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Showing posts with label keto desserts. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

The Best Quick & Easy Low Carb Keto Shortcake Cupcakes Recipe

In the heat of summer, most of us enjoy eating lighter desserts featuring sweet, fresh summer fruit and would rather spend as little time as possible cooking or baking in a hot kitchen. Some of us also may be trying to get or stay slim to look our best in lightweight, more revealing summer clothing.

In this review, I'm sharing my yummy, quick & easy low carb keto shortcake cupcakes recipe, which can be whipped up fast thanks to a keto baking mix, is bursting with sweet, ripe berries and topped with a luscious sugar-free buttercream frosting.

Quick & Easy Low Carb Mixed-Berry Shortcake Cupcakes - Keto-Friendly, Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free

A Fun Cupcake Twist on Traditional Biscuit-Based Berry Shortcake

I have made delicious keto-friendly strawberry shortcake with biscuits from a low carb baking mix topped with fresh whipped cream and berries. However, since there are only two of us in our household, that means whipping just a few tablespoons of heavy cream and assembling two shortcakes after dinner every time I want to serve them.

Recently, I got the idea to try making shortcake cupcakes, substituting cupcakes for the biscuits and low carb buttercream frosting for the whipped cream, which would let me assemble and refrigerate them in advance. While I'm making dinner, I can just take out two of the refrigerated shortcake cupcakes and set them on the counter so they will be at room temperature when we are ready for dessert.

A Delicious, Quick & Easy, Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free* Summer Dessert

The cake portion of these cupcakes is made with Scotty's Everyday Keto Cupcake & Cake Mix. This healthy, sugar-free, gluten-free and nut-free boxed keto cupcake mix is a real time-saver that minimizes time in a hot kitchen during the summer months.

The baked cupcakes are paired with juicy, fresh berries, keto berry jam and a super simple sugar-free buttercream that takes just a few minutes.

Scotty's Keto Cupcake Mix + Low Carb Buttercream Frosting + Sugar-Free Berry Jam + Fresh Berries = The Best Quick & Easy Low Carb Keto Shortcake Cupcakes

*Important food allergy note: Although Scotty's Everyday baking mixes are made with no nut flours, their website does not state that their mixes are made in a nut-free processing facility. It is important to contact the company to find out that information if you are thinking about serving these treats to anyone who has a severe nut allergy.

low carb keto shortcake cupcakes batter in silicone muffin pan liners

Just add melted butter, eggs, water and vanilla extract to Scotty's Everyday Keto Cupcake & Cake Mix for the base of these quick & easy low carb shortcake cupcakes, then split, fill, frost and decorate them with sugar-free jam, keto buttercream frosting and fresh berries.

Scotty's Everyday Keto Cupcake & Cake Mix Makes an Ideal Biscuit Alternative for This Low Carb Shortcake Cupcakes Recipe

I have used several keto baking mixes from Scotty's Everyday and like them a lot. Scotty's Everyday Keto Cupcake & Cake Mix is sweetened very lightly, and the baked cupcakes taste a bit like the drop biscuits I sometimes make for shortcake. They are also less crumbly than traditional cupcakes using sugar and wheat flour, which makes them perfect for this recipe.

In addition to the biscuit-like flavor and sturdy structure, each cupcake prepared according to the directions on the Scotty's Everyday Keto Cupcake & Cake Mix package have several other benefits:

0 net carbs (22g total carbs - 14g dietary fiber - 8g erythritol = 0 net carbs)
No added sugars
Sweetened with erythritol and monk fruit extract
14g dietary fiber
90 calories

This sugar-free, gluten-free, nut-free, low carb keto baking mix is also a cinch to prepare. Just add melted butter, eggs, water and vanilla extract. My product review rating for Scotty's Everyday Keto Cupcake & Cake Mix is 5 stars!

