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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UNL chapter.

My mom recently started a Keto diet. This means no carbs and no sugar. Yikes! But this doesn’t mean you have to completely give up those tasty sweet confections!

I love cooking and baking (and anything else that ends with me eating food). There is no way I can just cut sweets from my diet (the see-food diet), and those of you following similar plans to the Keto diet, like my mom, shouldn’t have to either! I’ve been testing out a few recipes for cake, brownies, cookies, and bread so my mom can still have delectable desserts with the family. A lot of these recipes are great for people on Gluten-Free and Paleo diets as well! My co-worker who is gluten intolerant loves the sweets I bring into work for him. I’ve found a lot of great recipes on https://perfectketo.com/category/keto and I’ve been playing around and trying to perfect some of their recipes and others with the goal of creating the perfect Keto-friendly confection while maintaining the light fluffy texture of your traditional confections.

Here are a few recipes I’ve enjoyed and some tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way!

**note**

For the recipes that call for Perfect Keto Collagen, there are substitutes available, but for those on the Keto diet, I would recommend it because it is all natural and it tastes great. I also like to use Perfect Keto products in coffee to boost my mornings. It’s available at Hyvee, online, and in other health stores.  

Recipe #1: Chocolate Fudge Mug Cake (Neilsen, “Perfect Keto Desserts”)

My mom and I love this one just as it is! It’s quick, easy, and oh-so-satisfying. (Plus you don’t have to share)

Ingredients:

  • 1 large egg

  • 2 tablespoons almond flour

  • 1 scoop Perfect Keto Collagen Chocolate

  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

  • 1 tablespoon melted butter or ghee or coconut oil

  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 1 tablespoon stevia, golden Lakanto, or keto friendly sweetener of choice

  • Pinch of salt

Optional Ingredients:

  • Sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg

  • Sugar-free chocolate chips

  • Whipped cream

  • Sugar-free caramel

Cooking Instructions:

  1. Grease one large mug or two small ramekins with nonstick spray or butter. Set aside.

  2. Add all ingredients to a small bowl and mix with a small whisk until smooth.

  3. Pour into your prepared dish and microwave on high for one minute (for two servings) or 75 seconds for one mug brownie recipe serving.

This recipe is only 140 calories with 3g of carbs. If you like this recipe from Perfect Keto, they have a few others, but I would definitely check out www.ditchthecarbs.com for their Vanilla Berry Mug Cake.

Recipe #2: Gooey Brownies (Gregory, “Perfect Keto Desserts”)

Ingredients:

  • 6 scoops/1 cup Perfect Keto Chocolate Collagen

  • 1/2 cup almond flour

  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

  • 1/2 tsp baking soda

  • 1/4 tsp salt

  • 6 tbsp Monk fruit (I would add an extra scoop or two)

  • 2 eggs

  • 1/3 cup creamy almond butter

  • 2 tbsp butter, melted

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  • 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla hemp milk (or almond/macadamia/coconut milk)

Optional Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp brewed coffee, cold (optional but brings out chocolate flavor)

  • 1/8 cup Lily’s Chocolate Chips (optional)

Cooking Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

  2. Grease an 8×8 baking dish with butter or coconut oil

  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.

  4. In a separate small microwave-safe bowl, combine butter and almond butter and microwave for 10-15 seconds or until melted.

  5. Add butter/almond butter mixture, eggs, vanilla extract, hemp milk, and coffee to dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

  6. Pour batter into greased baking dish and spread evenly. Top with chocolate chips.

  7. Bake for 18 – 22 minutes or until center is not jiggly and toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

  8. Let cool and enjoy!

I really liked these brownies, out of the few I’ve tried, which is another win for the Perfect Keto website, however, I did think this one needed a little more sweetener than what was suggested. It’s all about what you like though! Have fun playing around with ingredients.

You should get around 16 brownies at 118 calories and. 4g of carbs

p.s. I highly suggest the chocolate chips!

