Hey everyone! Today is my 25th birthday and all in all it is a fantastic day! To explain the title: I lost my voice last night, but it’s not stopping me from talking or singing! I even did a little serenade for all the people who have congratulated me for my birthday. Listen to my rendition of Margaret’s Thank you very much; it’s pretty bad and hilarious.
Anyway, for the occasion I wanted to bake something nice. However, at the moment I’m following a keto diet. This means I can’t have many carbs and especially no sugar. This is kind of tricky, since carbs are in so many foods I love. Luckily there are many wonderful recipes and sometimes the no-no ingredients can be substituted by something else. I still browse through normal recipes as well, to save them for later when I’m not following the diet so strictly.
So there was this very yummy looking picture that came by of raspberry lemon bars. I am a professional grade cake, pie and pastry eater. My mom is an amazing cook, but her desserts are from another planet. All my life she has served me the most delicious dishes. Even so, I have never been a fan of tangy desserts. I like, no I love them sweet, sweeter, sweetest. This recipe really shouldn’t be for me, but the pictures really won me over. I needed to try them. So I substituted the flour for almond meal and coconut meal, the sugar for artificial sweeteners and cut back a bit on the butter. I also found out that I did not have any (frozen or other) raspberries present; I must have used them all for smoothies. I did have strawberries and blueberries so I used those.
Look at those beautiful colours!
They taste amazing! And they look so good too… And best of all: they are super easy to make, just follow the instructions and everything should come out fine. Just do not make them in a metal pan because it reacts badly with the lemon juice. One recipe should give you 16 servings. They may seem like small servings, but they are really dense and fill you right up. And a mere 120 calories a piece too! You could even add a bit of whipped cream guilt-free.
Strawberry Blueberry Lemonade Bars
adapted from The IMPROV kitchen
Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 stick (125 grams) butter
1/4 c. sweetener
1/2 c. almond meal
1/2 c. coconut flour
>1 t. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
For the filling:
1 heaping cup frozen strawberries, thawed
1 heaping cup frozen blueberries, thawed
2 tbsp liquid sweetener or 1/2 c. sweetener
4 lemons worth of lemon juice
2 lemons worth of lemon zest
3 medium egg whites
1 meduim egg
1 c. coconut flour
pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 350º F (175º C). Line a non-metal baking pan, about 20 x 20 cm or 8″ x 8″, with parchment paper so you can easily lift the bars out once they’ve cooled.
To make the crust:
Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer, then add in vanilla. Add flour until just incorporated. Dump dough in baking pan and press with your hands until it evenly covers the bottom of the dish.
To make the filling:
Blend the berries up in a food processor or blender. Add sugar, egg whites, egg, lemon juice + zest, flour, and salt to the bowl and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the crust and bake for 25 – 30 minutes depending on your oven and the sized baking dish you use.
Let cool to room temperature and then place in the refrigerator for a few hours (or until they’ve cooled completely).
I have never used a nutritional calculator before, so this might be a tiny bit off:
| 16 Servings | ||
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Amount Per Serving
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| Calories | 121.0 | |
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| Total Fat | 10.8 g | |
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| Saturated Fat | 6.5 g | |
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| Polyunsaturated Fat | 0.7 g | |
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| Monounsaturated Fat | 3.0 g | |
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| Cholesterol | 29.1 mg | |
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| Sodium | 23.9 mg | |
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| Potassium | 94.7 mg | |
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| Total Carbohydrate | 5.5 g | |
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| Dietary Fiber | 1.6 g | |
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| Sugars | 2.4 g | |
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| Protein | 1.9 g | |
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