Happy Thanksgiving 2012, everyone, from all the staff at Track Your Plaque! Here’s a zesty version of traditional cranberry sauce, minus the sugar. The orange, cinnamon, and other spices, along with the crunch of walnuts, make this one of my favorite holiday side dishes.
There are 31.5 grams total “net” carbohydrates in this entire recipe, or 5.25 grams per serving (serves 6). To further reduce carbs, you can leave out the orange juice and, optionally, use more zest.
1 cup water 12 ounces fresh whole cranberries Sweetener equivalent to 1 cup sugar (I used 6 tablespoons Truvía) 1 tablespoon orange zest + juice of half an orange ½ cup chopped walnuts 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
In small to medium saucepan, bring water to boil. Turn heat down and add cranberries. Cover and cook at low-heat for 10 minutes or until all cranberries have popped. Stir in sweetener. Remove from heat.
Stir in orange zest and juice, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
Apple, cranberry, and cinnamon: the perfect combination of tastes and scents for winter holidays!
I took a bit of carbohydrate liberties with this recipe. The entire recipe yields a delicious cheesecake-like crumble with 59 “net” grams carbohydrates (total carbs – fiber); divided among 10 slices, that’s 5.9 grams net carbs per serving, a quantity most tolerate just fine. (To reduce carbohydrates, the molasses in the crumble is optional, reducing total carbohydrate by 11 grams.)
Other good choices for sweeteners include liquid stevia, stevia glycerite, powdered stevia (pure or inulin-based, not maltodextrin-based), Truvía, Swerve, and erythritol. And always taste your batter to test sweetness, since sweeteners vary in sweetness from brand to brand and your individual sensitivity to sweetness depends on how long you’ve been wheat-free. (The longer you’ve been wheat-free, the less sweetness you desire.)
Crust and crumble topping 3 cups almond meal 1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, softened 1 cup xylitol (or other sweetener equivalent to 1 cup sugar) 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon molasses 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract Dash sea salt
Filling 16 ounces cream cheese, softened 2 large eggs ½ cup xylitol (or other sweetener equivalent to ½ cup sugar) 1 Granny Smith apple (or other variety) 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup fresh cranberries
Preheat oven to 350° F.
In large bowl, combine almond meal, butter, sweetener, cinnamon, molasses, vanilla, and salt and mix.
Grease a 9½-inch tart or pie pan. Using approximately 1 cup of the almond meal mixture, form a thin bottom crust with your hands or spoon.
In another bowl, combine cream cheese, eggs, and sweetener and mix with spoon or mixer at low-speed. Pour into tart or pie pan.
Core apple and slice into very thin sections. Arrange in circles around the edge of the cream cheese mixture, working inwards. Distribute cranberries over top, then sprinkle cinnamon over entire mixture.
Gently layer remaining almond meal crumble evenly over top. Bake for 30 minutes or until topping lightly browned.
