Low-carb/No-carb pie crust?

I need a recipe for a low-carb or (preferably) no-carb pie crust.

This will be my elder grand-daughter's first thanksgiving as a diabetic, and I need to change the way I make pumpkin pie to bring the carbs/serving from 94g down to around 10-15g. (serving = 1/8 pie)

Splenda will take care of most of the carbohydrates in the filling, but a traditional flour based pie crust is still more than my target level of carbohydrates.

I've found several nut-based crust recipes that might do the trick, but will consider almost anything except the "Yogurt Crust" recipe I found.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust:
2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon Splenda
Mix all the ingredients together, them press them into a pie pan. Bake for 4 minutes at 400 degrees.

Filling:
16 ounces cream cheese
3 eggs
1 cup pumpkin (canned or fresh, cooked - not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup Splenda
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly, and pour them into the crust.

Bake at 400 degrees until set, about 15 minutes.

Makes 10 servings at about 5 grams of carbohydrates per slice.

SelenaKittyn said:

Crust:
2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon Splenda
Mix all the ingredients together, them press them into a pie pan. Bake for 4 minutes at 400 degrees.

Click to expand...

Thanks.

I'm really only looking for the crust part of the recipe and this is a different version of the other nut-based crusts I've found that sounds good -- more butter and less Splenda than the others.

While its a ton of fun to make your own pies, I would like to recommend chatila's bakery.

Its located in NH, but I believe they ship to anywhere inside the US. The pumpkin pie (including a crust) is only 50 calories, with 1.5 grams of fat, 1 g of sugar, and 7 g of carbs (per slice, which is 1/8 of a 9" pie).

Personally, I simply adore this place, and for many of their items I can't tell the difference between full fat/full sugar and their low-fat/low-sugar versions.

www.chatilasbakery.com

about the crust: does one throw the nuts into a food processor and let the fats hold 'em together? that sounds pretty tasty, i agree.

ed

silverwhisper said:

about the crust: does one throw the nuts into a food processor and let the fats hold 'em together? that sounds pretty tasty, i agree.

Click to expand...

If I understand how it is supposed to work, the sugar/Splenda and Butter carmalize to make a "peanut brittle" crust. At least that's what my one (failed) experiment with a walnut crust seemed to be turning into.

bisexplicit said:

While its a ton of fun to make your own pies, I would like to recommend chatila's bakery.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the site, it will be useful for other occasions where the "quality time" making pies with the grandkids and the family tradition are less important than the pies.

harold: ah, i see...you blind bake the crust. OK, i didn't see that at first. have you considered substituting some shortening for butter?

ed

Weird Harold said:

I need a recipe for a low-carb or (preferably) no-carb pie crust.

This will be my elder grand-daughter's first thanksgiving as a diabetic, and I need to change the way I make pumpkin pie to bring the carbs/serving from 94g down to around 10-15g. (serving = 1/8 pie)

Splenda will take care of most of the carbohydrates in the filling, but a traditional flour based pie crust is still more than my target level of carbohydrates.

I've found several nut-based crust recipes that might do the trick, but will consider almost anything except the "Yogurt Crust" recipe I found.

Click to expand...

Harold,

I have less than no clue how well this works or what it might taste like, but the reported carb-count (if true) looks about as good as it gets:


DAVETJR'S DECADENT LOW-CARB PIE CRUST

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 16 Preparation Time :0:20
Categories : 0-5G Low Carb Bakery Pastry Pie-Shells


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
2 cups fresh coconut -- shredded
3 tbsp splenda -- 5pkts
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 egg

Combine coconut with all nuts in a food processor/blender.
Run food processor until its all powdery (scrape sides when necessary).
Melt butter in microwave or on stove Add melted butter, splenda, and salt to nut mixture and mix thoroughly.
Let cool a bit and then add egg and mix again. Mold "dough" into 2 nine-inch 230mm pie .
Bake in oven at 350°F-180°C for 15 minutes or until nice and brown.
Let cool and fill with your favourite low carbohydrate filling.

