I love fudge. I’m still chasing the dragon of that marshmallow cream chocolate fudge that I used to have back in the 1980s, before they changed the recipe. But I digress. Today I am here to tell you about one of the better desserts I’ve made recently. This is a microwave peanut butter fudge that takes about five minutes of prep time and tastes phenomenal. Most keto “fudge” recipes I’ve seen are coconut oil based. They melt easily and just don’t have the right texture. This one holds up just like conventional fudge. I love love love it.
The key is that it features confectioner’s Swerve sugar substitute. This holds up exactly the same as the powdered sugar you find in most regular fudge recipes, and tastes almost exactly the same. It has that cooling effect on the tongue that you get from erithrytol, but I’ve found that if you store the fudge in your refrigerator and eat it cold, you don’t notice it as much.
To make this, start out with 3/4 of a cup of peanut butter and a stick and a half of butter. Put them in the microwave for a minute on high, and then keep heating for 30 seconds at a time until they’re both a soft, melted texture and can be mixed together without clumping. Add a half teaspoon of imitation caramel flavoring and use a hand mixer to beat it all together until it’s smooth. You’ll want the kind that looks like vanilla extract, NOT the kind that you use for flavoring hard candies. Then add a whole bag (12 ounces) of confectioner’s Swerve, about 3-4 ounces at a time, and beat it until it’s uniform in texture. Spread the fudge into an 8×8 pan that’s lined with parchment paper, and sprinkle with pink Himalayan sea salt to taste. You’ll want more than you think you might. My salt is in a grinder, so I can’t really measure what I use, but I’d imagine that it was at least a half teaspoon.
Put the whole thing in the fridge for about two hours, then slice 5×5 to make 20 squares. Good luck eating just one!
In a microwave, melt the butter and peanut butter together for a minute. Stir, and then microwave in 30 second increments until the peanut butter is soft and can be easily blended.
Add the caramel flavoring, and using a hand mixer, blend the mixture until smooth.
Add the Swerve, 3 to 4 ounces at a time, blending thoroughly after each addition. Scrape down the sides if necessary. Blend until all the Swerve is evenly incorporated.
Spread the warm fudge into an 8×8 baking pan that's been lined with parchment paper, sprinkle with salt to taste, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before cutting into 20 evenly-sized pieces.
Macros for 1 piece: 124 calories, 1 gram net carbs, 2 grams protein, 11 grams fat.
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Yeah, yeah, I know. Technically alcohol isn’t keto. And technically we’re also grown-ass humans who enjoy having a drink from time to time. My family is Brazilian by origin, and I LOVE Brazilian food. I’ve had to give up feijoada since going keto, but I sure as hell am not giving up my delicious Brazilian hooch.
Cachaça is essentially the national alcohol of Brazil, and the caipirinha is the most popular drink made from it. It involves limes muddled with sugar at the bottom of a rocks glass, then ice is added, the cachaça is poured over, and the whole thing is stirred to distribute the lime juice. If you can’t find cachaça at your local liquor store, you can substitute white or gold rum (NOT spiced or flavored), but it won’t be as good. Both are derived from sugar cane, but cachaça tastes different and I’m not sure why.
To make two drinks, start out with one lime. Cut it into 8 chunks, and put 4 on the bottom of each rocks glass. Add a teaspoon of granular Swerve to each glass. Swerve is a naturally-derived sugar alcohol that can be used as a 1-to-1 substitute for sugar in any recipe, and it’s the best low-carb sugar substitute I’ve found so far. After you add the Swerve, use a cocktail muddler to mash it all together until the limes release their juices and the Swerve is dissolved. I only got a cocktail muddler recently. Before that, I’d use the handle of a clean (obviously, but I’m sure someone will read this and try it with something they just used to pound out chicken if I don’t say clean) meat tenderizer mallet handle.
Top the lime juice with ice and pour a large shot (2.5 ounces) of cachaça over the top. Stir, serve, and dream of Carnaval!
Caipirinha
The national drink of Brazil, without a glycemic load.
Cut a lime lengthwise, then crosswise, then cut each segment in half so you end up with 8 equal chunks of lime. Put 4 lime segments in the bottom of 2 rocks glasses.
Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of Swerve over the limes in each glass. Muddle the limes until they've released their juices and the Swerve is mostly dissolved.
Add ice to the top of the glasses, then pour 2.5 ounces of the cachaça over the ice in each glass and stir.
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There’s a restaurant where I live called Marcella’s that makes these, and even though making them can be a huge pain in the butt, I kind of had to try, because they’re so delicious. Even my kids ate a few, which is saying something seeing as both of them are intensely suspicious of anything green. If you miss potato chips, this is probably the closest thing you’re going to get to them.
I don’t have a deep fryer, but even if I did, I wouldn’t trust making them in one. These chips are very sensitive–30 seconds off either way and you’re either eating something burned or soggy. You’ll need some specialty equipment–unless your knife skills are top-notch it’ll take either a mandoline slicer or a food processor capable of slicing things paper thin, plus a candy/oil thermometer, and a wok skimmer for retrieving your chips from the oil.
This takes probably 4 cups of avocado oil, give or take. I use avocado oil because of its high smoke point and neutral flavor. Costco sells it in giant jugs. In a 2-3 quart heavy saucepan, heat the oil to 375 degrees. Keep an eye on it with the thermometer, because if your oil is too hot or too cold, it affects the finished product. While the oil is heating, slice your zucchini. 2 medium zucchini will get you enough for 3 good-sized servings.
In batches, put the zucchini into the oil one slice at a time. Try to make sure that the slices aren’t overlapping too much, but make sure that the entire surface of the oil is covered. They’ll cook down.
Keep a close eye on the chips, turning them occasionally as they cook down with a heat-resistant utensil. The wok skimmer is fine for this. Eventually they will start to turn golden brown. In this next picture, they’re about 30 seconds to a minute away from being finished. You’ll notice how the bubbling dies down when they’re close.
When they’re finished, remove them from the oil with the wok skimmer and place them on a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Sprinkle them with salt and parmesan cheese. Repeat the process with the remaining zucchini, then serve.
In a heavy 2-3 quart saucepan, heat the oil to 375 degrees.
While the oil is heating, slice the zucchini into very thin rounds.
Place the zucchini into the hot oil in batches, being careful not to overlap too much.
Fry the zucchini, turning occasionally, until golden brown. This takes about five minutes, but you'll need to keep your eye on it the entire time.
Remove the zucchini and place on a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Sprinkle with salt and parmesan cheese. Repeat until all the zucchini is fried.
Unfortunately, it's difficult to provide macros for this, as each batch might soak up a different amount of oil, and a lot of it will end up on the paper towels. If you need to know, measure the amount of oil that's left after you finish and subtract that from what you had when you started. That'll give you at least a rough estimate.
Keyword keto, low carb, side dish, snack, vegetables, zucchini
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