If you have been following my ongoing series of posts here about my
successful
keto diet weight loss journey, you’ll know that I love baked goods and desserts. You’ll also know that
finding ways to indulge in keto desserts has helped me maintain a fairly
strict ketogenic diet approach to eating since May 2019, a very low carb,
healthy lifestyle that I continue to follow now that I have achieved and
surpassed my original weight loss goals.
I also enjoy baking, but I don’t always have time to do low carb baking
from scratch. That’s why I keep a selection of high quality keto baking
mixes in my pantry, so, I can enjoy fresh-baked sweet treats in just
minutes. In a recent post, I shared my favorite low carb baking mix brands
and keto recipes for
low carb keto muffins. In this post, I'll share the excellent Good Dee's Cookie Mix low carb
baking mix line.
All Good Dee's Low Carb Cookie Baking Mix flavors are sugar free, gluten free, grain free, and wheat-free.
Some (but not all) are also manufactured in a dedicated gluten free facility. Anyone who either has a
food allergy or bakes cookies for someone who does will appreciate the
allergy information on the packaging and the brand owner's efforts to
accommodate multiple common food allergies.
Good Dee's continues to expand their low carb baking mix line for keto
cookies and other products. Not every flavor is available year round, and
some are considered seasonal. I recommend checking on both Amazon (free
shipping for Amazon Prime members) and the Good Dee's website (free shipping for orders over $50) to see which flavors are
currently in production and in stock. Occasionally, these products also go
on sale, another reason to keep an eye out on both websites, and also to
sign up for the Good Dee's mailing list for exclusive offers.
Last week, I used the three Good Dee's low carb baking mix flavors I
had on hand to bake the three dozen cookies I photographed for this
post. I've also tried a fourth flavor (double chocolate chip) that I
didn't have in my pantry at the time. Today, I'll share my product
reviews of the four low carb baking mix flavors that I've purchased and made into keto cookies.
As you can see, they certainly weren't the best-looking chocolate chip
cookies I've ever baked. Both times I've made them, the batter underneath
the chocolate chips seemed to pull away from them, resulting in small,
chocolate-filled craters after baking. However, I don't care that much about
how pretty they are, since they meet my much more important criteria for
being tasty, satisfying, and keto-friendly.
The other thing to know about this mix is that the chips are very dark
chocolate and not very sweet. I rather like the contrast of the barely sweet
chocolate chips and somewhat sweeter cookie dough.
These also make a great base for adding your own flavor mix-ins. I'm
thinking of adding some tiny wild Maine blueberries and chopped walnuts or
pecans to my next batch. Yum!
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If I had to pick my favorite, it would have to be this
awesome
Good Dee's butter pecan cookie baking mix
|
Of the four keto cookie mix flavors I've tried so far, the Good Dee's Butter Pecan Cookie Low Carb Baking Mix has definitely turned out to be my favorite. To me, they have an awesome
flavor and a less coarse texture than the other flavors, making these
extremely similar to old-fashioned butter pecan cookies made with white
flour and cane sugar.
My husband, who eats conventional cookies or cake daily for dessert, likes
these low carb butter pecan cookies a lot, too—the ultimate compliment for
keto baked goods!
Other Good Dee's Low Carb Cookie Mix Flavors
There are a few other Good Dee's Low Carb Cookie Mix flavors that may be
seasonal or out of stock, so I recommend keeping an eye out to see which
ones are available from time to time throughout the year.
About Good Dee's Low Carb Baking Products
The Dee behind Good Dee's is owner and founder Deana Karim, who finally
succeeded in losing weight and adopting a healthy lifestyle after
embracing a LCHF (low carb, high fat) approach to eating. She knew that
thinking of this way of eating as a diet (and, by implication,
temporary), and feeling deprived because she could no longer enjoy
cookies and other baked goods, would be a "recipe" for failure. At the
time, there weren't any baked goods that met her requirements for being
healthy, low carb, gluten-free and delicious, so she started developing her own gluten-free, low carb keto recipes for
brownies, cookies, muffins, and cakes.