CopyCarver said:

DAVETJR'S DECADENT LOW-CARB PIE CRUST

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 16 Preparation Time :0:20
Categories : 0-5G Low Carb Bakery Pastry Pie-Shells

Click to expand...

Sounds good. Now if I could just afford Macadamia nuts.

I do like the inclusion of the egg in that recipe -- presumably as a "binder" -- and will keep it mind.

silverwhisper said:

harold: ah, i see...you blind bake the crust. OK, i didn't see that at first. have you considered substituting some shortening for butter?

Click to expand...

The "butter" I use doesn't have any carbohydrates so that isn't a problem.

I need the recipes because my eldest granddaughter just developed juvenile diabetes in Sep. Fats are "free foods" for her, and she doesn't have to watch calories; she just has to eat specifc amounts of carbohydrates at specific times of the day to control her blood sugar.

What I'm hoping to find is a "rolled crust" that can be used for two-crust pies as well as for one-crust pies.

harold, i admire your diligence, man.

ed

another option to explore is not using a crust at all. Last year i made and awesome pumkin cheesecake with no crust, but you have to have a pan that the bottom drops out of.

dragon gurl, nice to see you posting here again. :>

ed

dragon_gurl said:

another option to explore is not using a crust at all. Last year i made and awesome pumkin cheesecake with no crust, but you have to have a pan that the bottom drops out of.

Click to expand...

As the elder granddaughter observed when a crust-less pie was suggested, "A pumkin custard pie without a crust is just pumpkin custard."

The experiments with various nut crusts continue. I don't think I'm going to find a viable lo-carb or no-carb roll-out crust that will work for this Thanksgiving.

Weird Harold said:

I need a recipe for a low-carb or (preferably) no-carb pie crust.

I need to change the way I make pumpkin pie to bring the carbs/serving from 94g down to around 10-15g. (serving = 1/8 pie)

Click to expand...

Must confess I never pay much attention to low-carb recipes although it would be wise at some times . But... being a cookbook addict and collector (over 300 cookbooks about almost every ingredient, country or preparation-style you can think of) I pulled out my Low-carb cookbook (Murdoch Books, Australia) for you and found this:

It is a recipe for chocolate almond tarts, serving 18, containing the following per cookie (including the filling): eggwhite 2 grams, fat 8 grams, carbs 15 grams, cholesterol 23 mg (560 kJ /135 cal)

I think you can use the base of these tarts/cookies for your pie as well.

125 grams flour
60 grams butter (icecold in cubes)
1 teaspoon of powdersugar
1 dinnerspoon of lemonjuice

If you want the rest of the recipe, let me know.

M's girl said:

Must confess I never pay much attention to low-carb recipes although it would be wise at some times . But... being a cookbook addict and collector (over 300 cookbooks about almost every ingredient, country or preparation-style you can think of) I pulled out my Low-carb cookbook (Murdoch Books, Australia) for you and found this:

It is a recipe for chocolate almond tarts, serving 18, containing the following per cookie (including the filling): eggwhite 2 grams, fat 8 grams, carbs 15 grams, cholesterol 23 mg (560 kJ /135 cal)

Click to expand...

That's still too high in carbs for what I need -- essentially I need a "free food" desert for a diabetic.

I think what I'm going to use this year is a combination of several recipes based on nuts:

1 Oz Brazil nuts (22g, 2.75g Carbs)
2 Oz Walnuts (44g, 4.4g Carbs)
1 oz Hazelnuts (22g, 3.9g Carbs)
1 Oz Cashews (22g, 5.5g Carbs)

-- Approx 2 cups of nuts when ground fine. --

1 Cup Splenda (sucrolose, 0g Carbs)

2 TBS margerine (Country Crock, 0g Carbs)

melt margerine and combine with ground nuts and Splenda, Chill until firm.

Form to nine inch pie pan in 1/8 inch thick layer.

Bake unfilled in pre-heated 400F oven for 10-15 minutes or until brown.
---
PS: All of the carbohydrates come from the nuts so there is a total of 16.5g of carbohydrates in the entire recipe -- therefore only 2 grams per serving are added to the reckoning for a 1/8th pie serving size.

