I love Halloween and candy is really a big weakness for me. I don't understand how people can just have hoards of peanut butter cups and just let them sit there for a year (cough cough, my husband) drives me crazy!!! Especially if I don't have keto alternatives on hand. The store bought "candy" is ok and will curb the craving for awhile but they are nothing compared to the homemade minimal ingredient candies. I feel like the store bought stuff just has so much weird stuff added to it that it just tastes not real. I've had HighKey pecan caramel clusters and they are ok but still a kind of weird taste to it, same with slim fast ones. So I bring you my version of Twix and Turtles (pecan caramel clusters).
Secret to the crispy Twix cookie is egg white protein powder. I know it's expensive right now but you don't need a lot so a small bag goes a long way! Unfortunately I have not been able to get a crispy keto cookie without it, I have tried! You can use this cookie in many applications, if you enjoy shortbread plain or dipped in chocolate and nuts.
I'm sure swerve would work for the crust recipe or any other 1:1 sugar substitute. Monkfruit/Erythritol blend sweetener from Lakanto is just my go to sweetener of choice. Allulose makes baked goods soft and brown very fast. The reason most keto products have a variety of sweeteners in themis it gives a better overall flavor because when you add sweeteners in big amounts they tend to have a weird or off putting flavor. So I added a little liquid stevia to the crust to balance things out, bonus if you have a complimentary flavor to whatever you are making like a caramel stevia.
I prefer coconut flour over almond flour. I just don't prefer the texture almond flour gives to baked goods, and you have to use a lot more almond flour in the recipes than coconut flour. If you want to try subbing out the coconut flour for almond flour, you have to do 3-4x as much almond flour.
For the Twix I used a square cavity silicon candy mold that make 40 individual candies (linked below).
You can use most any small molds you possess but it may make the amount of crust in each different and how much caramel you need to fill them. This will also effect the carb count and the amount of chocolate needed. If you don't have a candy mold of some kind you can use an 8x8 baking dish but I would line it before baking the bottom crust and then spray the parchment before the caramel goes on top just to be safe. I have an 8x8 silicon mold that caramel sticks to but I've never had a problem with any other silicon mold. Then you can freeze the whole thing, (which will take a lot longer to freeze than the little individual cavity molds), once frozen you can pop out and cut into pieces with a knife dunked in hot water. Then freeze again for awhile before dunking.
Allulose is key to the caramel recipe, like many of my candy recipes. You can't cook our other sweeteners without it crystalizing horribly. I have tried in vain to use other sweeteners to heat and make caramel, it doesn't work. You need to heat the caramel until it's just before burning a dark amber color, pictured below.
The turtles are really easy just clump them together on parchment paper pour over caramel once it has thickened a bit, then freeze. After solid squish the caramel around the pecans to form a nice patty. Freeze while melting the chocolate and then dunk. You can also put the pecans in candy molds, same as the Twix, then you can skip the forming step and go right to dunking once they are solid.
Sugar free chocolate for coating is up to you, you can use any you want to coat the Twix and Turtles. Milk chocolate is traditional for Twix but most brands the milk is higher in carbs so I go with a semi sweet usually and sweeten it with a little liquid stevia. I did dark chocolate turtle and just added a tiny bit of stevia because I prefer a little more sweetness than Lily's brand gives. But you will need at least 2 bags of whatever chocolate you choose, to coat all the candy. Whatever chocolate you choose will determine the carb count for your candy. Just make sure you measure the chocolate before and whatever you have left after, so you know approximately how much chocolate you actually used.
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Mini 40 cavity candy bar mold - https://amzn.to/3iHu2aT
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Keto Twix Recipe:
Shortbread cookie base:
16 g egg white powder (approximately 2 Tbs.)
48 g granular monkfruit/erythritol (approximately 1/4 Cup)
55 g coconut flour (approximately 1/2 Cup)
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp caramel stevia
60 g coconut oil (melted) (1/4 Cup/4 Tbs.)
