(Editor’s note: THE HOLIDAYS ARE COMING!!! And Carrie Brown’s got you covered.
No, you don’t have to sit and mournfully watch as others pile their plates with your former non-keto favorites. Carrie loving crafted her holiday cookbook, Keto for the Holidays, with ketonians especially in mind, so that you can still enjoy many old- and new!- holiday classics without the guilt. In this series, I will be reviewing some choice holiday recipes that I plan on using at my own table this season. Stay tuned for more….)
One of the few Christmas traditions I was sorry to see go when I went keto was participation in the Annual Eubanks Family Cookie Bake. My mother, my granny, and my aunt get together every year on one weekend and bake all their holiday cookies- including several year-over-year favorites- and share amongst themselves so they all have plenty of cookies to last the season, give as gifts, and take to parties. My daughter especially loved going and helping mix and roll out the cookies with my granny, who would very patiently supervise and, when daughter was younger, read the recipes.
I’ve tried a few times to make seasonal cookies from various keto-friendly websites, but I’ll be honest: nothing was quite right. Cookies are kind of an art form and I honestly don’t care for most keto versions because they just taste like overly browned nuts to me.
Once again, enter Carrie Brown and her amazing holiday cookbook.
This is probably my last entry in this series, but I really do want to share with y’all how much of a lifesaver this book has been. My entire Thanksgiving spread came from this book. No joke. I actually told my husband we were having a Very Carrie Holiday since I used so many of her recipes.
I’ve tried most of the biggies, but had somehow managed to overlook the two recipes that would be perfect for a keto cookie bake: “sugar” cookies and chocolate rum truffles.
These are awesome!
I have to tell you, the sugar cookies are my favorite. And that’s saying something because I hecka love some chocolate. These cookies came out so moist and delicious. They were incredibly easy, too. Just mix the dough, chill, and roll out for cutting like any other cookie. The only difference between making these cookies and real carbage-laden ones is ingredients.
I chose to decorate mine by mixing a little powdered erythtitol and water to make a thin glaze. I brushed it on while they were still warm-ish and then sprinkled with xylitol that I’d mixed with various food coloring. That’s it. It was genuinely that simple.
Ganache!
The truffles were a hair more complicated, although not by much. The only reason they fall into a “complex” category is because you’re making ganache, and any time we talk about melting chocolate things can be a little tricky.
Carrie flavors the recipe by adding some rum, but I was taking my truffles to two different children’s parties and didn’t think the other parents would necessarily appreciate me serving their kids boozy treats. Instead of the rum, I added some maple extract, and I rolled the finished product in some chopped hazelnuts that I toasted up.
Mmmmm…chocolate
They came out quite lovely, both taste-wise and in appearance. They’re definitely pretty little things. As always, Carrie is great at putting together recipes that taste great, as is, but are fairly easy to tailor to your own tastes. Don’t be afraid to experiment with extracts and diffferent toppings to see what flavor combinations your own family likes.
Both of these recipes came out so well that I won’t be avoiding the family cookie bake ever again!
You can pick up your own copy the Keto For the Holidays cookbook, by the fabulous Carrie Brown, at the Ketovangelist Kitchen website.