Lemon Keto Muffins

Easter - Urgh

My family likes to celebrate easter with chocolate and, taking my standard approach to such things, I ate a lot of chocolate. Far too much chocolate. After at least two big lindt chocolate bunnies and countless eggs, mini-eggs, cakes and other things, I ended up not only crashing, but feverish. My girlfriend seemed genuinely concerned at one point as I crawled into bed, barely able to even speak.

Now, I'm not going to launch into an onslaught against sugar, citing this experience as proof that it should be eliminated; this was not a normal amount of sugar by standard-western-diet numbers - this was hundreds of grams of simple sugar over the space of a couple of hours.

New Job

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been getting to grips with my new job in a neighbouring city. I don't drive, so the only way to get there is by two hours of train and two hours of walking every day.
It's working out; the job is good, and I've even been able to retain some kind of social life. Keto has made this possible, as it requires I get by on between 4 and 6 hours of sleep per night - something I can't do on a standard diet whilst still being functional throughout the day.

Before long, I'll be able to move to the city and end this 04:40-to-? waking schedule, giving me more time to focus on training and enjoying myself.

Recipe - Lemon Keto Muffins

So back on the keto train I go; I'm feeling better already after a couple of these:

This recipe originally made 5 muffins.

Filling

• 150ml Double Cream
• 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum
• 2 tbsp Truvia/Erythritol
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp Lemon Extract
• 1 tsp Yellow Food Colouring

Mix everything together except for the xanthan gum, with a hand mixer.
Add in the xanthan gum very slowly, stopping when the mixture starts to form stiff peaks, a bit like toothpaste. 1/4 tsp may be too much, stop when the consistency is correct.

Put it in the fridge.

Muffin Part

• 1 Cup Ground Almonds
• 1 Tbsp Unflavoured Whey Protein
• 1 Tbsp Flax Meal
• 1 Tbsp Truvia/Erythritol
• 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Tsp Vanilla extract
• 3 Tbsp Unsweetened Almond Milk

Preheat the oven and muffin tray to 160 degrees C (320 F).
Whisk everything together except for the almond milk, adding it in slowly afterwards until a thick, yet flowing 'goop' is achieved (the kind that will run into a muffin pan, but needs some scooping to get the last out of the mixing bowl).

As with the xanthan gum, 3 tbsp of almond milk is a guide, and you may need slightly less/more.

Split the mixture evenly between the muffin tray holes (I made five).

Bake in the oven until the top is slightly browned and a knife can be stabbed through the middle of the biggest muffin and pulled out with no goop left on the blade. This took around 15 minutes in my oven.

Pull the tray out of the oven, cut into halves and leave to cool on a wire rack.

After about 10 minutes, you should be able sandwich a big lump of filling between the two muffin-halves. If the filling starts to run, scrape it back into the bowl and mix it again with a tiny(TINY) bit more xanthan gum to get it thicker.

And that's it. I personally think they're better after an hour sitting in the fridge.

Suggestions or stories all welcome in the comments section.

Ciao.