Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Low carb Protein Balls (recipe time!)



I don't hold myself up to be a chef of any kind; however I have been spending a fortune buying high protein, low carb foods for my 4 year old with type 1 diabetes. I have started to research cheaper (and less processed to some degree) options for snacks and have been struggling to find many online. I also like things to be simple... so anything I post will be EASY and quick!

If you aren't familiar with the taste of protein bars/ snacks, these may be a little unusual as they really do have a specific taste/ texture that is not for everyone.

Let me know what you think of this one:


 Low carb Choc-peanut biscuits (or balls)


Ingredients:
50g protein powder (chocolate)
30 – 35g Peanut butter (no added sugar)
5 teaspoons of water
(NB: see botom of article for slightly reduced fat/ kj option)

Method:

Melt peanut butter in microwave for 20 sec in microwave safe bowl (I used Kraft’s new No added sugar or salt crunchy – adds texture)

This is the batter with 3 tsp water
Add protein powder and mix. Add water slowly to allow powder to absorb all water before more is added. 

Depending on the brand of protein powder used you may need more or less water. (I used Body Science Shaping Protein for Women in chocolate flavour).

Once a very thick and fairly dry consistency has been formed, mould into a tube shape (as per image right). 

Slice tube into 8 small pieces (to be consistent with nutritional information panel (NIP) shown below).
For balls, roll each piece into a small ball (NB: You can also choose not to cook the balls at all and roll in a small amount of shredded coconut for variety – coconut is not included in NIP)

For biscuits, flatten and shape into a small biscuit (as per left image)

Place on a microwave safe plate (you may want to lightly spray with oil).

Microwave for 45 secs (may vary depending on your microwave – longer will make them drier, if you make larger size biscuits or balls you will need more time). 

Biscuits/ balls will rise slightly and batter will start to dry.

Allow to cool (biscuits will crisp slightly, but not much, as they cool)


Each biscuit or ball contains approx. 212kj and 0.8g carbs. See Nutritional Information Panel (NIP) for more information (below). 

Option B: reduce peanut butter to 20g and increase water to 6 - 7 tsp. This cuts the kj to 153, fat to 1.5 and carbs to 0.6. It doesn't change the flavour or consistency too much either.
 




1 comment:

  1. I had a friend who is a food scientist try these this morning after our run - he said he can taste the "chemicals" from the protein powder and recommends buying straight whey protein isolate (from a health food shop) and adding pure cocoa powder... much cheaper option and will reduce the amount of "processed" ingredients. I will give it a go and let you know how it is.

    For schools, you can use butter instead of peanut butter - but cut back the water as you won't need as much.

    The other flavour I have been playing with is vanilla powder with a small amount of melted butter and water mixed. Mix in diced dried apricots and then making small balls, which you roll in shredded coconut. This has a much higher carb count - but is a nice flavour. I just need to work out how to get vanilla flavour from a pure whey protein isolate powder without adding chemicals/ carbs. I think I am going to play with some vanilla beans - and am also thinking that maybe boiling apricots in water and using the water may give an apricot flavour without as many carbs...

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