 

Recipe #3: Chocolate Chip Cookies (Rege, “Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies”)

The problem with chocolate chips is that they are LOADED with sugar. Luckily I have a keto-friendly chocolate chip  cookier recipe right here :)

Ingredients:

  • 2 large eggs

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter

  • 2 tablespoon heavy cream

  • 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

  • 2 3/4 cup almond flour

  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1/4 cup keto-friendly granulated sugar

  • 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

    • I found some 70% cacao chips, but the site I found this on, as well as a lot of others,  suggest Lily’s Dark Chocolate Chips from a company that offers a variety of keto-friendly options.

These will be around 160 calories with about 3g carbs per cookie.

Cooking Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°.

  2. In a large bowl, whisk the egg with the butter, heavy cream, and vanilla.

  3. Stir in the almond flour, salt, and Swerve.

  4. Fold the chocolate chips into the cookie batter.  

  5. Form the batter into 1″ balls and arrange 3″ apart on parchment lined baking sheets.

  6. Flatten the balls with the bottom of a glass that has been lightly greased with cooking spray. (I used a spoon)

  7. Bake until the cookies are golden, about 17 to 19 minutes.

I don’t know about you but I love chocolate chips cookies! In this recipe as well as others I like to use a mix of almond and coconut flour (mostly almond flour) to get a lighter texture. I also like the taste of coconut flour.

 

Bonus Recipe: Cajun Style Batter/Breading

I know this isn’t a dessert, but my mom made this the other day and it was AMAZING. We used this for some catfish, but it would work for just about anything else.

This recipe works great in the air fryer too just make sure to add plenty of oil and skip the egg dip. This is my mom’s rendition of a few different recipes, so feel free to check out others as well.

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup almond flour

  • sea salt and pepper to taste

  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder

  • 1 teaspoon dried hot pepper powder or flakes) (we made this from dried garden peppers)

  • 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning

  • 2-3 eggs

  • hot sauce (optional)

Cooking Instructions:

Traditional Fryer:

  1. In a deep fryer or skillet heat oil to about 350 degrees.

  2. Coat fillets/nuggets in batter, then in egg mixture, then back in the batter.

  3. Drop fish (or food of choice) into the oil and cook for at least 4-5 minutes or until golden brown.  (This step may vary depending on what you are cooking or the size of your fillets)

  4. Place on a napkin covered plate to cool and soak up excess oil.

  5. Enjoy

Air Fryer:

  1. Coat Air fryer pan in olive oil or avocado oil.

  2. Preheat Air Fryer to 400 degrees.

  3. Coat the fish fillets in a thick layer of breading and give the fillets a nice coat of oil.

  4. Place the fillets in a single layer in your air fryer.

  5. Cook the fillets for about 8 minutes, then pull them out to flip them and give the top layer another light coat of oil. Put them back in the air fryer and cook for about 8 more minutes.

**note** thicker/thinner fillets will need to cook different lengths of time. Mine were probably close to an inch.

My mom is not a big measurer when she cooks and that’s how I was taught as well, so I did my best to follow her steps and figure out the portions of the ingredients for this recipe. Feel free to adapt this to your own needs/liking. If you’re not a big fan of spicy, remove the dried hot pepper and the cajun seasoning and you still have a fantastic breading/batter. There’s a lot of room adaptations here.

 

Happy Baking, Cooking and most of all… EATING!!

 

Resources/Websites to check out:

I’ve included some websites my mom and I have found useful throughout this process and that we have found some great recipes on. I included a link to Lily’s sweets since it was mentioned earlier.  There are also some free keto books on the Apple book store if you’re interested in getting started or expanding your collection.

Nielsen, C. (2019, January 24). Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mug Cake. Retrieved from https://perfectketo.com/brownie-mug-cake/

Gregory, R. (2019, January 15). Ooey Gooey Keto Almond Flour Brownies. Retrieved from https://perfectketo.com/almond-flour-brownies/

Rege, L. (2019, January 17). These Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies Are Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, And Taste AMAZING. Retrieved from https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a25752891/keto-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe/

Lily’s Sweets. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lilyssweets.com/

Low Carb Real Food, Real Easy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/ ​

Agriculture and Environmental Science Communication Major, class of 2021. Passionate about agriculture, writing, and art (of all kinds)!! I pride myself in being a pun aficionado and I love finding good new music!
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