Understanding that there were many other people following a low carb diet
who, like her, had an unmet need for easy-to-make, healthy, and delicious
sugar free baked goods, Deana invested her $5,000 savings into launching
her Good Dee's low carb baking mix business. A month later, her low carb,
gluten free, sugar free chocolate brownie mix was the number one brownie mix (not just low carb) on
Amazon!
She continues to expand her line, and has listened to customer feedback
to improve several of her baking mixes. She now offers Good Dee's sugar free just add water frosting mix in cream cheese, dark chocolate, and white chocolate flavors, and
even sugar free rainbow sprinkles.
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To take advantage of this generous 15% discount, simply:
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That's all there is to it. Enjoy!
Tips for Baking With Good Dee's Keto Cookie Mixes
All low carb baking mixes behave differently than their traditional flour-
and sugar-laden counterparts. Here are my tips for baking successful keto
cookies from a Good Dee's low carb baking mix.
Line Your Cookie Sheets With Baking Parchment
Even if you have a Silpat or other nonstick baking pan liner underneath,
I recommend lining your baking sheets with baking parchment, as directed when using these
low carb baking mixes. The cookies are extremely fragile when they come
out of the oven, and the parchment paper helps them release without
breaking. I have switched to using unbleached baking parchment
exclusively, and my high quality Fasmov Non-Stick Parchment Paper Baking Liner Sheets
are shipped flat, so the edges of the paper don't curl (which I
love!).
Prepare and Measure the Wet Ingredients
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Setting out and measuring all the ingredients, the mixing bowl,
and
a mixing spoon keeps your work space organized
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As with any type of baking, ingredients should be at room temperature
unless otherwise specified (for example, using chilled fat in pastry dough
or biscuits).
-
To bring the egg to room temperature, you can either set it out on
the counter or, if you want to start baking sooner, gently place the
whole egg (still in its shell) into a bowl of warm (not hot) water and
leave it for 5–10 minutes.
-
Either butter (preferably unsalted) or coconut oil will work for any
of the Good Dee's cookie mixes. I prefer the taste of unsalted butter
for most keto baking. When I've been low on butter or baking dairy
free cookies to accommodate another person's dietary requirements,
however, I've substituted my favorite unrefined, cold-pressed, organic virgin coconut oil, which adds a very subtle hint of coconut flavor that I quite enjoy.
If you prefer a more neutral flavor (or just don't like the taste of
coconut), you can use refined coconut oil, but it doesn't offer the
health benefits that unrefined, cold-pressed, organic virgin coconut
oil does.
-
I find it easiest to melt the butter or coconut oil in a Pyrex
measuring cup, covered with wax paper, microwaving it in 15-20 second
bursts, and stopping when most, but not all, of the fat has melted.
After removing it from the microwave, I gently swirl it in the glass
measuring cup, letting the hot melted fat finish melting the remaining
solids. If you prefer, you can melt it over simmering water in a
double boiler. Set the melted butter or coconut oil aside to cool
while you preheat the oven and prepare the cookie dough.
-
In any baking recipe, I always recommend using the best quality, pure
vanilla you can find (and afford). Penzeys pure vanilla extract is my
favorite.
Stir Dry Mix Before Adding Wet Ingredients
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Getting ready to add the egg, butter, and vanilla extract
after
stirring the dry cookie mix in a mixing bowl
|
The directions for all Good Dee's cookie mixes call for pouring the
baking mix into a bowl and stirring with a spoon before adding the wet
ingredients. I'm guessing the reason is that nut and seed flours are
heavier than wheat flour, so they may tend to separate out and settle to
the bottom during shipping. If that's the case, they might need to be
stirred back into the rest of the mix to redistribute them
evenly.
After stirring the dry mix in the bowl, add the egg, melted butter or coconut oil, and vanilla extract, then mix
thoroughly.