My Favorite Keto Buttercream Frosting Recipes

The Best Quick & Easy Low Carb Keto Shortcake Cupcakes Recipe needs a fast, simple frosting to live up to its name. I recommend the Keto Buttercream Frosting Recipe from Wholesome Yum, which has 205 calories, 16.4g of fat and 0g net carbs per serving (3 tablespoons).

If you want to significantly cut the calories and fat and are willing to spend a bit more time and effort, I highly recommend the luscious Sugar-Free Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting recipe from All Day I Dream About Food, which lends itself beautifully to piping and tastes out of this world. A 1/4-cup serving (4 tablespoons) has only 109 calories, 10.7g of fat and and almost zero (0.1g) net carbs.

Use Your Favorite Keto Friendly Berries

Berries are the only fruits low enough in carbohydrates to fit a ketogenic diet. The berries with the fewest net carbs are raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. Blueberries have more than twice the net carbs and half the dietary fiber of raspberries or blackberries, but are still low enough in carbs for you to enjoy a few on one of these keto shortcake cupcakes.

For the keto shortcake cupcakes I photographed for this post, I used fresh raspberries and blueberries. I also added a taste of strawberries by pairing my favorite sugar-free strawberry jam with the buttercream frosting for the filling.

cupcakes being split, filled, frosted and decorated

ChocZero Keto Strawberry Jam is delicious, spreads easily and, like the buttercream frosting, helps hold the fresh rasbperries and blueberries in place while reassembling the filled shortcake cupcakes.

The Best Low Carb Keto Strawberry Jam

I have tried several brands and flavors of sugar-free jams. Most were fairly disappointing. Some were sweetened with artificial sweeteners, which I try to avoid for health reasons. Some were too thin and loose or had big chunks of berries that made them hard to spread in a thin layer.

ChocZero is one of my favorite brands of low carb and keto-friendly products. Recently, they launched a keto strawberry jam, which I ordered immediately. Based on my experience with other sugar-free jam products, I was only cautiously optimistic. (I didn't want to get my hopes up only to be disappointed again.)

I was pleasantly surprised by the new ChocZero Keto Strawberry Jam. It has a thick, "jammy" consistency, spreads easily in as thick or thin a layer as you wish, is sweetened with monk fruit, has no added sugars, and has a delicious flavor from real strawberries. Each serving (1 tablespoon) provides a whopping 10g of dietary fiber and has just 15 calories and 1 net carb.

Unlike the other low carb, sugar-free jams and preserves I have tried, ChocZero Keto Strawberry Jam is also sticky enough to help keep the raspberries, blackberries, strawberries or blueberries in place when sandwiching them between the halves of the split shortcake cupcakes.

Five filled, frosted and decorated low carb keto shortcake cupcakes

Don't these keto-friendly shortcake cupcakes filled with jam, frosting and fresh berries look yummy, despite my messy piping of my melting buttercream? They're one of the best keto desserts to make for summer holiday gatherings including the 4th of July (especially if you use red and blue berries!).

How to Make the Best Quick & Easy Low Carb Keto Shortcake Cupcakes

Recommended Kitchen Tools and Supplies for This Recipe

Silicone Muffin or Cupcake Liners
The Scotty's Everyday Keto Cupcake & Cake Mix package instructions say to "Line one 12-cup standard muffin tin" without specifying the type of cupcake liners to use, I highly recommend Pantry Elements Silicone Baking Muffin Cups. They are made from BPA-, PVC- and phthalate-free, food grade platinum silicone and sturdy enough to use on their own on top of a flat baking sheet, if desired, or you can use them as liners for cupcake or muffin tins. They also come in a clear, reusable screw-top container for storage, which keeps them clean and dust-free and lets you enjoy the rainbow of bright, happy colors even when these nonstick silicone baking cups are not in use. I have used mine frequently for several years for both muffins and cupcakes and can attest to their high quality and durability.