Since I'll be using the recipe found on can of Libby's canned Pumpkin and substituting Heavy Cream for the Evaporated Milk, and Splenda for the Sugar, the total carbohydrates for a 1/8th pie serving is going to be down to around 6-7g of carbohydrates -- Perfect for a juvenile diabetic's dessert after having to count every gram of carbs for a Thanksgiving dinner.
----

If you substitute Sugar for the Splenda, it doesn't change much in either flavor or texture and it tastes a lot like the glaze on a german chocolate (black forest?) cake.

If you omit the brazil nuts or cashews, you need to increase the amount of margarine or butter by about 50% to compensate for the natural oils in the nuts.


I'll let everyone know how it's received as a pumpkin pie crust, but as the crust for instant chocolate pudding/pie filling, it's pretty good.

Weird Harold said:

I don't think I'm going to find a viable lo-carb or no-carb roll-out crust that will work for this Thanksgiving.

Click to expand...

Car trouble has kept me from checking it out, but I found a product online called "Carbalose" which appears to be to flour what sucralose/Splenda (tm) is to sugar. The nearest store that sells it is on the far side of the valley and too far too walk.

If it works as well as Splenda does, then I think it's the solution to my two-crust problem because it will work in a standard pastry crust recipe.

Harold, first I must thank you for this thread. I'm diabetic and sometimes during the holidays I try to forget that fact - this has been a motivator.

I just spent some time on the diabetes.org site. They have a message board and I searched for low or no carb crust. Didn't find one but, I did find something that might be worth a try. It was for a pumkin pie but the woman used cup cake pans and the 'crust' was a vanilla wafer. It could work out - I don't know the age of your granddaughter but it could make a nice presentation as well as satisfy her (and others too). I know the carb # is high on vanilla wafers (I keep looking at the label hoping those carbs will magically disappear one day) but one is doable.

With adjustments to the insulin (assuming she is on insulin) she should be able to have her indulgence.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Cathleen said:

Harold, first I must thank you for this thread. I'm diabetic and sometimes during the holidays I try to forget that fact - this has been a motivator.

I just spent some time on the diabetes.org site. They have a message board and I searched for low or no carb crust. Didn't find one but, I did find something that might be worth a try. It was for a pumkin pie but the woman used cup cake pans and the 'crust' was a vanilla wafer. It could work out - I don't know the age of your granddaughter but it could make a nice presentation as well as satisfy her (and others too). I know the carb # is high on vanilla wafers (I keep looking at the label hoping those carbs will magically disappear one day) but one is doable.

With adjustments to the insulin (assuming she is on insulin) she should be able to have her indulgence.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Click to expand...

This might be a long-shot, but what about sugar-free/diabetes-friendly cookies instead of the vanilla wafers? I bet some of them could be ground up to make a cookie crust as well.

I love pumpkin pie - filling! I purchased a bunch of custard cups and just put the filling in the cups, then bake. Takes about the same amount of time. Individual 'pies' and no crust at all.

david_42 said:

I love pumpkin pie - filling! I purchased a bunch of custard cups and just put the filling in the cups, then bake. Takes about the same amount of time. Individual 'pies' and no crust at all.

Click to expand...

Me too! And people seem to think I'm so weird for it. I make a whole batch with mostly Splenda, extra spices, and nonfat condensed milk, and bake it in a 9 x 13" pan. It's an awesome breakfast, snack, or dessert. Of course I'm not really a fan of crust in the first place, so perhaps that has something to do with it.

I just purchased a Diabetic cookbook for a friend for Christmas, so I snuck a peek in it for the recipe. Hope this helps...

