# Pastry..



## WifeyLK (Nov 30, 2016)

Hi Everyone, 
My husband has Type 1 Diabetes. He is 31 and was only diagnosed about 2 years ago. He is doing incredibly well and has adapted amazingly  

I usually make my own mince pies and would really like to make some low-carb versions. The last couple of years I've made some with no lid just to reduce the carbs a bit, but I have been looking into using low-carb almond flour. 

I have been having a look online and I am struggling a bit to find a suitable recipe for using almond flour in pastry. I was hoping to just substitute the plain flour, but it doesn't seem that easy! 

So of course I can experiment a little, but I wondered if there was anyone to had any advice with using almond flour?

Thanks in advance!


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## grovesy (Nov 30, 2016)

Welcome.
Sorry can't help with your query but there are some members that use almond flour.


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## Martin Canty (Nov 30, 2016)

Welcome to the group,

I think there was some discussion about almond flour a while ago..... Check the search engine at the top right of the screen


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## Martin Canty (Nov 30, 2016)

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/posts/597677/


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## ChrisSamsDad (Nov 30, 2016)

I sometimes make small filo parcels of mincemeat, which only has a tiny amount of pastry, if that helps?


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## Radders (Nov 30, 2016)

I would be very interested in how to make the mincemeat low carb as I suspect a very large proportion of the carbs in a mince pie come from the filling?


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## grovesy (Nov 30, 2016)

I would have thought it would probably difficult as it mainly dried fruit .


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## ChrisSamsDad (Nov 30, 2016)

Well, it's carbs, but it's fructose, so won't spike your BG, as fructose doesn't get turned straight into Glucose like other carbs, but goes to your liver. We make our own each year and this time we're trying it with dates instead of the brown sugar. It's quite easy just mix up dried fruit with apples and suet. Delia's recipe is great. http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/british/home-made-christmas-mincemeat


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## Radders (Nov 30, 2016)

ChrisSamsDad said:


> Well, it's carbs, but it's fructose, so won't spike your BG, as fructose doesn't get turned straight into Glucose like other carbs, but goes to your liver. We make our own each year and this time we're trying it with dates instead of the brown sugar. It's quite easy just mix up dried fruit with apples and suet. Delia's recipe is great. http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/british/home-made-christmas-mincemeat


Interesting. Fructose definitely spikes me. A lunchtime apple has to be followed by an immediate brisk walk round the block to avoid a significant spike, and I have used fruit juice and dried fruit as hypo treatments!


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## Robin (Nov 30, 2016)

Radders said:


> Interesting. Fructose definitely spikes me. A lunchtime apple has to be followed by an immediate brisk walk round the block to avoid a significant spike, and I have used fruit juice and dried fruit as hypo treatments!


Me too, I use grapes to raise blood sugar if I'm a bit on the low side ( though never for a true hypo)


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## grovesy (Nov 30, 2016)

ChrisSamsDad said:


> Well, it's carbs, but it's fructose, so won't spike your BG, as fructose doesn't get turned straight into Glucose like other carbs, but goes to your liver. We make our own each year and this time we're trying it with dates instead of the brown sugar. It's quite easy just mix up dried fruit with apples and suet. Delia's recipe is great. http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/british/home-made-christmas-mincemeat


A lot of people find dried fruit spikes.


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## trophywench (Dec 1, 2016)

Dried fruit definitely increases a diabetics BG - the body deals with fructose exactly the same as it does the carbs in bread.  As carbs - end of flippin story - and to suggest that it bypasses the 'normal' way of dealing with any carb - is fooling yourself cos nobody else is likely to be fooled !


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## trophywench (Dec 1, 2016)

I response to the OP - I don't think you CAN use ground almonds in pastry - anything you put them in, requires more 9wetting'  - so in eg cake, along with the eggs you also usually put a decent amount of eg natural yoghurt too.  But if you use too much 'wet' in pastry - it's like hard tack once it's baked, and just nasty.

I think the filo parcels are about the best idea actually - but the mincemeat is far worse for my BG than the pastry, actually.  You might try soaking some dried fruit just in warm water to rehydrate it then leaving it to drain in a sieve for a few hours so it's as dry as poss, then adding some nutmeg and cinnamon and just putting a spoonful of it inside the parcels - that way you wouldn't get the sweet 'goo' that surrounds all the fruit in actual mincemeat from the apple which is what usually draws out some of the sugar and turns itself into a syrup.  You wouldn't need the suet either!


