Tag: citrus

Blackberry Yogurt Snack Cake {THM:S}

I’ve brought you 2 frosting recipes…now I present to you……CAKE!

This recipe is my little sisters ABSOLUTE FAVORITE cake. If you were to ask her if she could choose just ONE dessert to have for the rest of her life her response would be this cake!

I came across the recipe for this in a Bon Appetit magazine several years ago. I would make it several times a summer with fresh picked, sun-ripened wild blackberries. So delicious. So refreshing and terribly hard to beat in the dog days of summer. (Which coincidentally, is when my little sisters birthday is!) So yes, this is the birthday cake of her choice EVERY year!

This is the first cake recipe I trimmified, just a few months after I started THM. I shared the recipe and everything on the groups…a few months later, after I had learned more about trimmifying recipes, I was ABSOLUTELY horrified to discover that I had used the SAME AMOUNT of gentle sweet as the sugar the recipe called for! I immediately went and found the posts where I’d shared the recipe and PROMPTLY fixed it!! I sure hope nobody made that recipe and I also have no idea how I didn’t think it was horrifyingly sweet!

The faint hint of citrus from the orange zest & the tangy sweetness from the yogurt and blackberries makes this a PERFECT accompaniment to your afternoon coffee. (Or tea, I love both but tend to drink tea in the afternoon and keep my coffee for the morning!) What’s your preference? Any favorite way to have your afternoon tea/coffee?

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Print Recipe

Blackberry Yogurt Snack Cake

Course: Dessert, Snack
Keyword: dessert
Servings: 18 pieces

Ingredients

  • 10 oz. fresh blackberries (2½ cups)
  • ⅓ cup erythritol (This is essential. It makes for a crispy, crunchy fruit top!)
  • 1 ¼ cups THM Baking Blend
  • ½ cup oat fiber
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup butter, melted
  • ¾ cup Gentle Sweet (or equivalent of other approved on plan sweetener)
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 12 drops orange essential oil (or 1 ½ teaspoons orange extract) see note below
  • 1½ teaspoons fresh orange zest (use the zest from 1 large orange. Peel orange and use for a nice E snack!)
  • 1 ⅓ cups nonfat plain greek yogurt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350° Grease a 13×9 rectangular pan or a 10 inch round cake pan. Line with parchment paper, grease parchment paper and dust pan with oat fiber.
  • Arrange berries in single layer in bottom of pan. Sprinkle evenly with erythritol.
  • Whisk baking blend, oat fiber, baking powder, baking soda, & salt. Set aside.
  • Using a hand mixer on high, beat melted butter, gentle sweet, vanilla extract, and orange essential oil together until lightened in color, about 3 minutes.
  • Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, scraping down as necessary.
  • Add half of dry ingredients and mix well. Add yogurt and orange zest. Mix well. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix together on high speed for 1 minute, scraping bowl down as necessary.
  • Spread batter evenly over prepared berries in pan, making sure to smooth out top.
  • Bake for 40-45 minutes or until top is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached.
  • Place cutting board or desired serving dish immediately over top of cake and flip over. Immediately remove parchment paper, so bottom of cake doesn’t get soggy.
  • Let cool, and then serve!

Notes

Note: I have researched and am comfortable with using essential oils in my baking and cooking. Please do your own research and do what you’re comfortable with.
For extra flair you may lightly sprinkle with an on plan powdered sweetener or serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Lemon Cheesecake Crumb Bars {THM:S}

Perfectly lemony cheesecake bars to brighten up your gloomy winter doldrums!

With winter upon us here in the North-woods of Wisconsin, we sometimes need some cheering up and a boost of Vitamin C! What better way than to combine the answer to both needs in a deliciously lemony cheesecake bar!?

One day I had a TON of egg yolks I needed to use PRONTO, so I made lemon curd, which I then stuck in the freezer until I could think of ways to use it besides Lemon Meringue Pie.

Enter these bars…years ago at the bakery where I work we had a cheesecake crumb bar. It wasn’t extremely popular so it was discontinued. I’d completely forgotten about those bars until I was discussing with a coworker about items that we had made in the past and this memory floating to the front of my mind.

As soon as possible I got into my kitchen and made these. It’s one of the few recipes I’ve created that was perfect from the first shot….now if only I could get that to happen more often! 🙂

For zesting lemons, I highly recommend this zester. I use it pretty much on a daily basis between work and home. In fact, I own 2 or 3 of them myself! You need to garnish your pie, whipped cream topped hot cocoa, with beautiful chocolate shavings, etc? You need to pile the Parmesan cheese on your pizza? Your rice pudding needs a bit of fresh nutmeg? You need fresh lemon zest for this recipe? Then this is the right tool for you!! 🙂

Print Recipe

Lemon Cheesecake Crumb Bars

Course: Dessert
Keyword: bars, cheesecake, dessert, lemon, Low carb, sugar free
Servings: 18

Ingredients

Crust & Crumb Topping

  • 1 ½ cups THM Baking Blend
  • ¾ cup oat fiber
  • 1 cup THM Gentle Sweet or desired alternative sweetener of your choice
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 fresh lemon, zested
  • 1 cup butter, melted

Filling

  • 1 – 8 oz. package Neufchâtel cheese, softened
  • 2 cups lemon curd (I recommend this one from Joy & Simplicity.)
  • ½ cup sour cream or nonfat greek yogurt
  • 1 egg

Glaze

  • 1 cup Swerve Confectioners Style sweetener, or other powdered sweetener of your choice
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 fresh lemon, juiced

Instructions

Crust:

  • Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a 13×9 pan and line with parchment paper and then lightly grease parchment paper.
  • Whisk all crust ingredients in a medium bowl except for melted butter.
  • Add melted butter and mix using a hand mixer on low or a wooden spoon until butter is completely mixed in with no dry spots remaining.
  • Place ½ of crumb mixture in prepared pan and press down firmly. ( I like to use a measuring cup or a tamper to get it pressed down evenly.) Set remaining ½ of crumbs aside
  • Place in oven and bake for 8 minutes.

Filling:

  • Whisk Neufchâtel cheese until smooth.
  • Add lemon curd and sour cream and whisk until smooth and evenly mixed, scraping down bowl as needed.
  • Whisk in egg until smooth.
  • Spread Neufchâtel cheese mixture evenly over baked crust. (There’s no need to let the crust cool completely.)
  • Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture evenly over top of cheesecake batter and LIGHTLY pat down.
  • Place in oven and turn oven temperature down to 325°. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until lightly browned and instant read thermometer inserted in center of bars reads 160°.
  • Set aside to cool.

Glaze & finishing:

  • Whisk together glaze ingredients until smooth.
  • Once bars are cooled, drizzle glaze over top of bars.
  • Place in refrigerator until chilled.
  • You may cut and serve in pan as-is, or using excess parchment paper as handles, remove chilled bars from pan to cutting board and cut into desired size.
  • Store covered in refrigerator.

Notes

After zesting lemon, juice lemon and set the juice aside to use in the glaze.
If you don’t have parchment paper you can make these without it, it just greatly aids in removal of the bars without sticking and makes the pan MUCH easier to clean.
If you don’t have a fresh lemon available: omit zest from crust. Use 3-4 Tablespoons bottled lemon juice in the glaze.