Low-Carb Custard Cream Puffs

Custard-filled cream puffs were always a favorite of mine growing up. The tricky thing about cream puffs is getting them to actually be puffy and air-filled, which was almost impossible using a standard recipe and swapping out normal flour for low-carb flours. I finally came up with the following recipe by using whey protein and beating the egg whites before putting them into the pastry dough. I also chose to dip mine in 88% dark chocolate, which was the perfect touch!

Ingredients for Pastry Dough:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup water
1 cup whey protein (I used vanilla whey from Costco)
1/2 cup oat fiber
4 egg whites (approximately 120 g if using boxed eggs whites)
1 tsp lemon juice
Low-carb chocolate for dipping (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Put the butter and water in a saucepan. Once the butter is melted and the mixture boils, lower the heat and add the whey protein and oat fiber gradually until combined. Set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, beat together the egg whites and lemon juice until stiff peaks form. Add eggs to the cooled mixture. Pipe into puffs and bake for 30-40 minutes. Once baked, cut a small "x" in the bottom of each puff to let the steam out. Allow them to cool completely. 

Ingredients for Custard Cream:
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tbsp whey protein
1/8 cup erythritol
3 egg yolks
1/2 tbsp oat fiber
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp powdered erythritol

Combine the almond milk, whey, erythritol, egg yolks, and oat fiber in a saucepan over medium heat. Mix regularly until the ingredients begin to firm. Immediately refrigerate and let the mixture chill. In a separate bowl, beat together the heavy whipping cream and powdered erythritol until stiff. Add to the chilled custard mixture. Use a piping tool to fill the puffs with custard. I didn't have mine available, so I just used a squeeze bottle!

Once filled, dip the puffs in chocolate and set aside to cool. Enjoy!

This recipe makes approximately 20 cream puffs with the following nutritional information (includes low-sugar chocolate):

106 calories
9 g fat
5 g carbs
4 g fiber
1 g net carbs
​5 g protein