Stainless Steel Scoop With Trigger or Spring Action Handle
I have a large assortment of these stainless steel scoops in different sizes and found that my Norpro 50mm stainless steel scoop (3 Tablespoons) was a bit too small and my Norpro 56mm stainless steel scoop (4 Tablespoons) was a bit too large. You can use a rounded 3 Tablespoon scoop of cupcake batter or, if you make a lot of cupcakes or muffins, you might want to get the Solula 18/8 Stainless Steel Ice Cream Cupcake Muffin Scoop (3.4 Tablespoons), which is just the right size and capacity to portion out nicely rounded scoops of batter into standard size muffin or cupcake pans.

Cake Decorating Set or Piping Bags With Decorating Tips
These low carb keto shortcake cupcakes will be just as delicious if you use a small offset spatula to spread the frosting on the tops, but piping the buttercream into decorative swirls makes for a more festive presentation. As you can see in the photos, I had a hard time piping the frosting onto my cupcakes, partly because I'm decades out of practice and partly because my kitchen was so hot that the buttercream quickly softened too much. Even so, I like the look of the buttercream swirls, messy though they turned out! If you are new to cake decorating and would like to give it a try, I recommend starting with a small, inexpensive, basic set, such as the Wilton Beginning Buttercream 20-Piece Cake Decorating Kit to see whether you enjoy using a piping bag and decorative tips.

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:

1 package Scotty's Everyday Keto Cupcake & Cake Mix
1 Tablespoon melted butter or ghee (clarified butter)
3 large eggs
1/3 cup water
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Optional but recommended: Avocado oil, clarified butter or coconut oil for greasing the cupcake liners

For the Keto Buttercream Frosting (Wholesome Yum recipe):

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature (Wholesome Yum's recipe recommends Danish Creamery European Style Unsalted Butter, which isn't available where I live; I use Kerrygold Unsalted Butter, a high-quality Irish butter made from the milk of grass-fed cows that are free of growth hormones)
1 cup Wholesome Yum Besti Keto Monk Fruit Sweetener With Allulose 1:1 Natural Powdered Sugar Replacement
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1 Tablespoon heavy cream (approximately)

For the Filling:

ChocZero Keto Strawberry Jam
Fresh raspberries, strawberries, blackberries or blueberries, preferably organic

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 ℉ / 180 ℃. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper, foil or silicone cupcake liners or place 12 sturdy silicone baking cups on a baking sheet. Although not specified on the cupcake mix package directions, I recommend greasing the liners lightly with a thin film of avocado oil, clarified butter or coconut oil.
Prepare the Scotty's Everyday Keto Cupcake & Cake Mix batter according to the package directions. Use a trigger or spring action scoop to portion the batter evenly among the 12 lined muffin tin wells or silicone baking cups, using approximately 3.5 tablespoons of batter for each cupcake.
Bake for 20–22 minutes, just until they test done according to the standard "toothpick test" (i.e., insert a clean, dry toothpick into to center of one of the cupcakes and pull it back out; if it remains clean and dry, the baked goods are done). Do not overbake! Cool them on a baking rack for 20 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the muffin pan or silicone baking cups.
While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream according to the Keto Buttercream Frosting Recipe on the Wholesome Yum website.
Rinse the berries and lay them on two thicknesses of paper towel to dry. Set aside the best looking ones to decorate the tops of the cakes.
Slice the cooled keto shorctcake cupcakes in half horizontally and turn the halves cut side up. Spread a layer of ChocZero Keto Strawberry Jam on one half and a thin layer of the prepared buttercream frosting on the other half. Arrange the berries on the bottom half of the cupcake and cover them with the top half.
Frost the tops of the cupcakes with the remaining buttercream frosting. You can either spread it on with an offset spatula or put it into a piping bag fitted with a star tip (or your favorite cake decorating tip) and piping it on in swirls or rosettes. Top each frosted shortcake cupcake with one of the reserved fresh berries.
Serve on dessert plates with knives and forks, like traditional berry shortcakes. (These towering, berry-filled cupcakes are too tall to bite into directly!)

