I’ve been bouncing this one around in my head for a while. I actually made a version of it once, but the muffins had deep crevices on the top and didn’t look all that good, even though they tasted fine. So I tweaked it a little bit, and managed to create something that both looked and tasted good. And just in time for Girl Scout Cookies season! They’re gluten-free, can be made dairy-free, and have a texture that’s almost like a brownie. You can eat them as-is for breakfast, warm them up and put ice cream on them to make a sundae, or top them with a good keto buttercream frosting recipe to make cupcakes instead.
You’ll want to make sure that all your liquid ingredients, minus the melted butter or coconut oil, are at room temperature. This will help keep the butter from seizing up when you add it to the rest of the ingredients, and therefore result in a smoother finished product. So put 3 eggs and 2/3 cup of macadamia nut milk on the counter until they’re room temperature, then get started on the rest of the stuff.
Once everything is room temperature, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt 4 tablespoons of butter or coconut oil. When it’s fully melted, whisk in 1/4 cup plus two tablespoons of cocoa powder. It’ll make a glossy, pudding-like substance. Let that rest for a minute while you work on the dry ingredients. Put 2/3 cup of almond flour, 1/3 cup coconut flour, 1/2 cup granular Swerve, and 1 teaspoon of baking powder in a large bowl and toss it with a fork to mix. I use Swerve here because the cooling effect actually helps enhance the minty flavor. Add the 3 eggs and 2/3 cup macadamia milk and beat it with a hand mixer. Put the cocoa mixture in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, just enough to make the texture a bit more runny. Whisk in a teaspoon and a half of peppermint extract, then use a rubber spatula to add it to the batter, using the electric mixer. Finally, fold in a cup of Lily’s dark chocolate chips.
Grease eight cups of a silicone muffin tin with coconut oil or butter, then use your largest cookie scoop or an ice cream scoop to evenly portion out the batter into each cup. Tap the muffin tin on the counter to remove air bubbles from the batter, and bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Place the muffin tins directly on a cooling rack and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before carefully attempting to remove the muffins from the tins.
Keto Thin Mint Muffins
A fudgy mint chocolate muffin that tastes just like your favorite Girl Scout Cookie!
Leave your eggs and macadamia milk on the counter until they are room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Melt the butter or coconut oil in the microwave, then stir in the cocoa powder until it creates a thick pudding texture. Set it aside.
Add the almond flour, coconut flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder to a large bowl. Add the eggs and macadamia milk and beat with a hand mixer.
Microwave the cocoa mixture for about 10 seconds, then stir in the peppermint extract. Add it to the batter and beat with a hand mixer again until the cocoa mixture is evenly incorporated. Do not overmix.
Fold in the chocolate chips. Thoroughly grease 8 cups of a silicone muffin tin with butter or coconut oil. Use a large cookie scoop or ice cream scoop to evenly distribute the batter between the 8 cups, then tap the muffin tin on the counter to remove any air bubbles from the mixture.
Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes. Cool the muffins on a rack for at least 15 minutes before removing from the tin.
Macros per serving: 255 calories, 6 grams net carbs, 8 grams protein, 22 grams fat.
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Keto recipes for fried mozzarella sticks, fried pickle spears, everything bagel deviled eggs, and Italian herb butter chicken wings will make your Super Bowl party low-carb and delicious!
Some of my co-workers follow this blog, so you all should probably be aware that I’m about to give away some trade secrets. This is one of my favorite recipes to bring to work potlucks, because it’s fairly easy to make ahead and works great in a crock pot. If I’m making it for dinner at home, I prefer to do it on the stovetop, but if I’m making it for work I’ll just dump the cooked meatballs and the sauce ingredients into a crock pot, stir it around, and cook it on low for a few hours once I get to work. They’re good to go by lunchtime and I hardly ever have any left over.
To make 20 meatballs, start with a pound and a half of ground beef in a large mixing bowl. To that, add 1 beaten egg, 1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese, a tablespoon of smoked paprika, two teaspoons of oregano, a teaspoon and a half of salt, a teaspoon each of garlic powder and onion powder, and several grinds of black pepper. Mix all that together, then use a small cookie scoop to dole out 20 equal servings onto a cookie sheet lined with foil.
Use your hands to form the meatballs, then bake them in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.
Frying the bottoms of the meatballs.
If you’re making these on the stovetop, heat up two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a saucepot, then fry the bottoms of the meatballs for a few minutes so they’re evenly browned. Add a tablespoon of minced garlic and stir for about 30 seconds. After that, add a 15-ounce can of tomato sauce, two teaspoons of smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne, and a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about ten minutes, then serve. For a potluck, just toss the cooked meatballs into a crock pot, stir in all the sauce ingredients, and heat on low for about 2-3 hours before serving. You can easily make the meatballs the night before and put them in cold, but put the crock pot on high instead of low so the meatballs are heated through. Voila, you’ve impressed your co-workers!
