KETO SUGAR FREE MINI SNICKER ICE CREAM BARS

Keto Sugar Free Mini Snicker Ice Cream Bars. 0.4g carbs. Incredibly moreish and impossible to resist!

Three distinct elements to make. Then there’s the cooling. And finally the assembling. Nothing complicated, but a temporary departure from the super quick recipes you’re used to expecting from my blog. You see, occasionally, something extra-ordinary needs to happen. And these Keto Sugar Free Mini Snicker Ice Cream Bars are not just extra-ordinary. They are truly special. 

So. Prepare to spend some time in the kitchen. Most of it will involve weighing, mixing, pouring and spreading. In the end, however, you’ll have a stash of delicious, healthy, guilt-free morsels in the freezer.

Peanuts? On Keto? 

I often get asked if this or that ingredient is allowed on keto. Let me clear this issue once and for all. The ketogenic lifestyle is all about functioning on ketones rather than glucose. As long as you keep carbs to a minimum and you produce ketones, there are no foods that are ‘not allowed’. That said, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that some foods are definitely out of the question, like potatoes, or wheat. Aside from being nutritionally poor, they contain so many carbs that the tiniest amount would instantly put you out of ketosis. 

Peanuts are generally found in the ‘What Not to Eat on Keto’ lists. Probably because they’re not actually nuts. They’re the seeds of a legume. And legumes tend to be high in carbs. However, why should you care what they are? Legumes have amazing health profiles! If you’re sticking to small quantities and you’re within your macros, what’s the harm?

Aside from being a legume and therefore unfairly demonised, some packaged peanuts are high in carbs because of additives, fillers and flavourings used in their processing. Others, like the ones I buy, contain 5g carbs per 100g. Say I eat 20 of them as a snack. That’s just 1g carb. How is that not keto? 

What you’ll need to make Keto Sugar Free Mini Snicker Ice Cream Bars

Chocolate, whey protein, almond flour, peanuts, vanilla, butter, cream and sweeteners. All standard items in the keto kitchen. But there’s also something I’ve only just added to my food cupboards: MCT oil. Let me explain why I’ve started to use it and why. If you don’t have any, use coconut oil, by all means, but I urge you to read on first….

You’ll also need chocolate moulds. I got 24 mini snicker bars out of mine (13ml each). How many you create will obviously depend on the size of moulds you have. Because of this variable, I thought it would be helpful to give you the total macros for the recipe, as well as individual portion (one 13ml size) macros. Simply divide those total figures by the number of actual bars you create.

My MCT Oil v Coconut Oil TEST

You’ve heard of it. But what exactly is it? And why do so many ketoers, low-carbers, athletes and bodybuilders swear by it? MCT stands for Medium Chain Tryglicerides. These are fatty acids extracted from a variety of sources, usually palm oil (not an option I would ever consider) or coconut oil (yes please). MCT Oil is considered a good source of energy that’s easy to metabolise. It has also been linked to potential weight loss. From a keto perspective, any good fat is a winner, but if it’s also highly ketogenic than it becomes a superstar.

Question is: Does MCT Oil increase ketogenesis? Or is it just money-making marketing nonsense?

Well, I happened to receive an unexpected sample of MCT Oil in the post a few weeks ago. I’d never used MCT Oil before then. But having read about it being x-times better at ketogenesis than coconut oil, I felt compelled to give it a try. The sceptic in me, however, needed to carry out a wee test first.

I am a coffee addict who drinks 8 Rocket Coffees a day. These coffees contain coconut oil. The test I devised was fairly simple.  For one week, I checked my ketones 30 minutes after each rocket coffee I drank, recording each reading. Then I repeated the exercise but using MCT Oil instead of coconut oil. Much to my surprise, the difference in ketones was huge. It varied from day to day, but it definitely made a big difference.

It wasn’t a scientific test by any means. I didn’t check my weight or my metabolic profile, as to do that would have meant also monitoring my food intake with military precision (ain’t nobody got time for that!). Non-scientific approach aside, my home-test definitely showed that with the MCT Oil I used (U.S. link HERE) my ketone levels were a lot higher. And that’s good enough for me.

Enjoy!