A Perfect 4th of July Dessert

Make these shortcakes with fresh raspberries (or sliced or diced strawberries) and blueberries for a festive red, white and blue 4th of July dessert that everyone at your holiday gathering can enjoy, even if they are on a gluten-free, sugar-free, nut-free, low carb or ketogenic diet.

The Best Quick & Easy Low Carb Keto Shortcake Cupcakes Recipe 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 Sugars

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

An Unusual, Delicious Strawberry Chocolate Tea With 0 Calories

Delicious Sugar-Free Keto Cookies That OREO Fans Will Love

Healthy Pistachio Cherry Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cereal Treats Recipe

Easy, Decadent, High Protein, Sugar-Free Rocky Road Cottage Cheese Ice Cream

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

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Luscious Low Carb Keto Triple Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies Recipe

Peppermint and chocolate are a flavor match made in heaven, especially around the holidays! These luscious, big, fudgy low carb peppermint cheesecake brownies feature a yummy a mint cheesecake swirl and are topped with a melted peppermint chocolate bar topping.

My new low carb peppermint cheesecake brownies recipe is so rich and decadent, no one will guess they are a keto friendly treat unless you tell them. You, your family and your holiday guests of all ages will love them!

Here’s my review of this quick and easy low carb keto mint brownies recipe.

Triple Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies - Keto, Low Carb and Luscious

Although this image show them in an 8-inch square pan cut into 16 squares, which I did for the first batch, I now bake them in a 9-inch square pan and cut them into 20 rectangular bars (four "columns" and five "rows") for a larger serving, which is how I have written the recipe.

However, these are so rich that you can easily cut them into smaller portions and still have a very satisfying portion with fewer calories and carbs if you prefer.

How to Make Keto Triple Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies

Makes 20 brownies.

Tools, Supplies and Equipment

9" square pan (I love my heavy-duty USA Pan Bakeware 9-inch Square Cake Pan, Nonstick & Quick Release Coating)

If You Care unbleached baking parchment

Electric mixer with mixing bowl

A second mixing bowl (I used the 3-quart bowl from my OXO Good Grips 3 Piece Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl Set with non-skid bottoms, which I love)

Silicone spatula

Table knife (for swirling the cheesecake and brownie batters)

Cooling rack

Aluminum foil

Ingredients

Butter or coconut oil (to grease the corners of the pan and the baking parchment)

For the peppermint cheesecake batter:

8 oz full fat cream cheese, softened

1 egg, room temperature

3/4 teaspoon Watkins pure peppermint extract

3 tablespoons BochaSweet sugar replacement granulated sweetener (my favorite, but often out of stock) or Swerve granular sugar replacement

For the chocolate fudge brownie batter:

1 bag Good Dee's Soft Baked Keto Brownie Mix, Double Batch Bag 1 lb bag

1 cup (2 sticks) Kerrygold salted butter (or other grass-fed butter), melted and cooled

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon Watkins pure peppermint extract

56g (132 chips) Lily’s peppermint white chocolate baking chips (no sugar added)

For the mint chocolate topping layer:

2.5 oz (70 g) bar of The Good Chocolate zero sugar 65% dark chocolate peppermint

Directions

Preheat the Oven and Prepare the Baking Pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 °F.

Cut two lengths of unbleached baking parchment to fit the 8-inch square baking pan, leaving at least one piece long enough for the ends to hang over the edges of the pan. (I like to cut both pieces long.) The overhanging ends will serve as handles to help you lift out the baked and cooled brownies.

Grease the corners of the pan and the baking parchment (excluding the overhanging flaps) with butter or coconut oil. Set the prepared pan aside.

Make the Peppermint Cheesecake Batter.

Put the softened cream cheese into the bowl of the electric mixer and beat until soft and smooth, scraping the bottom and sides often with the silicone spatula.

Add the egg, peppermint extract and BochaSweet sweetener. Beat on medium speed until well blended. Set the peppermint cheesecake batter aside.

Make the Peppermint Chocolate Chip Brownie Batter.

