The Diabetic Pastry Chef

I have something I’d like to share with you! Through trial and error, I have developed a formula I call Neo-Carb Baking, that produces tasty, healthy, homemade bakery products for diabetics. My techniques and formulas lessen (but not always eliminate!) sugar, “bad” carbs and saturated fats, while maintaining the satisfying tastes and flavors of your original recipes.

I posted my techniques, formulas and recipes on a diabetic Internet forum, where they became so well read and popular, I decided to devote an entire blog to my experiments and results. This is all in an effort to help other fellow diabetics learn to bake, enjoy and not fear eating delectable homemade bakery items. I promise to teach you how to bake products that not only you will enjoy, but your whole family will, as well.

The original thread that started it all is found here:

www.DiabetesForums.com/forum/recipes/18693-tips-diabetic-pastry-chef.html

I make my own low-carb flours, which I use to prepare pancakes, waffles and muffins. I keep the following on hand at all times: white flour, white whole wheat flour, whole wheat flour, soy flour, whole almonds and old-fashioned oats. I am continually adding new flours to my arsenal.

If I’m making muffins, I follow a traditional recipe that, for example, calls for 3 cups of flour. I look at my flours and might decide to mix 1 cup of white flour, 1 cup of whole wheat flour, and 1 cup of soy flour together. Occasionally, I use all whole wheat flour or any other mixture I prefer. I sometimes grind almonds to make almond flour or oats to make oat flour. I caution you not to use soy flour in your waffle or pancake batters, as it tends to stick too much to the griddles.

If a recipe calls for oil, I use canola oil. If a recipe calls for butter I will generally use canola butter or Smart Balance regular spread.

I purchase whole milk, and when baking (and elsewhere), I mix it with half water to make an approximate 2% milk. This cuts the carbs (as well as the price of the milk!) in half. There is no noticeable difference in taste from 2% milk.

I am not a big fan of putting artificial sweeteners in most baked goods as it alters the texture and flavors too much and makes things stick to the pan. When baking cakes or muffins, I prefer to reduce the amount of sugar rather than add all artificial sweetener or even a combination of sweetener and sugar. For instance, yesterday I baked a large batch of Amish Raisin Bran Muffins that called for 3 cups of sugar. The recipe makes six dozen muffins. I reduced the sugar to 1 cup of sugar with very satisfactory results.

I’ve discovered that a combination of half sugar and half Splenda works well in sweet potato and pumpkin pies. This also works well in baked bread and rice puddings (I use brown rice) and in baked custards. I also use half sugar and half Splenda when I bake pies such as apple, pineapple, peach and berry. These pies taste pretty much the same as if I had used all sugar.

So I basically mix my flours, use canola oil or a butter substitute, cut the milk carbs in half and reduce the sugar; or mix sugar and sweetener together (usually half and half). I do this with just about any standard recipe. The results are pretty much the same as the original recipe - and sometimes even better!

These recipes are not the final word. They are here to get you to think outside the box. To get you to experiment with the dessert recipes you come across, until you obtain a level of control that is comfortable to you, your health and taste buds. This can be achieved by portion monitoring, lowering the recipe ingredients that adversely affect your health, and by adding or substituting those that help. Use your own discretion and seek the advice of your licensed health care provider.

I am still experimenting; so from time to time, I will post further results. I’m committed to making superior low-carb products for my husband (who has also just been diagnosed with diabetes) and my family.

A recent post on a homemaking forum I belong to reminded me about the two-ingredient cake mix desserts. I was first introduced to these recipes through Weight Watchers. These are great for diabetics because the recipes omit the eggs and oil that are typically needed to bake a cake. Try the new reduced sugar cake mixes from Pillsbury with these recipes and you’ll really do your body a favor. These recipes work well for low-carbers and non-diabetics also, so feel free to serve these to your friends or whole family.

1. My favorite recipe is to take an angel food cake mix and add an undrained 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple. Do not add anything else. Mix well with a large spoon and follow package directions for baking. This is great topped with whipped cream or frozen whipped topping.

