Pecan Cream Pie
I have a love/hate relationship with pecan pie. I love how it tastes but the amount of sugar it has prevents me from eating it. Yes, I've indulged a couple of times in my life when I've eaten a single forkful so I know how good it is, but I'm not sure if I could even eat a full slice because it is so sweet and so bad for you.
Remember eating candy when you were little and your teeth would hurt? Why does that happen? I wonder if eating a full slice of real pecan pie would make my teeth hurt from the intense sugar. Even though I haven't had even a forkful of real pecan pie in many, many years I still crave pecan pie especially at Thanksgiving. See my love/hate relationship?
Do you share my joy/pain with pecan pie? Do you find it good, but too sweet to enjoy a full slice or do you love how sweet it is, but can't eat it because of the high sugar content?
This Pecan Cream Pie will solve those problems for you. This pie is rich and creamy with a lovely brown sugar-maple flavor and toasted pecans throughout but the cream cheese and whipped cream cut the sweetness and using low carb/zero carb sweeteners make it guilt free. I found the original recipe here https://togetherasfamily.com/pecan-cream-pie/ but modified it to make it keto, diabetic and gluten free too.
No time to make a crust or don't want the extra carbs from it? No problem, the filling tastes great all by itself served in small cups or make individual pies in muffin cups like I did.
A few helpful hints, I found 1/4 cup of Brown Swerve to be sweet enough but adjust the amount to your preferred sweetness. I've found Brown Swerve to be closest to real brown sugar and no, I'm not affiliated with Swerve products, I just love their brown sugar alternative. I used coconut cream when I made mine as I didn't have heavy cream in the house, so I used Glucomannan powder to help stabilize it. It should be fine without it though. If you've never used Glucomannnan powder before I hope you give it a try. It is my go to low carb. thickener for sauces and gravies and for stabilizing whipped cream or coconut cream instead of xanthan gum. You only need a small amount too, so a bottle lasts a long, long time. One last helpful hint, make sure you let this chill at least overnight, allowing the brown sugar sweetener to dissolve as it chills. I haven't tried it but grinding the sweetener might help dissolve it quicker or stirring it into the maple syrup first might help dissolve it too. Let me know if you try it that way and how it works so this doesn't have to chill overnight.
Pecan Cream Pie About 3 net carbs per serving without the crust, optional ingredients and the sweeteners as they don't impact blood sugar. 1 (9-inch) baked Keto pie crust (your choice of crumb or flaky) 1 cup heavy whipping cream or chilled coconut cream (I use this brand) 1/4 cup Confectioners' style (powdered) sweetener like Swerve or powdered erythritol you make at home 1/2 tsp. Gluccomanan powder (optional) (I use this brand) 2 (8 oz.) pkg. full fat cream cheese, softened 1/4 to 1/2 cup Brown Swerve or other zero carb brown sugar substitute (I use Brown Swerve) 1/4 cup low carb. maple flavored syrup (like Know brand allulose based or Lakanto brand) (I use this brand) 1/2 tsp. maple extract or to taste (I use this brand) 1 cups chopped pecans, toasted 1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted, for topping (optional) 1. Cook pie crust according to recipe instructions. Let cool completely before adding the cream pie filling. If making your own Confectioners' sweetener, place granulated erythritol in a coffee mill and grind until a fine white powder. Do not remove lid immediately or you'll get a cloud of sweetener. Let it sit, covered for a few minutes.) 2. n a small bowl, combine heavy whipping cream or coconut cream, powdered sweetener, and Glucomannan (if using.) Beat with a hand mixer, or stand mixer, until stiff peaks form. 3. In a separate larger bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, 1/4 cup brown sugar alternative, maple flavored syrup and maple extract; beat until thoroughly blended and fluffy. Taste for sweetness, adding additional brown sugar alternative, if desired; beating thoroughly. 4. Fold the whipped cream/coconut cream mixture into the cream cheese mixture, folding only until well blended. Fold in 1 cup of chopped pecans. Spread into the baked and cooled pie crust. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight before serving. This will dissolve the brown sugar sweetener so it isn't crunchy. 5. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup chopped pecans, if desired. Servings: 10 Nutrition Facts Serving size: 1/10 of a recipe (2.8 ounces). Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. The sweeteners were not included in the nutritional analysis as they don't influence blood sugar. The crust and optional ingredients were also not not included in the recipe nutrition data as the crust you use will change the nutritional analysis. Amount Per Serving Calories 312.56 Total Fat 32.18g Saturated Fat 14.91g Cholesterol 82.5mg Sodium 154.65mg Potassium 125.14mg Total Carbohydrates 4.02g Fiber 1.05g Sugar 1.91g Protein 4.18g
