Some people like to warm up in winter by eating a bowl of steaming hot soup. Not me. When the cold weather comes, I like to hunker down under blankets and eat candy. On a stormy day like today, I’ll get under the covers with my cats, and with a piece of dark chocolate in my mouth, melting on my tongue. We’ll do something wild, me and my geriatric cats, like watch Crazy Ex Girlfriend music videos, and I’ll imagine I have a role in the show as West Covina’s preeminent cat lady. (I am qualified because ever since I started taking Prozac almost twenty years ago, I’ve been singing to my cats.)
Anyhow, after the Crazy Ex videos we might switch to make-up tutorials, and then move on to google low carb candy recipes, because as good as dark chocolate is, it’s just not enough. Not for me, a woman who, for much of life, considered peanut M&M’s a full meal. And now that January is here and my friends aren’t sharing low carb Christmas candy recipes anymore, I’m feeling a little bummed out. So, in case you are too, and in case you are also susceptible to distraction by chocolate, I’ve rounded-up some recipes to share with you. The weekend is here. It’s the perfect time to try keto candy recipes.
1. Almond bark is probably my favorite low carb candy. For a long time, I made it according to a very simple two ingredient recipe with zero clean-up. In a total voilà moment, I would take a piece of dark chocolate from one package, and an almond from another, and shove them into my mouth at the same time. Homemade almond bark that forms as you chew. Then I came along a recipe from All Day I Dream About Food. And everything changed. In the words of Carolyn Ketchum, whose recipe for dark chocolate sea-salt almond bark pulled me out my gatherer-style eating, “I probably shouldn’t even give you this recipe. I probably shouldn’t have brought up the subject at all. I should probably stop right now and erase the whole post and pretend I never mentioned it. Except I can’t. I have to share this amazing and definitely addictive little treat. It was so good, I found myself making up excuses to wander into the kitchen and have a wee bit more. And a wee bit more. And a wee… see a pattern here? Low Carb Crack.”
Need I say more?
2. So, you must realize by now that I like almonds. Which is why my next recommendation is Low Carb Maven’s low carb turtles. And Kim over at Low Carb Maven brings up a very important point about sugar free candy: watch out for maltitol. She says, “Before I turn you over to the recipe. I want to say something about the sugar free turtle candies you can get in the diabetic section in the grocery store, more specifically the Russel Stover Sugar Free Pecan Delights candies. They taste very good but beware! They contain an ingredient called maltitol to sweeten them. Not only does maltitol raise blood sugar, it also causes gastric distress, as anyone who has had more than two or three of the sugar free candies will most assuredly attest. My recipe is a sugar free candy that does not contain maltitol – your tummy will thank you!”
If you want to know more about the effects of maltitol on your intestines read this.
3. I grew up on peanut butter sandwiches, and peanut butter cups were always one of my favorite treats. Giving them up wasn’t easy, and I missed them. And then I discovered this recipe for low carb peanut butter cups in Carolyn’s new keto cookbook. Perfection.
4. While we’re talking about peanut butter, this low carb peanut butter fudge recipe is so good, one of our readers said, “My mother and I made this recipe this evening and I must tell you when we tasted it we embarrassed and were in tears. For so long I have missed my mother’s fudge since we are both diabetic now. You have given us back so many memories.”
5. As a Jewish kid, I always felt a little left out of Easter Celebrations. And I didn’t like feeling left out of any celebration that involved lots of candy. I was convinced it wasn’t fair that my spring holiday involved eating and hunting for matzah, a dry cracker that slows the digestive system, made of cardboard and styrofoam, while others got candy eggs with gooey centers and adorable pastel eggs. But… these low carb chocolate Easter eggs with cookie dough filling are so good they make up for any deprivation I may have experienced. Which is why I always say, diabetes doesn’t deprive me. I won’t let it.