2. Take a (18.25-oz) box of spice cake mix and add 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix). Mix and spread in a 9×13-in pan and bake according to package directions.This recipe can be found at allrecipes.com. Be sure to read the reviews for tips: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Two-Ingredient-Pumpkin-Cake/Detail.aspx

3. Take a (18.25-oz) box of dark chocolate cake mix and add exactly 10 ozs of diet Coke or diet root beer. Mix well and pour into a 9×13-in pan and bake according to package directions at 350 degrees. The cake will be a bit more dense than a regular chocolate cake, more similar to a cake brownie. Use Pillsbury’s reduced-sugar Devil’s Food cake mix for this.

4. Try the above recipe with a white or yellow cake mix and diet Sprite. Pillsbury also puts out a reduced-sugar yellow cake mix.

Lots of pie crust recipes are available at allrecipes.com. Be sure to read the reviews before making your selection. Try adding a bit of whole wheat flour, or oat flour to replace the white flour in pie crust recipes. You might start with substituting a few tablespoons or a quarter of a cup in single crust recipes, or a half cup of these flours in double crust recipes. Continue to increase the amounts in future baking until you are satisfied with the results.

Recipes containing canola oil appear to be the most heart healthy. My personal favorite pie crust contains white flour, half butter and half shortening. Not the healthiest choice, so I’m not including the recipe here. I  plan on developing a blended flour pie crust recipe that relies on oil  in the near future. I’ll be sure to share the results with you.

I roll my pie crusts out between two sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap, and then flip the crust into the pie pan, and again atop the pie.

When making fruit pies or crisps, add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to neutralize the acid content. Then you will only need to add half the amount of sugar the recipe calls for. The finished product will taste as sweet as if you used the full amount of sugar.

Before I became ill, I had developed my own line of what I felt to be superior bakery products. I was devastated when I was diagnosed with diabetes and felt I had to scrap my plans of ever opening a bakery. I had been collecting recipes and devising my own line of products for years.

My mother died of complications from diabetes several years before my diagnosis, as had several members of my extended family. I felt it was best for me to bow out of the race (bakery) at this point. So I dropped out of culinary school and went through a period of depression.

Then I started developing a line of lower-carb products for my own use. Last week, my dear husband (who also loves sweets) was diagnosed with diabetes. So now I’m even more determined to convert more and more recipes.

The line of products I originally devised are not lower- carb, so I will have to now take the time to convert them. These recipes consist of deluxe gourmet pies, cakes, and cookies. I’ve put this on the back shelf for now, as presently, most of my time is being devoted to learning to vegetable garden so I can grow my own organic low carb vegetables. But I am happy to be able to share my style of baking and these recipes with you.

The few people I have shared my style of baking with felt it was less difficult than they had expected and produced a much better product.

My hopes are that some of you will also start to convert your recipes and we can all share our results here. Your comments are welcome and appreciated!

TO BEGIN…

I suggest you start with converting your family favorites, or go to AllRecipes.com or Diana’s Desserts.com and look around for dessert recipes. In the search box, type in what you are looking for, such as, “peanut butter cookies” or “pound cake.” I recommend these sites as they have great recipes and many of the recipes are rated. When you are learning to convert, you’ll only want to select recipes that are the highest rated. This will give you the best chance at having great results. Please convert and share your results with us.

My style of diabetic-friendly baking is very easy to do. Once you start working with various flours, you’ll develop a sense of which flours would be best for your products and taste buds.

For instance, soy flour has what I consider to be a slightly “oniony” smell and taste, so you would not want to use it in a delicate tasting recipe. Some flours are more “grainy” than others, so if you don’t like the grainier texture, you will avoid these or dilute the grain by mixing with another type of flour.

I call my method of baking “Neo-Carb Baking,” as I combine traditional flours and recipes of the past with today’s low carb dieting.

Once you find a combination of flours you like and that bodes well with your blood sugar, you can mix and store your flours ahead of time if you wish. Just give it a good stir each time you use it.

I forgot to mention that sometimes I use soy milk in place of regular milk. For the most part, I like to keep the amount of eggs intact from the original recipe, but you may prefer to alter the eggs following the guidelines in the aforementioned egg substitution post.