KETO SUGAR FREE MINI SNICKER ICE CREAM BARS

 

Author: Antya

Nutrition

• Yield: 24

• Serving: 1
• Calories: 110

• Fat: 11g
• Net Carbs: 0.4g
• Protein: 1.5g

Recipe type: Ice Creams and Ices

Cuisine: Ketogenic. Sugar Free. LCHF. Low Carb. Grain Free. Gluten Free.

Prep time:  90 mins

Cook time:  45 mins

Total time:  2 hours 15 mins

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Incredibly healthy and delicious ice cream morsels that taste just like Snicker Ice Cream Bars. Impossible to resist.

Ingredients

For the chocolate layer:

• 50g unsweetened dark chocolate (I used Montezuma's 100% Absolute Black - click HERE for U.S. option)
• 15g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 15g MCT oil (U.S. option HERE) or coconut oil (U.S. option HERE)
• 5 drops vanilla extract (for US. option click HERE) (or Make your Own)
• ½ tsp pure stevia powder (click HERE for U.S. option)
• 25g double cream

For the creamy layer:

• 100g double cream
• 1 tbsp (7g) vanilla whey protein (U.S.option HERE)
• ¾ tbsp (6g) extra fine almond flour (for U.S. option click HERE)
• 2 tsp (7g) Sukrin icing 'sugar' (U.S. alternative HERE) (or Make your Own)

For the peanut caramel layer:

• 250g double cream
• 10g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (for US. option click HERE) (or Make your Own)
• 2 tbsp (30g) erythritol (for U.S. option click HERE)
• 15 drops caramel flavour liquid stevia (U.S. option HERE)
• 40g roasted and salted peanuts (crushed)

Instructions

To make the chocolate layer:

1. place chocolate moulds in the freezer.
2. melt chocolate over a bain-marie (water bath) or in the microwave (600W - check every 30 secs, stir, repeat).
3. add stevia, then butter, stirring until completely melted.
4. incorporate MCT oil and vanilla extract.
5. finally, add double cream and stir vigorously until dense and shining.
6. spread it evenly on the bottom and up the sides of your chocolate moulds (I used the handle of a small teaspoon). Spare some chocolate to cover the tops later.
7. put moulds back in the freezer.

To make the creamy layer:

1. using a blender(U.S. option HERE) or Nutribullet (U.S. option HERE), blitz all ingredients for 30 seconds; pause and repeat twice more; you want a light, airy mixture.
2. remove moulds from the freezer and fill with creamy mixture up to ½ height.
3. put back in the freezer.

To make the peanut caramel layer:

1. put cream, butter, vanilla extract and erythritol in a small, heavy base saucepan; whisk and bring to the boil over medium heat.
2. as soon as boiling point is reached, lower temperature to minimum and simmer gently for 30 minutes, whisking from time to time and keeping an eye on it.
3. as soon as the caramel mix starts to thicken, whisk almost continuously for another 10 minutes - it will burn on the bottom of the pan very quickly if you don't keep whisking.
4. once the caramel has assumed a rich golden colour and become quite thick, remove from heat, transfer to a small mixing bowl, add caramel flavoured stevia and keep whisking to cool it down (for reference, it will have reduced to 140g weight at this point); finally, stir in crushed peanuts.
5. remove chocolate moulds from the freezer and fill remaining space with the caramel peanut mix, pressing and flattening.
6. put back in the freezer to set for 30 minutes.
7. stir remaining chocolate mix and spread over the top of the frozen peanut caramel layer (a small, flexible spatula works best).
8. place in the freezer again for at least 1 hour before removing ice cream bites from their moulds and storing them in a sealed container in the freezer.

Notes

Best removed from freezer and left at room temperature for 5 minutes before serving.

I had 40g chocolate mix left over, so macros for the entire recipe are: Kcals 2640; C 12g; P 36g; F 264g.

If you use up all the (Montezuma's) chocolate, macros work out as follows: Kcals 2694; C 13.7g; P 38g; F 274g.

The macros given at the top of the recipe reflect that I made 24 mini snicker bars (13ml each).

Metric kitchen scales are an inexpensive yet invaluable gadget to enable accurate measurement of ingredients. Store them upright in a cupboard or over your worktop and they'll only take up a tiny bit of space. Click HERE for the ones I use. U.S. option HERE.

3.5.3251

Your feedback matters to me! Please leave a comment below. If you try this recipe, you’ll make my day by sharing a photo on social media with the hashtag #queenketo. Thank you! 🙂