The keto diet is taking the world by storm because the focus is on lowering your carbohydrate intake and increasing your healthy fats. As a result, your body becomes an efficient fat-burning machine, which has some benefits. On the other hand, because of the diet’s restrictiveness, there are certain items you can’t eat.
Foods packed with sugars, like chocolate, cake, or ice cream, are a big no-no in a keto diet. So, it can be a tough one for individuals with a sweet tooth. However, it isn’t all bad; products make it easier to enjoy your favorite treats without disrupting your diet. Here are a few recipes you can add them to:
1. Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate chip cookies are the most well-known cookies next to oatmeal. There’s often a debate between people about which is better (we all know the answer to that one.) If you’re on a keto diet, you may think that you’ll have to give this treat up.
But that’s not true; just add keto-friendly chocolate chips to the recipe. You can follow a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe but swap out a few ingredients. So, for white flour, you can use almond or coconut flour; white sugar can be substituted with molasses. Be careful with the amount because it can be overpowering.
Similarly, for those with a taste for international cuisine, traditional cookies from different cultures can also be enjoyed in a keto-friendly format. For instance, salpores de arroz, a beloved Salvadoran cookie typically made with rice flour, can be recreated using a low-carb flour substitute such as almond or coconut flour. Just like with conventional recipes, you can incorporate keto-friendly chocolate chips to add that hint of sweetness without the carbs. Here’s a quick guide on how to adapt the salpores recipe:
1. Replace rice flour with your choice of keto-friendly flour.
2. Use a low-carb sweetener in place of traditional sugar.
3. Mix in keto-friendly chocolate chips for that chocolatey touch.
4. Follow the rest of the traditional salpores de arroz recipe, being mindful of any other high-carb ingredients that may need substitution.
By taking this approach, you can still celebrate cultural food traditions while maintaining a ketogenic diet.
2. Chocolate Chip Muffins
Chocolate chip muffins are another dessert that makes your taste buds water. The softness of the muffin and the sweetness of the chocolate chips make it the ultimate treat. And guess what? There’s a keto option that lets you use keto-friendly chocolate chips.
Like the chocolate chip cookies, you can substitute regular milk and flour with almond versions. For the sweetener, use your best keto alternative. Here’s how you complete this treat:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a muffin pan with parchment paper; quantity will vary on pan size.
- Stir together almond flour, sweetener, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.
- Add melted butter, eggs, almond milk, and vanilla extract; mix in keto chocolate chips.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
- Cookie Dough With Keto Friendly Chocolate Chips.
3. Cookie Dough Balls
Sometimes, you may have a cookie craving but don’t want the entire experience. Making cookies can be taxing, and using too much of an ingredient can mess up the whole batch. However, by making cookie dough, you don’t have to play around with too many elements. Plus, the waiting period isn’t as long.
To make chocolate chip cookie dough balls, here’s what you do:
- In a bowl, mix butter and sweetener until it’s fluffy.
- Add vanilla extract and dry ingredients like almond flour, sea salt, and chocolate chips.
- Refrigerate for about 20 minutes (this might be hard to do because you’re ready to eat them ASAP).
- Form the dough into small balls and enjoy.
Prep should only take about five to ten minutes. Use a hand mixer to combine the ingredients even more for the best results. Also, once you form the dough balls, you can chill them for another hour to improve texture and flavor.
4. Low Carb Granola Bars
Before your keto diet endeavor, some of your favorite healthy snacks had chocolate chips. One of those was granola bars; the saltiness of the nuts and the sweetness of the chocolate made it the ideal snack. The issue is that most store-bought granola bars aren’t keto friendly.
But you can still enjoy granola bars by making your own and adding keto-friendly chocolate chips. Now you may be thinking, “Isn’t the primary ingredient in granola bars oats?” Yes, that’s true, but you can substitute it with nuts and seeds.
Use your food processor to pulse the almonds until they are about a quarter of their original size. Then, add them to your other dry ingredients, such as chocolate chips, coconut shavings, or sunflower seeds. Mix them with butter, vanilla, and an egg (the egg is crucial for holding everything together).
Once everything is mixed, add it to a baking dish and press down so the ingredients are spread out evenly. Let it bake for about 15 minutes. When you take it out of the oven, of course, you’ll be eager to eat them. But let the bars cool for a bit so they can harden; removing them from the baking dish too fast will cause them to fall apart!
Add Keto Chocolate Chips to These Recipes
Keto-friendly chocolate chips are the ideal product to add to any dessert. So you can satisfy your sweet tooth cravings while staying within your diet parameters. Try out the recipes above to see which you prefer. After finding your favorite, you may continue using that recipe even after coming off the keto diet.