Use a Cookie Scoop to Portion the Dough Evenly
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I used a medium cookie scoop to divide the prepared
keto
chocolate chip cookie mix into 12 equal portions
|
Dividing dough into 12 equal portions with any accuracy can be a
pain. I could weigh the prepared dough in grams, divide the total weight
by 12, and then weigh out each portion of the dough. But if I'm using a
baking mix, I'm not interested in spending that amount of time and effort
just to portion out the dough equally.
Since I still track my daily keto macros and calories, ensuring that
dough is divided as evenly as possible is important to me. Most of the
mixes call for dropping 1½ to 2 tablespoon portions of dough onto the parchment paper-lined
cookie sheet to make 12 cookies. However, the butter pecan cookie mix
package says to use 1 tablespoon of dough for each cookie to make
"approximately" 12 cookies, yet when I did that, I had used up only
slightly more than half the dough. By trial and error, I found that 1/12
of my prepared butter pecan cookie dough measured out to slightly less
than 2 tablespoons per cookie.
So, if you track your daily keto macros and calories (for example, on the
Carb Manager app), I recommend using a 1.5 to 2 tablespoon stainless steel
scoop with a trigger mechanism to help release the sticky dough, such as
the
Solula Professional 18/8 Stainless Steel Medium Cookie Scoop #40 (with
a 1.7 tablespoon capacity)
to help you measure out 12 equal portions of cookie dough. You'll quickly
find out, through trial and error, whether you need to use a level scoop,
a scant scoop, or a slightly rounded scoop of dough for each cookie.
Don't Overbake
I've noticed that keto cookies I've made using a Good Dee's Low Carb
Baking Mix tend to progress from underbaked to overbaked fairly quickly.
Since every oven is different, I recommend setting your timer for one
minute less than the package directions' shortest baking time and then keeping a close eye on the cookies so you
can pull them out as soon as the edges turn golden (or, in the case of the
double chocolate chip cookies, until the edges have just set).
Let Baked Cookies Cool Completely Before Removing From the Baking
Parchment
These keto cookies have a much softer, somewhat coarser, and chewier
texture than conventional cookies made with flour and sugar, and they are
also more fragile, even after they have cooled. If you try to lift them
off the baking parchment before they have fully cooled, they are likely to
fall apart. So, don't let the scent of freshly baked cookies tempt you to
try to eat one, or even move them to a serving plate, while they're still
warm.
In fact, I find that both the flavor and texture of these low carb baked
goods are even better after a day or two!
Consider Freezing Some (or Most)
If you think it might be hard to resist eating more of these cookies than
will fit within your daily calories and keto macros, or if you don't plan
to eat one every day and want to enjoy them as a sweet treat from time to
time, you may want to freeze some or most of them, after snugly wrapping
them individually in plastic freezer wrap and then placing them inside an
airtight freezer-safe food storage container (or, if necessary, inside a
heavy, zippered freezer food storage bag).
Wrapping each cookie securely in plastic freezer wrap not only provides
another layer of protection against freezer burn, it also makes it easy to
remove just one or two cookies, which will thaw fairly quickly after being
unwrapped.
Keto Cookies vs. Conventional Cookies
|
Gluten-free, sugar-free, grain-free, butter pecan,
chocolate
chip, and sugar cookie keto cookies,
made with Good Dee's low
carb baking mix
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Unless you're just starting a keto diet, you've probably discovered
that ketogenic cookies, cakes, pies, etc., have a different texture and,
often, a somewhat different taste than conventional baked goods made with
high carbohydrate ingredients that can spike your blood sugar levels and
cause inflammation. So, it's important to have realistic expectations of any
keto baking recipes or low carb baking mixes.
That said, I found that my taste buds gradually adapted after several
months on a fairly strict ketogenic diet, and since I no longer eat
conventional sweet treats, my palate no longer compares very low carb
desserts to traditional baked goods. My experience is pretty typical of
people who stick to a fairly strict keto diet for at least 8–12
weeks.
