pstrany

Hi;

I'm looking for a recipe for making hard icing for cookies without sugar - similar in appearance and taste to what is normally made with powdered sugar and butter. I'm not interested in using Splenda, or similar - my body metabolizes that stuff just like sugar. Would prefer a stevia or lo han base.

I make cookies with almond flour (wheat flour is way too high in high GI carbs for me) and am looking to add a little variety to my usual fare.....

Paul

Shanny

You want this to crust over after it sets awhile though, right? You could use cream cheese & sweeten it with your product of choice, but it would stay soft . . . cream cheese makes marvelous icing though!

Let me think about this a little longer, Paul! Haven't been diabetic long enough to have encountered this situation!

Welcome to our forums . . . I hope you'll visit us often & get better acquainted.

pstrany

Hi Shanny;

Thanks for the reply. I'd thought about cream cheese, but as you point out it doesn't set up.

I'm trying to recreate something akin to a moon cookie or similar. I haven't really experimented much, I'd tried a Lohan/cocoa combination, but I'm having trouble finding a good binder. I'm awaiting a shipment of cocoa butter, I thought that might help to bind it (cocoa butter is solid at room temperature.)

I've been diabetic 10 years, the challenge over time is keeping focus (hence the cookies. Gotta keep it interesting!) Still managing without meds (though I do use hebals) and I want to keep it that way, but need to keep the fun in life as well.......

Paul

Shanny

Surely we can trust you to share your results with all us cookie monsters, right?!

Cocoa butter sounds like a good idea . . . I'll poke around & see if I find anything else of interest too.

Stay in touch!

pstrany

Hi Shanny;

made a small batch of icing tonight using Cocoa and Lohan, with coconut oil as a binder. Worked very well, though (of course!) it had some very strong coconut tones. I'm thinking that cocoa butter should be the perfect binder, given the results I achieved tonight.

I'd actually made a batch of cookies tonight, and I set one aside to ice with the icing. Probably would have worked better if I'd actually let it cool completely, but painted it with the icing and popped it in the freezer for a few minutes, and it was, well, excellent! A tiny bit grainy, but then that could have been the cocoa powder I used too.

This opens up a whole range of possibilities.......


Paul

Shanny

I was remembering that my mom used to make a lot of seven-minute frostings, which I guess are mainly sweetened egg whites whipped while they're cooking in a double boiler? I remember it becoming dry & crusted over on her cakes, but it wasn't at all like butter frosting & I don't think I ever heard of it being used on cookies.

Just stream-of-consciousness thinking here . . . don't mind me . . .

pstrany

Hi Shanny;

I'll have to try that - with revisions, of course. The recipes I found for seven-minute icing generally call for egg whites, sugar (uh-oh!) corn syrup (uh-oh!) and vanilla - sound right? Some also call for cream of tartar (not sure what that is for.) guess I can substitute Lohan for the sugar and corn syrup, that should render this pretty diabetic-safe.

Actually, the seven-minute icing sounds almost like a meringue? The question I have is does the sugar add a quality to the icing that Lohan will not? I'll try it out and report back.

Paul

Shanny

Of course! Meringue is exactly what it is! lol! Much sweeter & glossier, but still a meringue.

Good luck with it - I just remember that as a child I didn't think much of it because it wasn't buttery like "regular" icing!

Honey Crystals

You can just try organic honey crystal as a sugar substitute in your icing. I'm sure it taste sweet like sugar and it is naturally organic and good health benefit from you.

pstrany

I can't go anywhere near honey. Even as a child, honey always made me slightly ill - I suspect I have problems metabolizing that type of sugar. Maple syrup had the same effect - though I dearly loved it. Of course, that is just me - others may have much better success with that.

Well, I tried to make a chocolate egg white icing, and no joy - just made a soggy mess. I tried the cream cheese icing with much better result. Very nice, actually! I made a cake out of almond flour, coconut oil and eggs (with cocoa, Lohan and vanilla) and used the cream cheese icing on it - really great stuff, and low impact on blood sugar (at least for me.)

Paul