Single-Crust Pie Pastry

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup very cold shortening, unsalted margarine, or butter
2 to 2-1/2 Tbs ice water

Combine ingredients. Shape dough into a ball, flatten into a 1/2 in thick round, wrap in wax paper and chill in refrigerator for 20 mins. Then roll out the dough to a 1/8 in thickness, large enough to fill your pie plate. Press dough into pie plate, removing air pockets and crimping edges as desired. Pie is ready for filling. If you are pre-baking the crust, refrigerate for 1/2 hour. Then cook in a preheated 350-degree oven for 15 to 25 mins or until browned to your taste.

Serving size: 8

Nutrition Facts:Serving size 1: Calories=130 Protein=1.7g Carbs=12g Total Fat=8.4g Sodium=123mg

Exchanges: Bread .75 Fat 1.5

Weird Harold said:

I need a recipe for a low-carb or (preferably) no-carb pie crust.

This will be my elder grand-daughter's first thanksgiving as a diabetic, and I need to change the way I make pumpkin pie to bring the carbs/serving from 94g down to around 10-15g. (serving = 1/8 pie)

Splenda will take care of most of the carbohydrates in the filling, but a traditional flour based pie crust is still more than my target level of carbohydrates.

I've found several nut-based crust recipes that might do the trick, but will consider almost anything except the "Yogurt Crust" recipe I found.

Click to expand...

Harold, try using different flours, like soy flour somthing high in protien. Now if you could make one without fat I would be happy. I can give you the weight watcher recepie for the pumpkin pie filling that is non fat and uses splenda, which by the way you can't even tell the difference. Good luck.

Cathleen said:

I don't know the age of your granddaughter but it could make a nice presentation as well as satisfy her (and others too).

Click to expand...

The elder granddaughter is 10, the one who is helping with the pies this year just turned eight on Veteran's Day.

I'm planning on making four pies this year: two traditional non-diabetic and two lo-carb pies with a mixed nut crust and lo-carb filling.

With Splenda to replace the sugar and heavy cream to replace the evaporated milk, the filing is reduce to only the carbs in the pumpkin 9g/122g or about 4% carbs. The combination should work out to about 10-12g of carbohydrates per serving. (or about the same as just the crust from AltrdStateoMine's recipe)

Cathleen said:

With adjustments to the insulin (assuming she is on insulin) she should be able to have her indulgence.

Click to expand...

The Granddaughter has only been diabetic for about six weeks, I'm not sure if she's stable enough to start adjusting her insulin very much -- she's still at the stage where she has to eat a specific amount at a specific time five or six times a day.

However, my younger daughter's husband and my ex-wife are both diabetic (non-insulin dependent) and one of the lo-carb pies and the recipe will be going home with them.

Succulent-one said:

Harold, try using different flours, like soy flour somthing high in protien. Now if you could make one without fat I would be happy. I can give you the weight watcher recepie for the pumpkin pie filling that is non fat and uses splenda, which by the way you can't even tell the difference. Good luck.

Click to expand...

In searching the web for recipes and solution, I've only found two lo-carb flours that don't seem to require any adjustments to recipes -- one is almond flour and the other is Carbalose (tm). Of the two, I'm inclined to believe the claims for carbalose over the claims for almond flour because it, like Splenda (tm) sucralose, is simply a "de-carbohydrated" version of what it replaces -- i.e wheat flour with most of the carbs removed.

If the lo-carb pies this year aren't well received, then next year I'll try a standard pastry crust using Carbalose (tm).

As for lo-fat recipes, luckily, I don't have to worry about that because I've noticed that decent lo-carb recipes tend to be higher in fats than the equivalent "normal" recipes -- i.e heavy cream to replace evaporated milk; the carbs drop to zero, but the fats double or triple.

Almond flour is the way to go. (Personally I don't eat lab foods, and that includes Splenda, which is chlorinated sugar, altered at the molecular level. Does not exist in nature. I don't know the carbo flour of which you speak, but almond flour is simply blanched, ground almonds. That I understand.)

Pie Crust recipe, from the book Grain Free Gourmet

3 cups almond flour
1/3 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
2 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Heat over to 300

Mix all ingredients together as with typical crust. flatten refrigerate, etc , youknow what to do if you already know how to make a pie crust...

bake 15 minutes