LoneStarCupcake: Back from hiatus -- Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies (Sugar-Free, Low-Carb)

Ok, back on this low-carb bandwagon after a very long hiatus wherein I gained back what I lost by eating ice cream at every opportunity.

I've been back for a week, and I'm down 7 lbs. I know this is the first-week-effect and is mostly water weight, but I'll take it. Its gratifying to see the scale move early in the process and it allows me to power-thru the carb withdrawals without losing steam. I would have thought by now I would've done the keto flu thing - but either it happened abbreviated-ly late on Day 2 (had a terrible headache that went away when I drank some chicken broth), or I feel so generally poorly (and have gotten used to it) that I don't notice the difference. Or the worst is yet to come. I hope it's not the latter 2.

Garmin VivoSmart

To help kick-start the weightloss process, I splurged on a Garmin VivoSmart fitness tracker. It combines the fitbit functions of step counting, calorie counting (based on steps), and sleep tracking, with a heart rate monitor (for use during exercise that may not track well as steps - like weight lifting or yoga or swimming), with some smart-phone bluetooth integrations that allow automatic syncing with the app, syncing to MyFitnessPal, and notifications (such as text messages, phone calls, FB messages, other alerts, etc.) that display right on the wristband. It also has a touchscreen and comes with a countdown that buzzes my wrist if I've not walked 200 consecutive steps (about..) within the last hour and displays "move" to remind me to get up and move. Other than yesterday, I've beat it's ever-growing step goal each day. So I feel like that's a win.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies (Sugar-Free/Low-Carb)

So to the food part: I'm back in the kitchen experimenting. This weekend, for Valentine's day, I'm watching the almost-5-year old daughter of some friends of mine. The last time she stayed with me, we made Nestle Tollhouse cookies and she requested that this time we make cookies again. So, to make sure we made something that I could have, to offset the sheer quantity of sugar she had yesterday at her school's valentine's day party, but still fulfill the cookie-making requirements, I did a massive search on the interwebs for the perfect sugar-free, low-carb, chocolate chip cookie. The one I found on Temple of Adventure had loads of positive comments from folks who had tried them, so that's the one I determined we were going to make. They turned out beautifully - and while the texture is not like a regular flour-based cookie - think somewhere between muffin and lofthouse, they taste AMAZING.

Now if you're not prepared to do sugar-free/carb-free baking, this is going to get expensive quickly, and you're going to have to probably find a specialty health-food or alternative-food store to find some of the ingredients unless you have the most massive and well-stocked grocery store. I found almost all of these things at my local Hy-Vee (the really big one in Gladstone on Englewood), but I had to supplement by going to Green Acres market in Briarcliff. About $60 later (phew!) I had all the ingredients (but no fear, the next time I make these, its only a few ingredients that I'll need and no specialty ingredients).

The recipe uses almond flour instead of regular flour. Xanthan gum acts as the thickener and provides the chewyness that would be missing from not having any gluten in the flour. But, Xylitol is the star ingredient here. Xylitol allows the sweetness without the carbs, and because it's a sugar-alcohol instead of a sugar, it is slowly absorbed from the digestive tract, and does not cause rapid rises in blood glucose. Therefore on most low-carb diets, sugar-alcohols like xylitol don't count towards net carbs. Word to the concerned: I thought Xylitol sounded like some kind of franken-food and I'm a little leery of putting unreal foods in my face so I did some homework. Turns out Xylitol is found naturally in a lot of fruits, vegetables and the bark of some trees and has some cool health benefits as an alternative to sugar. From the Xylitol.com website:

Because it can’t be utilized by bacteria in the mouth (like sugar can), xylitol doesn’t promote tooth decay, so dentists and nutritionists alike encourage the use of xylitol due to its unique and clinically proven dental benefits. In addition, the caloric impact of xylitol is typically about 40% lower than other carbohydrates, making it a healthy addition to any low-carb diet.

So without further ado, my version of this recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies (Sugar-Free, Low-Carb)
Makes about 36 cookies (I made mine a bit big, so it only really made about 30.)

Ingredients:

8 oz 1/3 fat Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp salted butter, softened
1 Tbsp natural peanut butter, I used Woodstock Organic for the lowest net carbs.
1 cup xylitol – I used Xylo Sweet
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1/4 tsp course sea salt (I used unsalted butter, so I doubled this).
1/2 tsp Bob’s Red Mill xanthan gum
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup Bob’s Red Mill almond flour/meal
1 scoop (1/3 cup) vanilla whey protein powder (I used a packet from Jay Robb.)
1 bag (about 1.3 cups) Hershey’s sugar free chocolate chips

Directions:

Bring the cream cheese, butter and peanut butter to room temperature, and then whip them with a hand-mixer or stand mixer ‘til they’re well incorporated and a bit fluffy.
Once fluffy, beat in the extract and the xylitol. This is the baking equivalent of creaming the sugar.
Next step, add the eggs in and beat, one at a time.
In a separate bowl, mix together your dry ingredients – the salt, xantham gum (this makes the cookies chewy since we’re not using real wheat flour with gluten), baking powder, the almond flour and the whey protein. Be sure to use a fork or whisk to get rid of any lumps from the almond flour.
Add the dry ingredients in batches to the wet batter and mix thoroughly.
Add the chocolate chips and mix well with a spoon.
Put the batter in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up (for the proteins to start absorbing the wetness) while preheating the oven to 350.
Line a baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper and work quickly to scoop out cookies.
Bake 15 minutes til the edges get a bit crispy (they may not get real crispy on silpat). (Don’t worry the cookie will be very soft and chewy). Again, I made my cookies a bit big, so they actually baked for 18 minutes.

You can kind've see the browning around the edges
Let the cookies sit on the sheet for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
When you store, you’ll want to store in the fridge (cream cheese), and probably store with a sheet of wax or parchment paper between as they will stick together.