Empty the 1-lb. bag of Good Dee's Soft Baked Keto Brownie Mix, Double Batch into the second mixing bowl. Stir in the melted and cooled butter with the silicone spatula until well combined.

Stir in the 4 eggs and peppermint extract until well blended. (Do not beat, whip or overmix the brownie batter.)

Stir in the peppermint white chocolate baking chips.

Layer and Marble the Brownie and Cheesecake Batters.

Spread half the chocolate brownie batter in an even layer in the prepared pan. Top with half the peppermint cheesecake batter, dropping it onto the brownie batter layer in large, evenly spaced dollops.

First layers of peppermint brownie batter with dollops of peppermint cheesecake batter

Scrape the remaining chocolate brownie batter into the pan, covering the peppermint cheesecake batter without disturbing it too much.

Remaining peppermint brownie batter dollops covering the peppermint cheesecake batter dollops

Then, drop dollops of the remaining peppermint cheesecake batter over the top. If possible, try to stagger the locations of these dollops to place them in between the previous cheesecake dollops. (If you can’t tell where the lower dollops are when they are covered by the brownie batter, no worries!)

Remaining peppermint cheesecake batter dollops added

Swirl a table knife through all four layers of batter so it’s loosely marbled, taking care not to mix the batters too much. You want the chocolate brownie batter to remain brown and the peppermint cheesecake batter to remain white as much as possible.

Peppermint brownie and peppermint cheesecake batters marbleized in the pan

Bake the Brownies and Add the Mint Chocolate Topping.

Place the pan in the preheated oven and bake at 350 °F for 30–40 minutes, just until the center tests almost done with a toothpick. The brownies will continue to bake in the hot pan as they cool.

As soon as the brownies test done, move the pan to a cooling rack.

Immediately unwrap The Good Chocolate dark chocolate peppermint bar and break it along the score lines into six squares. Place the chocolate squares on top of the piping hot brownies, spacing them evenly about 1.5 inches away from the edges of the pan.

Hot, baked peppermint cheesecake brownies topped with squares of The Good Chocolate dark chocolate peppermint bar

Carefully lay a sheet of aluminum foil over the top of the hot pan, tenting the foil loosely so it doesn’t touch the surface of the chocolate. Do not try to crimp/seal the edges of the foil to the edges of the pan.

Remove the foil after about 15 minutes and set it aside. Carefully spread the melted chocolate over the brownies in a thin, even layer.

Melted peppermint dark chocolate squares spread over top of brownies in pan

Finish Cooling, Chill Briefly and Cut Into Squares.

Allow the brownies to continue cooling in the pan on the cooling rack for at least an hour.

Cover the cooled pan of brownies with the reserved foil and place it in the refrigerator for 60-90 minutes, just until the surface of the mint chocolate topping layer firms up.

Use a spatula to loosen the parchment from the edges of the pan, if necessary. Run a sharp knife under hot water and immediately wipe it dry, then use the warmed knife to slice through just the hardened mint chocolate coating layer to score it into 16 squares, as shown. Then score a line down the center of each square to make 32 rectangles (not shown).

Note: The photo shows the dark chocolate peppermint candy bar coating scored into 16 squares, which is how I had cut them before I photographed them. Once we tasted them and realized just how rich these brownies are, we subsequently decided to cut each big square in half to make narrower brownie bars.

Scoring the chilled and hardened mint chocolate topping layer while still in the pan

Use the overhanging baking parchment paper handles to lift the uncut brownies out of the pan and onto a cutting board.
Using the scored lines in the chocolate coating as a guide, cut the brownies into 32 pieces.
Place them in a covered food storage container, layered between waxed paper or parchment paper, if necessary, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Finished keto triple peppermint cheesecake brownies on a decorative Christmas serving platter

These low carb keto triple peppermint cheesecake brownies are so rich and decadent, we decided to cut them in half after I photographed them and we tasted them.

