Busy People's Low-Carb Cookbook
Appetizers & Snacks | Soups & Salads | Entrées | Sides | Desserts | Beverages
Cinnamon Walnut Mini Drops
These bite-size cookies are fun to pop in your mouth, kind of like candy. It helps curb your sweet tooth without blowing your diet. A bonus of these cookies is the aroma while baking these makes the entire home fragrant and cozy feeling. (Please Note: These do not store well and are best eaten the same day.)

3

 egg whites

1/4

 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup Splenda Granular 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts 3 cups unsweetened cereal flakes

Preheat the oven 350 degrees.
Spray a cookie sheet with nonfat cooking spray. Set aside.
In medium size glass bowl, beat at high speed of electric mixer: egg whites with cream of tartar, gradually adding the Splenda about 1 tablespoon at a time for about 4 minutes or until stiff peaks form.
Gently stir in cinnamon, nuts and cereal.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly brown around the edges.
Yield: 60 very small bite sized cookies
Per Cookie: Calories: 15; Fat: 1g (39% fat); Cholesterol: 0mg; Carbohydrate: 2g; Dietary Fiber: 0g; Protein: 0g; Sodium: 13mg; Diabetic Exchanges: Free
Per 4 Cookies: Calories: 59; Fat: 3g (39% fat); Cholesterol: 0mg; Carbohydrate: 8g; Dietary Fiber: 1g; Protein: 2g; Sodium: 52mg; Diabetic Exchanges: 1/2 starch, 1/2 fat
Preparation time: 18 minutes or less
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes or less
Easiest Apple Pie
To save oodles of carbs I used Fillo (Phyllo) dough sheets (found in freezer section with dessert items). It also saved me a lot of time preparing the piecrust. This is one of the flakiest piecrusts I've ever eaten. I like it better than the traditional piecrust.

6

 granny smith apples, peeled and slices thinly*

1

 cup plus 1 tablespoon Splenda Granular
2 tablespoons cornstarch 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 1 (16 ounce) box Fillo dough sheets
1 egg white - beaten    

* To save time, slice the apples with your food processor. 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Place apples in a microwave safe bowl. Toss apples gently with Splenda, cornstarch, cinnamon, and cloves.
Cover and cook in carousel microwave for 5-7 minutes, stirring every couple minutes until apples are tender and fully heated.
In meantime, while apples are cooking: Cut Fillo dough in half to form a rectangle. Wrap one stack up and save to use another time.
Spray each sheet of Fillo dough with non-fat cooking spray before stacking 10 sheets of Fillo dough on top of each other to form the bottom of the piecrust. Place the sheets across the pie plate like tire spindles crossing in the center, and allow the extra length to hang over the edge of the pie plate.
Put cooked sweetened apples into pie plate.
With the remaining ten sheets of Fillo dough, make the top crust by doing the exact same thing we did with the bottom crust. The only difference is we aren't going to press the dough into the bottom of the plate.
With scissors, cut the Fillo dough hanging off the edge of the pie plate.
If needed, spray in between layers of Fillo dough sheets with non-fat cooking spray and tightly squeeze the Fillo dough sheets together to help seal the top and bottom layers of Fillo dough crust together.
Brush top of piecrust with beaten egg white.
Take a 1" piece of aluminum foil and cover the edge of the crust.
Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.
Remove foil. Bake another 5-7 minutes or until top is lightly golden brown.
Once removed from oven, sprinkle one 1-tablespoon Splenda on top of piecrust.
Yield: 8 servings
Calories: 141; Fat: 1g (5% fat); Cholesterol: 0mg; Carbohydrate: 32g; Dietary Fiber: 2g; Protein: 2g; Sodium: 99mg; Diabetic Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 fruit
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Maple Logs
I find it incredible these are low carb because they taste so high carb delicious. The biggest challenge with these tasty, crispy, yet chewy dessert bars is not eating too many. Portion size is iportant. (Bummer, but true. :-)) These are especially irresistible fresh from the oven.

8

 ounces Fillo (Phyllo) Dough (1/2 of a 16 ounce box)

1/4

 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar-free maple syrup 1/3 cup walnuts - very finely chopped
2 tablespoons Splenda granular   non-fat cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spray cookie sheets with non-fat cooking spray. Set aside.
In bowl, stir brown sugar and maple syrup together until well blended.
Cut Fillo in half to 14" x 9" rectangle.
Layer 2 sheets on top of each other. DO NOT spray with anything. (I say this because normally recipes say to spray in between layers of fillo dough sheets with non-fat cooking spray or butter. However, we DO NOT in this recipe, so I want to state this fact in advance to eliminate people calling me and asking if I have made an error.)
Spread 1 tablespoon maple mixture over entire top layer of Fillo dough.
Sprinkle with 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped walnuts over top of maple syrup.
Gently roll dough into a tight roll starting at the short edge of the dough. (Like a jellyroll.)
Spray outside of roll with non-fat cooking spray to help seal.
Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon Splenda.
Cut into three 3" long sticks.
Place sticks onto prepared baking sheet.
Repeat these steps until all the dough is gone.
Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes or until crispy.
Let cool before eating.
Yield: 30 cookies
Calories: 42; Fat: 1g (22% fat); Cholesterol: 0mg; Carbohydrate: 8g; Dietary Fiber: 0g; Protein: 1g; Sodium: 38mg; Diabetic Exchanges: 1/2 starch
Preparation time: 10 minutes or less
Cooking time: 7 minutes
Total time: 17 minutes or less
Candied Watermelon
This is one of my absolute most favorite all-time desserts and I cannot take one ounce of credit for it, because my assistant, Karen Schwanbeck, suggested the idea when we had some leftover watermelon from testing other recipes. This was simply a spur of the moment thought and the flavor is like eating candy! I love it! It tastes like sweet, cold, wet, tangy candy. It's the perfect answer to curb your sweet tooth without blowing your carbs or calories.

1/4

 of a medium sized seedless watermelon (about 4 cups)

1

 (0.3 ounce) box sugar-free strawberry flavored gelatin mix - dry - do not make as directed on box

Cut watermelon into bite size pieces and put into Ziplock bag.
Sprinkle watermelon with gelatin in sealed bag and gently shake bag until all of the watermelon is covered with gelatin.
Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.
Serve chilled.
Yield: 6 (2/3 cup) servings
Calories: 35; Fat: 0g (0% fat); Cholesterol: 0mg; Carbohydrate: 8g; Dietary Fiber: 0g; Protein: 1g; Sodium: 33mg; Diabetic Exchanges: 1/2 fruit
 
Preparation time: 5 minutes or less