King Cakelettes
Laissez les bon temp rouler! Let the good times roll! Mardi Gras is near and as always we are celebrating. We closely followed up defrocking the house of Yule and Christmas decorations with putting up green, gold and purple for Mardi Gras. After living in New Orleans a few years back I cannot help but get in the spirit of Mardi Gras. There is never a lull down there after Christmas – the frivolity of New Years quickly turns to the Mardi Gras celebrations. Parades begin in mid-January so there is no time to waste. Last year I did a king cake marathon, making sure everyone in the house had some for celebrating. I made a regular, yeasty, cinnamon-y king cake, including sharing of details about king cake history, followed by a gluten free version of the cake. They were both delectable and fun to make. This year Mardi Gras arrives during a time when we are highly sensitive to sugar, wheat and carbohydrates. What is a girl to do? Well, adapt. That is what she does. I used my experimenting with low carb muffins over the past year and incorporated my love of king cakes into these little treats. Although not the traditional ring with colored sugar, the result definitely has the right flavors and textures in play. I usually avoid making king cakes most of the year, but this time I may not. These things are stupendous and I doubt they will last us through Fat Tuesday. I really need them to, if for no other reason but to balance the green potency of chartreuse. Enjoy!
Low Carb King Cakelettes
6 eggs
4 Tbsp heavy cream or half and half
1 tsp vanilla
3 drops liquid stevia
½ tsp sea salt
2/3 cup coconut flour
¼ cup golden flaxseed meal
½ cup splenda
½ tsp baking powder
1 cup pecans, shelled
For the Filling
6 Tbsp butter, melted
¼ cup splenda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup pecans
For the Icing
1 Tbsp water
1 tsp lime or lemon juice
½ cup splenda
Green, yellow, red and blue (2 drops blue, 3 drops red for purple) food coloring (optional, if coloring icing instead of using colored sugar)
For Decorating
Purple, green and gold/yellow colored sugar or Splenda (or add color to the icing)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a baking pan spread out pecans in one layer. Bake in oven for about 5 minutes until they begin to brown. Prepare muffin pan with liners. In blender add wet ingredients and nuts together. Blend on low until nuts are broken up in small pieces. In separate bowl combine dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Divide batter among the 12 muffin cups. For the filling mix together butter, ¼ cup Splenda and cinnamon in a bowl. Grind into a powder the ½ cup pecans and combine with other filling ingredients. With a teaspoon drop some filling into the middle of each muffin. It will sink a bit and be covered by the muffin batter during the baking time. Bake for about 15 minutes until tops begin to brown. While the muffins are baking combine the water, juice and Splenda until smooth (make three different batches if coloring it instead of using colored sugar. A soon as the muffins come out of the oven drizzle the icing on top (drizzle all three colors on every muffin if using colored icing). Let cool for about ten minutes. If using colored sugar, sprinkle by alternating green, purple and yellow/gold*. Use all three colors on every muffin. Serve at room temperature or freeze and gently defrost in the microwave before serving.
*I planned on using colored Splenda for sprinkling, and got good information about coloring it here. My color to sweetener ratio did not turn out as well as it did for Millie, I think it was because I did not have enough coloring gel. It was definitely on its way, but I did not have time to go get more with an eager and waiting Little B, so I improvised. I added water and lemon juice to the colored sweetener and colored the icing and drizzled instead of sprinkled. Even though it did not work out this time, I am going to follow Millie’s coloring process in the future, for springtime is coming and more sprinkling opportunities are on the horizon!