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Fat Head Pizza (Low carb, Gluten free)

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FatHead (12)

This low carb pizza was given its name from the movie Fat Head, which is well worth a watch if you’re interested in the food industry. You can find the original recipe here. This pizza has quickly become one of the favourite pizzas of many a low-carber. My friend Helen recently posted her version of the Fat Head recipe.

Most often I will make a double-batch pizza, as I did today on a 12″ pizza tray, therefore I would double the ingredients you see below.

NOTE: This article might have been posted on 1st April but this pizza is no April Fools’ Day joke.

Carbs, carbs, carbs

With the right ingredients this should work out at roughly 20g carbohydrates for the WHOLE PIZZA, then add carbs for whatever toppings you’re using.
At a push I could eat one whole pizza, but two-thirds is more my portion-size (and I can eat a lot of pizza) as this is really filling.
But hold on…there’s a lot of protein which may raise your glucose levels…and fat too? If you have Type 1 Diabetes you might need to bolus accordingly for fat and protein.

The ingredients

FatHead (1)

For a single pizza
175g grated mozzarella
75g almond flour
35g cream cheese / Philadelphia
pinch salt
1 egg
passata
grated cheddar
and lots of toppings
For a double 12″ pizza, like I made today
350g grated mozzarella
150g almond flour
35g cream cheese / Philadelphia
pinch garlic salt
2 eggs
passata
grated cheddar
and lots of toppings: 2 chillies, 1 pepper, 6 slices pepperoni, 2 rashers bacon, 3 small mushrooms, teaspoon of fajita seasoning

Step 1 – Mix

FatHead (2)Put the mozzarella, almond flour and (garlic) salt in a large microwavable bowl and mix thoroughly.
If you’re using cream cheese – I don’t tend to – then add it in now.

Step 2 – Nuke

FatHead (3)Microwave in 30 second increments until the cheese is stringy (see right).
For a double batch like the one featured here it took 3 minutes in total to melt the cheese.

Step 3 – Mix in egg(s)

FatHead (4)Break an egg into the mixture – or two if you’re doing a double batch as I did today.
Whisk egg(s) up with a fork and fold in to the mixture.
It will seem like the egg will never get soaked up but it will, just keep going.

Step 4 – Prepare base

FatHead (5)Grease a pizza tray.
No greasing makes for a destroyed pizza when you try and remove it!

Step 5 – Edge to edge

FatHead (6)With wet hands flatten the mixture out, trying to keep its thickness the same throughout.
Use a fork to prick small holes all over the pizza base. Don’t forget to do this!
Place in oven for 15 minutes at 200C (fan).

Step 6 – Prepare the toppings

FatHead (7)Whilst the base is in the oven prepare your toppings.
We’ve had some great conconctions over the years but tonight I opted for a spicy bacon and pepperoni, made up of chillies, green pepper, mushrooms, pepperoni and bacon.

Step 7 – Remove pizza base and curse

FatHead (8)After 15 minutes take the base out of the oven…and then curse yourself if you – like me today – forgot to prick the base in Step 5. If you did forget then expect to see a raised bubble or two, as in the picture; use a fork now to prick the base to get the air out.

Step 8 – Make your pizza

FatHead (9)Spread passata thinly over the base then add your toppings.
Grate some cheese over all the toppings so it melts them all together.
Bearing in mind this whole pizza is made of cheese you may wish to not go overboard at this stage.

Step 9 – Bake your pizza

FatHead (10)Put the pizza in the oven at the same temperature as before.
Depending on your toppings it shouldn’t take long, I did tonight’s for just under 10 minutes.

Step 10 – Check and remove

FatHead (11)When your pizza is done, remove it from the oven and raise the corners of your lips towards your ears. Good job.

Step 11 – Eat

FatHead (12)Enjoy.

Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake (Low Carb, Gluten Free)

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I’m no chef so have never really thought of putting any recipes on this site but I’ve made this dozens of times and many have asked for the recipe so it made sense putting it up on Circles of Blue. I’ve also been spurred on by the recent blog by Helen of the low carb Fat Head Pizza recipe I’ve been making for years, maybe I’ll put up my version next.

Being Easter this cheesecake had to feature Cadbury’s Mini Egg per slice, raising its carb content but well worth it.
10-easter cheesecake

First things first, always make sure you’ve got the right ingredients, don’t do as I did. I’d also say that this cheesecake is a great base and regularly we will add fruit toppings to it, although to keep the carb content down single cream is a perfect addition.
This Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake recipe was developed by Carolyn from All Day I Dream About Food, an excellent site for all things Low Carb. Here’s the original recipe.

Carbs, carbs, carbs

With the right ingredients this should work out at roughly 4g carbohydrates per slice (according to the original recipe).
My version above with its incorrect ingredients and toppings was more like 8g.

The ingredients

1-cheesecake ingredients

Chocolate Brownie base:
90g butter
60g unsweetened or dark chocolate
40g almond flour
15g cocoa powder
70g of erythritol sweetener
2 large eggs
dash of vanilla essence
(optional) 40g of chopped pecans or hazelnuts
(optional) pinch of salt
Cheesecake filling:
454g Philadelphia/cream-cheese
60g erythritol sweetener
45g double cream – Elmlea works fine
2 large eggs
dash of vanilla essence

Ingredients options

2-use the correct chocolateIf only I’d checked the cupboards before deciding to make this cheesecake I would have noticed my stash of unsweetened or plain chocolate had disappeared. So a higher-carb substitute had to be used. In theory the darker the chocolate the less you have to use so darker is better in my opinion.
The use of salt is optional, I don’t think it makes much difference.
The use of nuts is optional, I quite like the added texture for the base but it can change the flavour substantially and Amy prefers it without.

Preparing the base

3-cheesecake base mixtureFirst, switch the oven on to 160C (fan) (325F, Gas mark 4).
In a microwave melt the chocolate for 15 seconds until it softens slightly, then add butter and microwave for a few more seconds until you can mix them together easily.
In a separate bowl mix the almond flour, cocoa powder and salt.
In a large bowl beat eggs, then add the erythritol and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
Mix in the almond/cocoa mixture, then the chocolate mixture, then add the nuts (if you want to).

Baking the base

4-base ready to bakeTurn the mixture into a greased 9 inch springform pan.
Shake the pan to get the mixture flat.
Bake for 15 minutes whilst you make up the topping.

Mixing up the topping

5-cheesecake top mixedIn a large bowl mix up the cream cheese until smooth.
Add beaten eggs, or do what I do and push the cream cheese to one side of the bowl and beat the eggs in the other.
Mix throughly the cream cheese and eggs, add in erythritol, cream and vanilla.

A baked base

6-base bakedAfter 15 minutes the base should look like this.
Reduce the oven to 140C (fan) (300F, Gas mark 4)
Let the base cool for 15 minutes.

Putting it all together

7-cheesecake ready to bakeSpoon the filling onto the base and shake pan to even it out.
Place in oven for 35 minutes.

All baked

8-cheesecake bakedAfter 35 minutes the topping should move slightly when you give the pan a slight shake. If it moves a lot put it back in the oven.
Note that the top isn’t flat but it will sink back down.

A finished cheesecake

9-cheesecake finishedRemove from oven and let cool.
Run a knife around the pan to loosen the edge.
Remove pan sides.
Cool in fridge for a couple of hours.

An Easter version

9-cheesecake finishedJust to make this one slightly more suitable for Easter I added one Cadbury’s Mini Egg, adding a whopping 2g carbs to each slice. It had the added bonus of making sure the slices were cut up evenly.