Why not eat keto candy?
Humans love sweets; we’re wired for it. Our brains see and taste sugar and understand it’s a source of fuel. The problem is that it used to be super scarce and now it’s everywhere! If you’re doing keto to avoid sugar, you probably still crave sugar.
Well, we know that sugar is unhealthy irrespective of the calories contained within it. That doesn’t mean you can’t have sweetness though, because science is our friend. Someone went out and tasted plants like stevia to determine if it would be good to eat.
Turns out it tastes pretty bitter along with the sweet, so you may have tried making keto treats in the past and had a bad experience. Each sweetener I’ve tried has had its own unique drawback:
- Erythritol has a menthol-like cooling effect and gives me terrible heartburn
- Stevia is very sweet and super bitter
- Monkfruit has a very odd aftertaste
- Sorbitol has that weird, hollow taste that artificial sweeteners often have, too
- Maltitol can spike your blood sugar and send you running to the bathroom
What fun! What I’ve found after 9 years of ketoing is that a blended sweetener is the answer. I personally like Pyure because it tastes great, mixes pretty equivalently to table sugar, and is cheaper than other brands. Basically any kind of blend will help cut out the bad taste problems of each sweetener.
Still, it’s best to avoid sorbitol and maltitol if you can (and you can, stop it). This leads to me to the recipe for today; keto buttercreams, or more specifically, keto peanut buttercreams.
Hurry! The sooner you make these the sooner you can shove them in your face.
Keto Peanut Buttercreams
This recipe is adapted from a peanut butter fudge recipe that I make that is also keto. I love that recipe as well, but I made these for my mom for mother’s day and she loved them. My kids even like them, but that just means I need to make more, grumble grumble.
Ingredients for buttercreams
8oz softened cream cheese
1/2 cup creamy, natural peanut butter
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
3 tbsp heavy cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 – 1/2 cup powdered stevia blend like Pyure or Swerve ( I like them a bit less sweet but you do you, boo boo)
Ingredients for chocolate shell
4oz unsweetened baking chocolate like Baker’s brand (Aldi has their own brand that’s like $2/bar, so get that if you can)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup powdered sweetener
1 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Directions
Place all the buttercream ingredients into a bowl and mix on medium speed with an electric beater for about 2 minutes. You want to go past the point of incorporation to get more air into the candy. This will make them more fluffy, which is what you want.
Spoon out about 1 tbsp-sized portions onto a silpat/parchment paper lined baking sheet and freeze. They should be sufficiently frozen in about an hour. You can also use silicone candy molds if you want them to be fancy.
When the candy is frozen, start melting the chocolate and the coconut oil over low heat. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn, and then add the other ingredients and mix them well. Turn off the heat and transfer the chocolate sauce to a bowl, stirring a bit to help the mixture cool down.
Remove the candy from the freezer and, using forks or a gloved hand, drop them into the chocolate one at a time, turning them completely so every part is covered in chocolate. Return the chocolate-covered candy to the same cold, lined baking sheet and repeat until all the candy is coated in chocolate, then put them back in the freezer for another hour.
That’s it! These are really good frozen, but they’re best straight from the fridge. This allows the internal candy to soften up while maintaining the integrity of the chocolate outside. The chocolate melts pretty quick in your hands, so be mindful.
This is my favorite candy I think that I’ve made so far on my keto journey. It gets me through a sweet craving without hurting my blood sugar or my macros and they’re mega easy to make. Additionally you could swap out the peanut butter for other nut butters, or more regular butter and add other flavors. I’m working on getting some orange and raspberry creams together this weekend, so here’s hoping they turn out delicious.
Do you have a favorite homemade keto candy? I’d love to see the recipe, so please leave it below.