Aunt Rocky’s New Year’s Challah Bread (Low Carb, Gluten Free)

Preheat oven to 325ºF (160ºC). Generously butter two 8-inch loaf pans or one size large challah silicone form (available on Amazon).

Rough chop dried cranberries. I try to just cut them in half, not too tiny. Put in small bowl and cover with very hot water. Add liquid sweetener and stir a little. Leave to soak while you make the bread batter.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk whey protein powder, salt, baking soda, baking powder, yeast, and glucomannan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, use a hand or stand mixer to beat eggs on high speed until very fluffy. Add the sweetener and beat again.

Put butter and cream cheese in a small bowl, and warm in microwave for about 30 seconds. The butter will be mostly melted, and the cream cheese will be very soft.

Drain the cranberries, then add to the butter and cream cheese mixture along with all remaining ingredients. Beat on medium-high speed until fully incorporated.

Bake for 40 minutes. Top of bread should be golden brown and very shiny. Turn oven off and prop oven door open slightly to allow bread to cool in the oven. This should minimize any sinking. Leave in oven for at least 30 minutes, then turn bread out onto cooling rack to finish cooling.

Yields 2 loaves in 8-inch loaf pans, each cut into 16 slices 1/2-inch thick, or 1 challah loaf cut into 32 thinner slices.

Notes:
• This bread may be frozen. I bake the full recipe as two loaves, then slice them when completely cooled. One loaf gets used immediately, and the other is packaged in zip bags and frozen for later use.
• Nutrition estimates are based on My Fitness Pal’s online recipe analyzer. Brand names are included only to assure more accurate estimates. The recipe is stored on and available to MFP users for logging in their food diaries. Sugar alcohols, allulose, and liquid sucralose are not absorbed by the body and rate zero on the glycemic index, so are excluded from nutrition counts.
• For more Atkins/low carb/Keto recipes and cooking tips, look for Aunt Rocky’s Low Carb Recipes & Tips Group on Facebook, or follow me on Pinterest at auntrocky2.

Per slice: Calories 166, Total Fat 12 g, Saturated Fat 6 g, Sodium 197 mg, Potassium 19 mg, Total Carbohydrate 4 g, Dietary Fiber 2 g, Net Carbs 2 g, Sugars 3 g, Protein 11 g. Macros: 68% fat, 29% protein, 5% carbs.

© March 3, 2019 Roxana Lopez for Aunt Rocky’s. Modified from a recipe on LowCarb-NoCarb.com.