Nutrition Facts

Calories and Macros (Estimated)*:

Serving: 1 brownie (1/20 recipe)

Calories: 207

Net Carbs: 2.5g

Total Carbs: 23.9g

Fiber: 8.5g

Sugar: 0.2g

Added Sugar: 0.0

Sugar Alcohols: 3.2

Protein: 3.8g

Fat: 18.3g

Saturated Fat: 10.6g

Cholesterol: 79.1

*This nutrition data was calculated by the Carb Manager Premium app after I entered the ingredients and amounts into the Create Custom Recipe function.

A Delicious and Festive Christmas Gift (Especially for Anyone Following a Low Carb or Keto Diet!)

I have always loved giving homemade Christmas cookies and other festive baked goods to family members and friends around the holidays. A beautifully wrapped holiday-themed decorative tin lined with a doily and filled with these fabulous low carb keto triple peppermint cheesecake brownies would make a festive and much appreciated gift for anyone. For someone who is watching their sugar and carbs, make sure to include the recipe. Better yet, make up a low carb keto holiday gift basket including these brownies, the recipe and the ingredients so your gift recipient can make more of them after the ones you gifted them have been eaten!

The Perfect Pairing of Low Carb Keto Holiday Dessert Recipes

For the ultimate holiday sweet treats indulgence, pair my Low Carb Keto Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies Recipe with my Ultimate Keto Hot Chocolate Recipe!

Luscious Low Carb Keto Triple Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies Recipe 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 Sugars

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

An Unusual, Delicious Strawberry Chocolate Tea With 0 Calories

Delicious Sugar-Free Keto Cookies That OREO Fans Will Love

Healthy Pistachio Cherry Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cereal Treats Recipe

Easy, Decadent, High Protein, Sugar-Free Rocky Road Cottage Cheese Ice Cream

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

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Good Dee’s Keto Cookie Low Carb Baking Mix Review

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.

Good Dee's Low Carb Cookie Baking Mix - Keto Friendly, Sugar Free

Bake fresh keto cookies in just minutes
with Good Dee's low carb cookie baking mix

Good Dee's Low Carb Cookie Mix

Fresh Baked Keto Cookies in Minutes!

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.

A Changing Flavor Selection

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.

Good Dee's Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

These thick, soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies
are also low carb and keto diet friendly treats

It's not surprising that the first keto cookie mix Good Dee's introduced was chocolate chip. After all, chocolate chip cookies are the most popular cookie in the United States, and the second most popular cookie in the world, after French macarons.

I tried Good Dee's Chocolate Chip Cookie Low Carb Baking Mix for the first time shortly after I discovered it on Amazon and, truthfully, I was a bit underwhelmed. Fortunately, the "new & improved recipe" lived up to its promise, and the second batch I made, using the mix with the new recipe, was much better. Like all the Good Dee's cookie mixes I've tried to date, the improved chocolate chip version produced cookies that were large, thick, soft and chewy. That's how I prefer my "chippers," but if you like thin, crisp cookies, you probably won't be a fan of the Good Dee's mixes

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.

Good Dee's Sugar Cookie Mix

Good Dee's Sugar Free Cookie Baking Mix and plate of cookies

A different texture than traditional
sugar cookies, but a similar taste

Like all this brand's products, Good Dee's Sugar Cookie Baking Mix is actually sugar free. Although the texture is coarser and chewier than conventional sugar cookies, the taste is surprisingly similar.

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!

Good Dee's Butter Pecan Cookie Mix

Good Dee's Butter Pecan Low Carb Cookie Baking Mix and baked butter pecan cookies

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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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

Bag of Good Dee's chocolate chip cookie mix next to beaten egg, melted butter, and vanilla extract

Setting out and measuring all the ingredients, the mixing bowl,
and a mixing spoon keeps your work space organized

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

Cookie baking mix in bowl, next to the wet ingredients on countertop

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

Twelve scoops of Good Dee's low carb chocolate chip cookie dough on baking parchment lined cookie sheets

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

Three different types of Good Dee's low carb 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

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).