I mentioned that my packages from Quest Bars and LC Food Corp came in last week while I was traveling. What a fun surprise to come home to! I had ordered two products from LC Food Corp. A low carb bread mix, and a low carb brownie mix.
They also sent me an additional box of products to review, which was super nice. I can’t way to try them all out! LC Food Corp is currently sponsoring this blog, and they have given my readers (that’s you!) an exclusive coupon code for a free mix from their site. The coupon code is LCTRAVEL. (click that link for details)
I have several low carb dessert recipes on my list to try out, but of course the first thing I wanted to try was the low carb brownies!
I ended up making two batches. The one mix I ordered, and in the box of products to review they had sent me a second low carb brownie mix as well. When I made the first batch, I didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand. I was lacking Vanilla Extract, and the (optional) 1 oz square of unsweetened chocolate.
I improvised by adding a teaspoon of Torani Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup instead – which is what I use in my coffee. The chocolate was optional, but I wasn’t sure what to do – so I added 3 miniature Hershey’s Sugar Free Chocolate Bars (about an ounce) which I had on hand. This is how the first batch turned out:
Confession: I may not have cooked them long enough. Or it may have been my improvised ingredients. They were a little “gooey” for my taste, but I decided not to worry about cooking them longer because they were also entirely too sweet for my taste. I tried them with Philadelphia Whipped Cream Cheese as a means of cutting the sweet taste down a bit, which did help…
This being my 5th month on the Low Carb Diet, my taste buds have changed A LOT already. I do eat some sugar free candy, and I enjoy Diet Coke, but I find I consume things like that in much smaller quantities these days.
After trying the Philadelphia Whipped Cream Cheese (which is fabulous stuff, by the way!), I got the idea to try peanut butter in the next batch. I use Natural Peanut Butter which is lower in net carbs.
This time I used Pure Vanilla Extract as called for, did not add in the optional unsweetened chocolate (or any chocolate), and added in about a cup (maybe 1 1/4 cups) of Natural Peanut Butter. Since it’s a little stiff, I softened it up in the microwave first. I mixed all the ingredients, put the batter in a baking dish, then swirled in the melted peanut butter and baked it:
Obviously the net carbs in your peanut butter need to be factored into the total net carbs for this, or any other low carb dessert recipes. By my calculations, with the brand of peanut butter I used, this added about 28 net carbs – to the entire pan. I cut them small since they are very rich, so each brownie is still only around 3 net carbs total.
That did the trick! 😀 This second pan of low carb brownies was DELICIOUS. In fact, I just had it for breakfast this morning -lol. They go great with a hot cup of coffee on a Saturday morning. 😉
The peanut butter made a huge difference in cutting down the sweetness and the after taste. I also liked the consistency much better. When it comes to low carb products, sometimes you just have to play around with it to get it just right. Especially if you have personal preferences or sensitive taste buds.
If you would like to try this low carb dessert recipe, you can get the Low Carb Brownie Mix from www.HoldTheCarbs.com. Be sure to use our coupon code (LCTRAVEL) to get a free mix with your order!
Stay tuned. I’ll be sharing more fun low carb dessert recipes, and more food photos & dinner ideas from the products I received from LC Food Corp in coming posts. (I can already tell you that I really like their low carb breading mix! *grin*)
I have seen desserts like this where they “swirl” in the cream cheese and bake it right in.
Cream Cheese would be much lower carb, and a great alternative to the peanut butter. Eating the first batch with the whipped cream cheese is what gave me the idea to try that with the second batch – but I decided to go with peanut butter because I like it so much in chocolate. π
I agree with you – I received this through LC also, and just made them today. WAY too sweet, like the sweetness was used to make up for the lack of a true chocolate flavor. I liked the texture, though, and would be willing to try these again with peanut butter. Great idea!
I’m glad it wasn’t just me. I think you would enjoy them a lot more by swirling in natural peanut butter – or even cream cheese. It made a HUGE difference! I just don’t like things overly sweet anymore for one, and would prefer a “less sweet” sweet. That amount of artificial sweetener can hurt the tummy too (if you eat too many -lol).
I’ve emailed them my thoughts, and they are constantly working on improving their mixes, so they appreciate feedback like that. I look forward to trying newer versions in the future.
Next I’m going to try the low carb bread mix. Did you get anything else from them, and have you tried it yet??
They are probably overly sweet because they use 3 different sweeteners in the mix.
Stevia is a natural sweetener and so is luo han guo – a natural sweetener.
It is overkill that they also add sucralose. (a synthetic sweetener).
After years, and I mean years of researching them, I don’t touch artificial sweeteners such as sucrolose, aspartame, etc. I won’t get into why. That would take more than a post comment….lol – One good reference point is: dorway.com – Very enlightening.
Thanks for that link. I didn’t even realize there were 3 different sweeteners in these. As I mentioned above, I’ve sent them my feedback and will be interested to see if they adjust the recipe. I love the brownies, other than the fact that they’re too sweet.
Update: I received an email reply from Glen of LC Food Corp earlier today:
“Awesome feedback. I will decrease the sweet level in the Brownies for everyone..I aim to please. Will be traveling and when back will address this. The newest version has less sweet, and is delicious form the initial feedback. No after taste.”
I’m excited to try this next version of the mix π
Tried these last night with Peanut Butter. I love these brownies for a treat.
I think the texture is just a bit different than regular brownies but not enough to complain. π
I did have a tiny aftertaste and would like this mix with less sweeteners as suggested above. I can add in more Stevia if I really need more “sweet”.
I found it funny (and a bit odd) that one brownie about 2 ” square was plenty satisfying. In my previous life only a half plan would do. LOL
Also – look at the portion qty listed on the package. Cracked me up! 25 Portions? @ 1 1/2″ square? From a 9 x 9 pan? I don’t think it’s possible. Even with the added peanut butter.
The peanut butter addition was brilliant – BTW.
Thank you π I agree – it really made the difference! I look forward to the next batch with less sweetener too. I really liked the texture – more so with the peanut butter batch, and like you found that it didn’t take much to satisfy my sweet tooth!