Creme Brulee Donuts

I think the thing I love the most about being a food blogger is being able to share my crazy creations. 

I love taking 2 or more classic dishes and smashing them together to come up with something new (or at least new-ish)! 

For this bad boy I took a no bake crème brulee and combined it with my old fashioned jelly donut recipe. The result? UH-mazing. My new favorite donuts in the universe. 

Anytime you can enjoy 2 desserts in one is a win in my books! 

Crème Brulee Donuts

Donuts

our OLD FASHIONED JELLY DONUTS recipe HERE

Crème Brulee Filling

3 cups heavy cream

3 tsp vanilla extract 

8 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

Topping

granulated sugar

Directions

Prepare donuts as per instructions in our Old Fashioned Jelly Donut post HERE. 

Prepare the crème brulee - Place the heavy cream in a pot. Heat the cream until it starts to steam. Remove from heat and set aside.  

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and thick. Beat in vanilla. Slowly whisk in the hot cream, a little at a time, until well combined. 

Place back over medium-low heat. Cook, without boiling, until mixture thickens to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat. Pour into a bowl and set aside. 

Assemble crème brulee donuts - cut a small amount out of the center of each donut (as per photo).

Spoon the crème brulee filling into each donut and smooth the top as well as you can.  Place in fridge or somewhere cool to chill completely. 

When filling is completely cool, sprinkle generously with sugar. Only do 2 or 3 at a time so the sugar doesn't start to dissolve. 

Use a kitchen torch to brulee the sugar until bubbly and browned. Watch you do not burn it!

Serve immediately. 

These are best eaten the day they are made. They will last a day or so but once you cook the sugar it will only stay crisp for so long. They will stay taste delicious you will just lose the signature crunch of the crème brulee topping!

I think I used about 1/2 to 1 tsp of sugar per donut but I didn't really measure. Be generous! 

The donut recipe makes about 1 1/2 to 2 dozen donuts and the filling should be enough for all of them. If you have extra filling, pour it in a ramekin, top it with sugar and brulee it just like you would normal crème brulee. You can make the holes in the donuts as big or small as you like for more or less filling. 

Note - I'd go with more.... it's delicious. 

Keto Fried Chicken Burger

 

Needing a delicious burger but low carbing it so a bun is out of the question? 

Not anymore! 

We used a simple fathead dough to make the buns, an even more simple coleslaw and garlic aioli as toppings, and crushed pork rinds to coat the chicken and came up with THE BEST keto friendly chicken burger ever. 

You can make everything ahead of time, if you prefer, so when dinner is being served it comes together in 2 seconds. There are 4 recipes to make for this so it can be a little fussy and you'll want to plan your time out. So worth the effort though! 

Keto Fried Chicken Burger

Buns

2 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2 oz cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups almond flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

sesame seeds

Coleslaw

3 cups shredded cabbage (purple or green)

1 thick slice onion, shredded (or finely diced)

3/4 cup mayo

1 Tbsp prepared mustard

salt & pepper

Garlic Aioli

1/2 cup mayo

2 cloves garlic, minced

Chicken

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup crushed pork rinds

1/4 cup grated parmesan

1 tsp garlic powder

oil, for frying

Directions

Prepare buns - Preheat oven to 400. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and 6 large canning rings. Melt mozzarella and cream cheese in the microwave for about 40 seconds. Stir and microwave again, if needed. Stir until smooth. 

Add in almond flour, baking powder, and eggs. Stir until dough comes together. It will be quite sticky and you may need a little extra almond flour for sprinkling on it to be able to handle it. (Keep in mind every time you add more almond flour you will change the carb count though!)

Divide into 6 pieces. Flatten each piece slightly into a canning ring. Bake at 400 for approx 12 - 15 minutes - until light golden brown. remove from oven and let cool before removing from the rings. NOTE - if you don't have rings that's fine, they are used to help the bun keep its shape and not spread out. Without them your buns will just be flatter. Set buns aside until ready to make burger. (These also freeze very well if you make them in advance.)

Carefully slice the buns in half horizontally. 

Prepare coleslaw - place shredded cabbage and onion in bowl. Add in the mayo and mustard and salt & pepper. Stir well to combine. Chill until ready to use. (This can be made a day in advance but will release liquid. Simply drain it off and serve when ready.)

Prepare garlic aioli - stir together mayo and minced garlic until well combined. Set aside. The longer this sits the more the flavors will blend so make it up at least a couple of hours before you make the burgers, up to a few days in advance. Store, covered, in the fridge.  

Prepare chicken - Blend together the pork rinds, parmesan, garlic powder until it resembles fine crumbs. 

Dip each chicken thigh in the beaten egg to coat. Then toss in the pork rind crumb mixture and coat well. Set aside. Heat oil in a deep pot to 360 degrees. 

Carefully place one or two of the chicken thighs into the hot oil and fry until cooked - about 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Use a thermometer to watch your oil temperature! This will help your chicken cook evenly. Do not crowd the pot or the temperature will drop too much. 

Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the chicken from the oil and place on paper towel to drain any excess oil. Continue until all chicken is cooked. 

