Chess
Pie
Ingredients -- Ovo-Lacto Vegeterian
A simple egg custard without bad
sweeteners is Keto and diabetic-friendly. If you
feel like skipping the crust, you could bake this in ramekins or
the like, and add healthy toppings.
For recipes like this, where a "crust" is desired, I have a few
ways of "cheating" to stay keto. Many grocery stores offer
pre-made pie crusts made of crushed pecan pieces. They
have a texture somewhat like graham cracker crusts, and are
fairly healthy for diabetics. It wouldn't be tough to
improvise your own favorite nut crust if you have finely crushed
pecans, almonds, or walnuts etc. on hand. Mix a cup of
these with about 1/2 cup softened butter and knead it out into a
pie pan to make your own crust. These can benefit from
toasting in the oven for a few minutes before adding the pie
filling.
Another alternative is Phyllo dough. It's fragile and a
little tough to work with but with a care and practice, even
beginners can pick it up. Phyllo dough of course comes
from processed flour, but it's such a small amount
of flour (a fraction of a gram per serving slice) that I don't
feel guilty about using it for a crust. Buy rolls of
Phyllo dough from the refrigerated dessert section of a grocery
store. Sometimes you can find pre-made empty dessert cups
of Phyllo, for making tarts, but those are relatively expensive
and contain kind-of a large amount of the dough per
serving. Instead I tend to cut the sheets into sizes
appropriate for my dessert -- a pie tin, or for example muffin
cups or mini-loaf cups... Then I brush warm melted butter
onto a single sheet of of the cut Phyllo dough, (both sides),
and layer it into the tin. I'll pile 3 or 4 layers of the
greased dough into the tin, reaching up the sides of the tin,
and just naturally there will be wrinkles and air spaces which
will keep your Phyllo crust light & crispy.
Bake this dough in the tin, but without any filling, around 350
degrees for roughly 10 to 12 minutes so as to crisp it up before
adding the fillings. Sometimes there are instructions on
the Phyllo package that say this. Then add whatever
filling, and bake the dessert long enough to cook the phylling
;-) The Phyllo dough provides enough of a "crust" to taste
the wheat and hold the dessert together, without adding too
many carbs.
Simple egg custard pie:
- 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
- 1+1/2 cups un-sweetened Whipping Cream (Heavy
Cream)
- 1 tsp. Vanilla.
Other spices such as Matcha Tea or cinnamon or dark
chocolate / cocoa might be interesting.
- Granulated Keto sweetener, to taste, such as
Allulose or Coconut sugar, maybe 1/4 cup. Or, a couple
dozen drops of liquid Monkfruit sweetener, or maple syrup etc.
- Optional scant dash of Baking Soda and/or
Xanthan Gum helps keep the custard fluffy while still holding
it together.
Blend filling ingredients thoroughly, place in pie
shell, bake at 400 deg F for 25 to 50 minutes until the
custard is set with a slight jiggle when moved. Cool to
room temp then chill in fridge for 30 minutes or more. The custard won't hold together as firmly
as, say, a cheesecake -- so don't plan on eating a slice with
your hands without a plate.