The Diabetic Pastry Chef

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 solely artificial sweeteners in most baked goods, as it alters the texture and flavors too much and makes things stick to the pan.

So, when baking cakes or muffins, I prefer to reduce the amount of sugar rather than add all artificial sweetener or I’ll do 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 have 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 I mix sugar and sweetener together (usually 50/50). I do this with just about any standard recipe. The results are pretty much the same as the original recipe – and sometimes even better!

Please note: These recipes are not the final word. They are simply illustrating my FORMULA.

My recipes 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 healthcare 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 me, my husband (who has also just been diagnosed with diabetes) and my family.

Below is what I posted a while ago, to clarify why my recipes were removed from this site.  But no worries, as my cookbook is now here!

I had posted a cheesecake recipe on a few diabetes sites, and the response was pretty typical of what I sometimes receive.

Here are some of the responses:

“You should use a natural sweetener such as stevia instead of Splenda.”

“You should use more fat; try heavy cream in place of the whipped topping.”

“You’re using too much fat in the recipe. You should use fat-free sour cream and Neufchâtel cheese in place of the cream cheese.”

“You should use a different crust.”

“You should give carb counts, etc.”

Most people seemed pleased with the recipe.  Still, as you can see, you can’t please everyone; and that’s because we are all dealing with our diets differently.

Some diabetics like high-fat, low carb diets.  Others like low-fat, low carb diets.  Some follow the exchange diet, or one of the many other diabetic diets. There are diabetics who won’t touch Splenda, others who are gluten-free, etc.  I’m sure you get the point.

So I’ll reiterate what I’ve said numerous times before: The recipes I post are my own personal recipes.  These recipes work well for my health and glucose readings.

My body may produce more or less insulin than yours. My cholesterol levels may differ from yours, as well as my taste buds.

For example, if you’d rather not use soy milk, organic and unsweetened ALMOND MILK is always an option, and is right next to the cartons of soy milk in your grocery aisle.

If you prefer not to use a commercial whipped topping, my Whipped Cream recipe is a nice, more wholesome alternative.  And, even in that recipe, you can choose to use an organic sweetener such as stevia in lieu of the Splenda.  It’s up to you!

When you’re dealing with diabetes, one recipe does not fit all!  You have to be able to tailor a recipe to YOUR specific health, personal preferences and taste buds.

I have removed most of the recipes from my site because I felt as though some readers were confusing my personal favorite recipes with my recipe-tailoring formula.

You have to be able to take a recipe and make it your own.  I have provided a formula and many tips to help you accomplish this.  I pray you never look at a recipe again and think, “I can’t make that; it has too much sugar, too many carbs, too much fat, it contains white flour or wheat, etc.”

My formula should enable you to pick up any cookbook or go to any baking site, and convert almost any dessert recipe to a diabetic-friendly version you are able to eat and enjoy without worry.

The basis of my formula consists of four (4) factors -

I often use the acronym FFMS to conveniently remind myself that it’s a Four-Factor Measuring System, as well as to swiftly remember each component of my formula – Flour(s), Fat, Milk, Sugar.

Any way you choose to use those four letters of the formula to help you quickly recall the components will work!

For example, using the same acronym letters of the handy
Four-Factor Measuring System, you may better remember FSMF
(Flour(s), Sugar, Milk, Fat).

If FFMS across the board is easiest for you (the name of the formula and the components of it), then by all means, go with that!

Here are the essential factors:

1.  Change or mix the flours

2.  Lessen the sugar

3.  Dilute whole milk with half water

4.  Use a healthier fat, such as canola oil

These four steps should be enough to adequately convert most of the dessert recipes you come across; but if not, I provide a host of additional tips that can be utilized to lower the carbs, and or fat, even further.

Trust me, you don’t have to be limited in the desserts you can eat and enjoy, as long as you successfully make the recipe your own!

A meal planning technique many diabetics use for managing their blood glucose levels is known as carb counting.

Carb counting should take into account how active you are; and what, if any, medications you are taking.  Generally a diabetic should start with 45 to 60 grams of carbs per meal and adjust this to their health.  Food labels and carb counters can be relied on for help in carb counting.

To further lower the carbs in my recipes, or in your own, you might choose to use a mixture of some of the lower-carb flours such as coconut flour, almond flour, flaxseed flour, soy flour or oat flour.

8 tea bags
4 quarts water
2 oranges, washed and quartered
1 1/3 c Splenda
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg
ground cloves

Steep teabags in boiling water and cool. Add to pitcher. By hand, squeeze the juice from the oranges into the pitcher. Drop the squeezed quarters into the pitcher. Stir in the Splenda and add cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to taste. Stir and chill.

Note: Lemons can be substituted for the oranges, or a combination of oranges and lemons can be added. Yield: 1 gallon.

1/2 square unsweetened chocolate
2 tsps Splenda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 c milk

Place all ingredients in top of double boiler and heat until chocolate melts. Whip vigorously untl a good foam forms on top. Top with whipped cream and an additional sprinkle of cinnamon.

In baking, you may use a heaping Tablespoon of soy flour and a Tablespoon of water to equal one egg. Once baked, there is no texture or taste difference.

1 large egg = 1 1/2 large egg whites

1 large egg = 3 Tablespoons egg substitute

1 large egg white = 2 Tablespoons egg substitute

1 large egg white plus 2 teaspoons canola oil = 1 egg (to reduce the cholesterol)

I will occasionally substitute “some” of the whole eggs in a recipe with soy flour or egg whites.  I consider this when a recipe calls for more than 2 eggs.

Portion size, that is. If you’ve ever found yourself baking a cake or pie and devouring it all in a few sittings, this tip is for you. Think portion size.

Don’t bake a cake - bake cupcakes or bake your pound cake batter in mini cake pans.  Eat one and freeze the remainder of the individual portions.

Don’t bake a pie – bake small tarts.

Portion puddings and ice cream into ramekins.

One or two cookies is a portion size. Freeze the rest.

Once you’ve had your portion for the day, that’s it!

2 c butter, softened
1 1/2 c canola oil or olive oil

Whip butter with electric mixer.  Add and beat canola oil or olive oil. Pour into container and refrigerate until hardened. Keep refrigerated.

I use this as a healthy spread for my quick breads such as biscuits, waffles and muffins; also to butter my vegetables. Use anywhere you would use butter or margarine. Works well in most recipes that call for butter, margarine or Smart Balance spread.

For those of you who have an interest in nutrition information and would like to count the carbs in recipes and foods, here are a couple of useful links:

www.BellaOnline.com/subjects/4486.asp

www.ntwrks.com/~mikev/chart5a.htm

They are excellent resources!

Shake Ingredients: 

2 1/2 c no sugar-added, fat-free vanilla ice cream
1/2 c milk
2 T Smucker’s sugar-free chocolate sundae syrup
2 T graham cracker crumbs

Garnish:

whipped cream
graham cracker crumbs

Directions:

Place all ingredients for shake in blender and blend until smooth.

Pour into 2 12-oz glasses. Garnish each with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of graham cracker crumbs. Serve with a straw.