Keto Spanish Meatballs
These flavorful meatballs are great for a potluck or a tapas night.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
Mix all the meatball ingredients together in a large bowl, then shape into 20 equally-sized balls. Space them evenly on the cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
For the Sauce
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Fry the bottoms of the meatballs for 3 minutes, then add the minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Stir in the remaining ingredients and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
To make the meatballs in a crock pot instead of on the stovetop, simply add all the sauce ingredients into the crock pot with the meatballs and cook on low for 2-3 hours. If you made the meatballs the night before and they're still cold, reheat on high instead of low.
Macros per serving (4 meatballs with sauce): 418 calories, 9 grams net carbs, 28 grams protein, 28 grams fat.
Keyword beef, high protein, keto, low carb, potluck
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Like many Americans, I’ve been paying attention to the current impeachment proceedings. Unlike many Americans, hearing people talk about Kiev all the time has made me hungry. That’s because I like chicken Kiev a whole lot. And what’s not to love, really? It’s breaded chicken stuffed with herb butter! The problem arises when you try to make it at home. It’s a tedious process that involves trying to wrap a chunk of butter inside a chicken breast and bread it in such a way that when you bake it, the butter oozes out of the chicken when you cut it. In theory, that’s awesome. In practice, it’s almost impossible to achieve. It ends up with dry breaded chicken that’s soggy on the bottom because all the delicious herb butter leaked out and made a puddle. So when I imagined making chicken Kiev for the blog, I realized that nobody had the time or energy to try to make it the usual way.
Enter the deconstructed version. It has all the aspects that make chicken Kiev tasty, with none of the problems of actually making it. It takes about half the time as the original recipe, and you know exactly what you’re going to get with it. There’s no putting it in the oven and praying you didn’t screw it up. That’s because I pan fry the breaded chicken, then drizzle the herb butter on top. You can’t mess this one up, I promise. Sure, it lacks the pizzazz of a properly-done chicken Kiev, but I’m old and don’t need that kind of drama in my life.
For the herbs, I used tarragon, dill, chives, and parsley. About 1/4 cup of each is good. This picture shows the amount that I used, with an 8-inch chef’s knife for scale.
Chop all that up coarsely. It doesn’t need to be super finely minced, but you don’t want any massive chunks of one herb. It probably ends up making about 1/2 cup of minced herbs when all is said and done.
For the chicken, get 4 small or two large chicken breasts, about a pound to a pound and a half in total weight. If you get the two large, slice them in half so you get two thin cutlets. Use a meat tenderizer mallet to pound them to about 1/4 inch thickness.
On a large plate, toss together a cup of almond flour with a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of garlic powder, and a teaspoon of onion powder. Add black pepper to taste as well. Beat 2 eggs into a bowl. Set those up next to your cooktop. Put 6 tablespoons of avocado oil into an enameled cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Once the oil has reached temperature, dip each chicken cutlet into the egg, then dredge in the almond flour mixture. Place each one gently into the hot oil and cook for 4-5 minutes, until you see the bottom turn a nice golden brown. Flip them carefully.
While you’re cooking the chicken breasts, 6 tablespoons of butter to a small saucepan and melt the butter over medium heat. When the butter is halfway melted, add the herbs and stir. Once it’s all the way melted, turn the heat down to low to avoid browning the butter.
When both sides of the chicken have turned golden brown, remove them to plates and drizzle each piece with about two tablespoons of the herb butter. I served this with a simple arugula salad, which worked well with it, because the acidity of the dressing and the peppery bite of the arugula complemented the savory, buttery chicken. The dressing for the salad was just 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, and 2 teaspoons of dijon mustard. Shake that up in a lidded container, then toss it with 5 ounces of baby arugula. Sprinkle the arugula with a couple of pinches of kosher salt and add black pepper before serving.
Deconstructed Chicken Kiev
A drama-free way to get the flavor of Chicken Kiev without a ton of effort.
Heat the avocado oil in a large enameled cast-iron skillet over medium high heat.
Using a meat tenderizer mallet, pound the chicken breasts to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness if necessary.
On a large plate, mix together the almond flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Beat the eggs into a medium bowl. Put those next to your cooking surface.
Dip a chicken breast into the beaten egg, then dredge in the almond flour mixture. Place it gently into the pan. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts, and cook for 4-5 minutes, until the bottom of the chicken turns golden brown. Flip them carefully and cook for another 4-5 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, melt the butter over medium heat in a small saucepan. As soon as it's melted, add the herbs and simmer over low heat.
When the chicken is finished, put each piece onto a plate, and drizzle with up to 2 tablespoons of the melted herb butter. Serve immediately.
Macros per serving: 518 calories, 2 grams net carbs, 37 grams protein, 39 grams fat.
Keyword butter, chicken, keto, lchf, low carb
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