2x Keto Chewy Caramel
9 oz. /1 bag of Keto Chocolate
1-3 Tbs. Coconut Oil
Liquid stevia to sweeten chocolate (optional)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl
Mix wet ingredients together in a separate bowl
Combine the wet into the dry ingredients to form a dough
Place 1 teaspoon into each crevice of the mold you are using, if it's small, makes 40 otherwise you may need more or less crust in each
Pat down the crust evenly inside each mold then bake 10-12 minutes turning half way through until they are just turning golden brown around a few edges
Set aside to cool while you make the caramel
Keto Chewy Caramel (need 2x for 40 Twix bites)
160 g/ (approx. 1 Cup) Allulose
2 Tbs. Water (enough to moisten around the edges)
14 g/1 Tbs. Heavy cream
56 g/4 Tbs. Salted butter
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
Instructions:
Make the caramel by heating the allulose and water over medium low heat, simmer with a lid if crystals are forming, using a pastry brush and water, wet the sides of the pot if you see allulose cooking on the side
Cook until it is a deep amber color around 350 degrees
Cut the heat and add the cream and whisk quickly
Add the butter and vanilla extract and whisk vigorously
Once it starts to thicken, pour into a measuring cup and fill up each of the Twix bites with caramel
If there are bubbles forming on top you can pop them with a toothpick, place in the freezer to set completely
Once solid, line a sheet pan with parchment paper, pop out the Twix bites and place onto the parchment paper and place back into the freezer while you melt chocolate to coat
Temper 9 ounces of Keto chocolate with 1-3 tablespoon of coconut oil (melt chips at 50% power, 30 second intervals until somewhere above 90 degrees, add a few chocolate chips at a time, stirring until the chocolate is 88 degrees), may need more chocolate
Once chocolate is tempered pull out the candy and place one piece in the chocolate, caramel side down, flip and coat each piece using a fork, tap off excess chocolate and place down onto the parchment paper, caramel side up
If the caramel starts to get too soft place back in the freezer before continuing, once all coated, double check for any spots you missed with chocolate, can keep in the refrigerator or freezer, if there are any holes in the chocolate the caramel may seep out a bit, but still delicious
Macros: 1 of 40 bites using Baked Believe semi-sweet Chocolate chips
80 Calories
7 g Fat
6 g Total Carbs
2 g Fiber
2 g Sugar Alcohol
2 g Net Carb
1 g Protein
Turtle Recipe:
168 g/6 oz. Pecan Halves (toasted)
1 Batch of Keto Chewy Caramel
9 oz. /1 bag of Keto Chocolate
1-3 Tbs. Coconut Oil
Liquid stevia to sweeten chocolate (optional)
Instructions:
If pecans are not toasted preheat oven to 350 and toast 6 oz. for 5 minutes on a parchment lined baking sheet
Once cool pile them into 24 small silicon cavities or just in piles on the parchment paper
Make caramel, if doing piles on parchment, let cool before pouring a small amount on each of the 24 clusters, then go back around and pour some more onto each one until all the caramel is used
If using molds just pour caramel until pecans are mostly covered, start with less, you can always go back and add more
Freeze until solid enough to handle, if in molds pop out and place on parchment and back in freezer while melting the chocolate, if clusters, squish the caramel around the pecans to form nice patties and place back in freezer
Temper 9 ounces of Keto chocolate with 1-3 tablespoon of coconut oil (melt chips at 50% power, 30 second intervals until somewhere above 90 degrees, add a few chocolate chips at a time, stirring until the chocolate is 88 degrees), may need more chocolate
Once chocolate is tempered pull out the candy and place one piece in the chocolate, top down, flip and coat each piece using a fork, tap off excess chocolate and place down onto the parchment paper
If the caramel starts to get too soft place back in the freezer before continuing, once all coated, double check for any spots you missed with chocolate, can keep in the refrigerator or freezer, if there are any holes in the chocolate the caramel may seep out a bit, but still delicious
Macros 1 of 24 using Lily's Dark Chocolate Chips
120 Calories
11 g Fat
7 g Total Carbs
4 g Fiber
2 g Sugar Alcohol
1 g Net Carb
1 g Protein
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