So, while these cookies don't taste like my grandmother's cookies (or mine,
prior to last May), they make yummy, satisfying keto desserts for those of
us following a very low carb lifestyle.
Why Use a Keto Baking Mix Instead of a Low Carb Recipe?
Ease of Use, Time Savings, and Convenience
Baking is based on chemical reactions between ingredients. And the
chemistry that makes conventional baking recipes work involves interactions
between ingredients that aren't keto friendly. Even for those of us who have
decades of experience as excellent home bakers, there's a significant
learning curve in converting old, beloved family recipes for low carb
baking. That's a challenge I haven't had an interest in tackling (at least,
not yet!), so I prefer to let low carb baking experts do the work of
developing delicious, foolproof recipes for keto cookies and other baked
goods.
Sugar free, gluten free keto baking also requires stocking the pantry
with different ingredients than the ones we're accustomed to using. For
example, instead of white and whole wheat flour and cornstarch, we might
need to buy almond flour, coconut flour, sunflower seed flour, watermelon
seed flour, and xanthan gum. (And it's not as though any of these
ingredients can be simply substituted 1:1 in a keto baking
recipe!)
So, although I keep those and other low carb baking ingredients in my
freezer and pantry, and enjoy making a number of keto baking recipes for
rolls, buns, muffins, etc., when I have time and inclination, I also
appreciate the convenience of having keto baking mix varieties on hand. I
try to buy ones that contain the same high-quality, low carb ingredients I
use in my scratch low carb baking, and that produce keto baked goods that
taste as good as the ones I bake from scratch (or close enough).
Good Dee's Low Carb Keto Cookie Baking Mix Review by Margaret Schindel
Posts About My Keto Diet Journey
My First Year on The Keto Diet
Preparing to Succeed on the Keto Diet, Part One
Preparing to Succeed on the Keto Diet, Part Two
Low Carb Muffins & Cupcakes: Treats to Enjoy on a Keto Diet
Low Carb Keto Chocolate Yogurt Granola Chip Pudding Recipe
Good Dee’s Keto Cookie Low Carb Baking Mix Review
Hamama Microgreens Growing Kit Review & Success Tips
My Favorite Hamama Microgreens Seed Quilt Accessories
Keto Cheddar Cheese Biscuits With Chives Recipe
The Ultimate Keto Hot Chocolate Recipe
The Best Low Carb Keto Gift Ideas: Keto Gift Guide
The Best Low Carb Keto Cinnamon Muffins
Wholesome Yum Keto Bread Mix and Yeast Bread Recipe
The Good Chocolate 100% Organic No Sugar Dark Chocolate Review
The Best Advice to Maintain Your Keto Diet Weight Loss
My New Irresistibly Delicious Keto Cheese Crackers Recipe
Luscious Low Carb Keto Triple Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies Recipe
Quick & Easy Livlo Blueberry Scones Keto Baking Mix Review
Snack Better With The Best Healthy Keto Cookie Dough Bites
The Best Quick and Easy Low Carb Keto Pizza Recipe
The Best Quick and Easy Low Carb Keto Shortcake Cupcakes Recipe
Comparing the Best Keto-Friendly Chocolate Hazelnut Spreads - No Added
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The Best Low Carb Keto Sandwich and Burger Buns Mix
Blueberry Biscuit Scones — New, Easy, Low Carb Keto Recipe
The Best Keto Pizza Crust Mix With 0 Net Carbs
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Delicious Sugar-Free Keto Cookies That OREO Fans Will Love
Healthy Pistachio Cherry Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cereal Treats
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Easy, Decadent, High Protein, Sugar-Free Rocky Road Cottage Cheese Ice
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The Best Quick & Easy Low Carb Sausage and Ricotta Calzones
How to Make Refreshing Vanilla Italian Soda (With or Without Cream)
Reviews of the Keto Diet by Barbara C. (aka Brite-Ideas)
My Personal Keto Testimonial
How I Stayed Committed to the Ketogenic Way of Eating
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