pantaglia), add
some pure cream (to your liking,1-5 tablespoons), add
some almond meal (judge quantity to achieve a gooey consistency) and maybe some lemon juice or some xylitol
Pour three little pancakes into hot buttered pan, cook on med heat on one side until firm, then turn and cook other side. Serve with fresh berries and cream or any other way you like. You can exclude the ricotta if you wish and add another egg instead.

Apple Pancake (served Dutch style)
This is one large pancake for 2-4 people baked partly under the griller.

Heat butter in a large frypan (with heatproof or no handles) on med hotplate and add 1 large chopped apple. As apple cooks whisk 4 eggs with either 4 tablespoons yoghurt or 100ml coconut cream (or 100ml buttermilk or any kind of milk, or some pure cream.) Add 1 teaspoon cornflour and ½ cup (or more if you like) almond meal. Pour mixture over apples, turn off hotplate and turn on griller (on high). After 2-3 mins on hotplate place frypan under griller (quite close to heat), remove when pancake is golden brown (maybe 2-5 mins), shake pancake loose and slide out onto large plate. Cut into halves, sprinkle with a little Xylitol, or add honey (fruit, jam or whatever you like) on top.

Prawn Cakes (as an entrée for 4)

16 large green prawns, peel, wash thoroughly and dry on kitchen paper, in a bowl mix together
2 –3 eggs and
half to one full cup crushed Macademia nuts. Add the prawns and gently mix, do not tear prawns, stand. In a large frypan heat
3-5 tablespoons Macademia oil, pour in prawn mixture, cook for 2-3 mins then turn prawns over for another minute or so, do not overcook, serve immediately (Garnish with parsley)

Savoury Nutslice (main course, serve with green salad)
In a large frypan fry 1 large chopped onion in butter or oil, add 3 chopped tomatos (or tinned chopped tomatos), mix into this 2 cups crushed nuts (ie cashews,walnuts,pine nuts), 1 cup rolled oats, salt, a handful grated cheese (optional), 2-3 eggs, mixed herbs, put mix on greased oven tray or in pie dish and bake for 40-50 mins at 170 celsius,cut into 6 squares while hot, serve immediatlely. Note: don’t spread mix out too thinly while baking as it will dry out if too thin. Again, experiment with different herbs, different nuts and different quantities.