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## Martin Canty (Dec 1, 2016)

trophywench said:


> I don't think you CAN use ground almonds in pastry


I wish I'd read this before I made tonight's salmon quiche...... Better call the dentist for emergency treatment


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## KookyCat (Dec 1, 2016)

Hi Wifey

You could try the recipe below.  I made them last year and they went down a storm.  You'd have to work carb values out manually (I adjusted the mincemeat quite a bit because I'm terrible for tinkering).  I use their almond pastry recipe a lot, it works very well but I'd schedule a practice run because it's hard to work with (abandon the notion of rolling is my advice and consider it more like clay but very tasty clay!).  I don't sweeten pastry never have so I use their traditional pastry recipe without the maple syrup.  I don't really bake with a view to making it low carb I just like my food to have nutritional value, so there are probably lower carb options available on some of the websites that encourage paleo or LCHF etc.  I have fun at Christmas catering for me, 2 people with Coeliacs, one with Crohns, and one with enough allergies to sink a ship (although thankfully not nuts) oh and a Vegan (vegan mince pies have eluded me, but I made mince pie ice cream with tofu which was apparently delicious) 

http://www.hemsleyandhemsley.com/mini-mince-pies/

Happy baking


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## Mark Parrott (Dec 1, 2016)

I found a recipe for low carb mince pies, though they are not really mince pies.  They use apples & cranberries as the filling with all the Christmas spices added.  As for pastry, most low csrb recipes use a combination of almond & coconut flour.  And as for fructose not raising blood sugar, dream on.


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## ChrisSamsDad (Dec 1, 2016)

Mark Parrott said:


> I found a recipe for low carb mince pies, though they are not really mince pies.  They use apples & cranberries as the filling with all the Christmas spices added.  As for pastry, most low csrb recipes use a combination of almond & coconut flour.  And as for fructose not raising blood sugar, dream on.


Am I really alone in finding fructose doesn't raise by BG by very much?


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## Mark Parrott (Dec 1, 2016)

ChrisSamsDad said:


> Am I really alone in finding fructose doesn't raise by BG by very much?


This goes to show that we are all different.


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## ChrisSamsDad (Dec 1, 2016)

Mark Parrott said:


> This goes to show that we are all different.


Hey, you might all be different, but I'm not


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## WifeyLK (Dec 1, 2016)

Wow, thanks for all the replies! I did do a calculation of carbs in the mincemeat (I don't have it to hand) although this calculation was done manually and when we were relatively new to T1D so I will revisit it. 

Was just looking at it from all angles really to have the lowest possible carbs I could do for him - he'll still probably only have 1 or 2 (out of a batch). 

I feel your pain KookyCat - my son has cystic fibrosis so his dietary requirements are generally the opposite (high calorie/fat/salt!) 

I'm thinking filo will be the way to go. I actually had a filo mince pie recently and the texture was really nice. 

Thanks everyone - I will let you know how I get on!


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## Martin Canty (Dec 1, 2016)

The almond flour pastry was actually very good, unfortunately somewhat fragile & my lovely quiche slices were not as esthetically pleasing as I would have liked....


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## Annette (Dec 1, 2016)

Martin Canty said:


> The almond flour pastry was actually very good, unfortunately somewhat fragile & my lovely quiche slices were not as esthetically pleasing as I would have liked....


Your stomach doesnt care what they look like


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## trophywench (Dec 1, 2016)

No absolutely!   I'll have a go at Kooky's recipe - ISTR my mum's shortbread recipe with had a third flour and the rest was ground rice - that was cooked in either a 7" by 7" square tin or a round Victoria sandwich one, you squeezed it into a lump in the mixing bowl, dolloped into the tin and squished it out to the edges and into the corners in as flat a layer as poss with your hand.  You had to markout the fingers or Petticoat tails asap after it came out of the oven - then LEAVE it in the tin to cool.    Purgatory for kids LOL


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## Radders (Dec 1, 2016)

Last year we bought the miniature mince pies from Sainsbury's- limiting the damage but still enjoying the treat!


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