Assemble the burger: 

Spread the garlic aioli on each half of the bun.

Top with a generous spoonful of coleslaw. 

Top with a chicken thigh. 

Enjoy! 

The nutritional counts for 1 burger (1 bun, 1 chicken thigh, 1 tablespoon garlic aioli, 2 - 3 tablespoons coleslaw) are: 520 calories, 11 carbs, 41 fat, 34 protein, 5 fiber. That's 6 net carbs. Of course this amount can vary so if you are tracking macros you should enter the ingredients into your own nutritional calculator! 

You will get 6 burgers out of this recipe with 2 extra chicken thighs and a little extra coleslaw and aioli.

I like to serve it with a green salad as it is quite filling and doesn't need a heavy side. 

You can eat low carb and still have a delicious burger. The buns will work equally as well for a hamburger too, as well as for sandwiches or anything else you would usually use a bun for! They are quite sturdy. 

 

Keto Oven Fried Mushrooms

One of the things I find tricky about eating keto is finding interesting veggie side dishes to accompany whatever meat dish I'm having. Green beans and asparagus are great but a girl needs more options!

I came up with this recipe after seeing some deep fried mushrooms on Pinterest. I initially was going to deep fry them but figured it would be too messy and, honestly, seemed like too much effort at the time.

Anyway, I went with the oven and they worked out amazingly well! 

Recipe as written below will make 2 servings. Nutritional counts per serving are: 185 calories, 10.4 fat, 5.5 carbs, 1.4 fiber, 13.2 protein. So 4.1 net carbs total. 

Keto Oven Fried Mushrooms

Ingredients

1/3 cup ground pork rinds

1 tsp garlic powder

salt & pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp parsley

1 Tbsp powdered Parmesan

1 egg

12 medium button mushrooms

Directions

Preheat oven to 400. Line an oven safe dish with parchment paper. Set aside. 

Combine ground pork rinds, garlic powder, salt & pepper, paprika, parsley, and parmesan in a large ziplock bag. 

Beat egg in a small bowl. 

Dip mushroom in egg to coat. Then toss into the pork rind mixture to coat. 

Place on prepared pizza pan and repeat with remaining mushrooms. 

Cook at 400 for approx 15 minutes, flipping halfway through cook time. 

If you want to crisp up the top more then place them under the broiler for 1 minute. 

Serve hot. 

Mushrooms are a great keto vegetable and putting a tasty pork rind coating on them makes them a great side dish. You could serve them with a keto ranch dip or garlic aioli if you wanted to but I didn't find it necessary! 

For a potluck you could make up a whole tray of them by easily double or tripling the recipe. 

Veggie Pakoras with Raita

 

I had a friend gift me a bag of chana/gram flour a little while ago. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it until Sue reminded me that pakoras are made with chana flour! 

Pakoras are pretty much the most delicious things on the planet. I decided to go with veggie pakoras as I have made them a few times before so kind of had an idea of what I was doing. 

A friend passed down this recipe to me and gave me permission to share it with everyone. Keep in mind that there are a bazillion different recipes for pakoras out there. Everyone has a special tweak to their recipe! What is your favorite ingredient to add to pakoras?

Veggie Pakoras With Raita

Ingredients

Raita

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup onion, finely diced

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp cilantro, chopped

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cumin

Pakoras

1 cup gram/chana flour

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1/2 cup spinach, chopped

1/2 cup potatoes, juliened

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 Tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

1/2 can diced green chilis

1 small head cauliflower, chopped fine

1 tsp crushed coriander

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp crushed cumin

pinch salt

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup water

Oil for deep frying

Directions

Prepare raita - combine the yogurt, onion, lemon, sugar, cilantro, salt, and cumin. Let sit so flavors can blend. Raita can be made a day or so ahead of time. 

Prepare pakoras - mix all pakora ingredients together in a large bowl. If you need to a bit more water then do so a little at a time. It should not be soupy! It will be quite thick. I usually end up adding a few more tablespoons. 

Heat oil in a large pot to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with paper towel and set aside. 

Scoop up about a golf ball sized amount of the mixture in your hand and carefully drop it in the hot oil. Don't crowd the pot - only add about 4 or 5 balls of mixture at a time. 

Cook about 1 minute and then turn over and cook another minute - until golden brown and cooked through.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the pakoras and place them on the paper towel. 

Repeat until all the mixture is used up. Be sure to keep your oil at about 350 - if it lowers too much the pakoras will get oily, if it is too high they will burn. 

Serve warm with the raita for dipping.

This makes a fairly large batch of pakoras so you can share them, eat them aaaaallllll, or freeze some for later! Simply line a container with paper towel, place the pakoras in a single layer, cover and freeze. 

When it comes time to reheat them all you have to do is preheat your oven to 350 and place the frozen pakoras on a cookie sheet. Cook until heated through - about 20 - 30 minutes. 

This is a great dish to bring to a potluck because they reheat so well and they are still delicious at room temperature. A bit of a pain in the butt because of all the deep frying but so worth it IMO. 

Looking for a game night treat? Give these a try. 

And don't forget the raita! Everything is better with dip. :)