I have to tell you, baking these mini loaves was quite an unexpected adventure. Everything was going just fine when I mixed them up and put them in the oven and I had no reason to suspect that they would lead to such chaos. It was a Friday night, the kids were just getting ready for bed, and I was looking forward to having a slice of Cranberry Lime Bread in the morning when my husband noticed that the oven was smoking a lot. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why. The loaves hadn’t spilled over their pans, but there was some sort of greasy residue on the bottom of the oven that was smoking like crazy.
Knowing the smoke detectors in our house are quite sensitive, we rushed around opening all the windows and doors. Too late! Since they are hard-wired, every single detector went off together, allowing us no respite from the piercing beeps. My kids went outside to get away from it and my husband and I scrambled to air out the house. But it wouldn’t stop. Even after all the smoke had cleared, the shrieking noise kept on until we felt like we were going to go mad. I rushed down to the basement and pulled the circuit breaker and they STILL didn’t stop. I turned off all of the electricity in the house and they STILL didn’t stop. I knew something had to be wrong.
Finally, we called the fire department, thinking they might have some idea how to shut the system down. We figured they’d send over a single car, but to my children’s delight, and that of the neighbors’ children as well, a huge firetruck with lights flashing and four rugged firemen got out. It didn’t take them long to discover the source of the problem. One of the detectors had malfunctioned, and since they are all hard-wired together, it set them all off. And these are the kind that don’t turn off when you take out the battery. They had to disengage the whole system to get the horrible noise to stop. And what a relief it was when it finally did.
It wasn’t until I thought back on what I had cooked and baked recently that I figured out the culprit. Remember the Mini Maple Pumpkin Cheesecakes? Yes, well, I didn’t think to put a pan under them and it seems that a great deal of oil leached out and dripped to the bottom of the oven. Thankfully, the Mini Cranberry Lime Loaves turned out beautifully despite all the excitement. And I enjoyed a slice with my morning coffee…in sweet, beautiful, blessed silence!
Mini Cranberry Lime Loaves – Low Carb and Gluten-Free
Ingredients
Loaves:
- 3 cups almond flour
- 1/3 cup unflavoured whey protein powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener or granulated erythritol
- 3 large eggs
- 20 drops stevia extract
- 2 tbsp lime zest
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 cup cranberries chopped
Glaze:
- 1/2 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener or powdered erythritol
- 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
Instructions
For the loaves:
- Preheat oven to 325F and butter 4 mini loaf pans very well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, protein powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat butter until smooth. Add granulated Swerve and beat until lighter and well-combined, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at time, scraping down beaters and sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Beat in stevia extract and lime zest.
- Beat in half of the almond flour mixture, then beat in lime juice. Beat in remaining almond flour mixture until well combined.
- Stir in chopped cranberries and divide among prepared pans.
- Bake 30 minutes, or until top is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 5 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
For the glaze:
- Combine powdered Swerve and lime juice in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Drizzle over cooled loaves.
bilena says
Are you using fresh or dried cranberries in the Mini Cranberry Lime Loaves?
Thanks in advance
Bill
Carolyn says
Fresh! I’d always specify if they were dried. Enjoy!
Pam says
These were wonderful! I loved the flavor combination and the texture was so like a wheat-flour muffin – as close as anything I’ve tried, and I’ve made a lot of recipes! Thanks, Carolyn.
Jan says
These turned out perfectly and were a great excuse to use my mini loaf pans. My best low-carb bread/cake baking effort to date!
Karen says
One of the many things I love about your page is the fact that you give the nutritional values for each recipe. So many do not and I end up eating too many carbs. You are fantastic in you writing and your recipes. Thanks.
Vera Zecevic – Cupcakes Garden says
Really nice loaves ! I adore recipe! It goes to my bookmark !
Karen says
If you are allergic to almond can I just substitute gluten free flour mixture? thanks.
Carolyn says
It won’t be a direct substitution. I’d suggest finding a GF quick bread recipe that uses GF flour, and then adding my flavourings.
Maia @ MaiTreat says
This recipe looks delicious! Now that the weather has turned to fall, a loaf that has the fall element of cranberries, with the summery freshness of lime sounds great. Thanks for sharing! Have you tried using Stevia in this recipe?
Carolyn says
This recipe does contain some stevia…I never use all stevia because I don’t like the aftertaste if I do.
king says
I already feel hungry after reading it. Looks yummy, need to prepared some soon
TracyKM says
I’ve never paired limes with anything but chocolate! I want to try this! I get confused with recipes that call for “whey protein powder” though. I used to buy a whey concentrate, then was told that whey isolate is better for you. The texture, and amount of protein per scoop is different. I made one recipe that specifically called for whey isolate and some people used whey concentrate and said it turned out tough. So I’m wondering what do you use? I’d love to make these this week!
Carolyn says
I just use whey protein powder, the sort that athletes use to increase muscle. It’s not so much because of the health (when only using a scoop, it adds about 2 carbs for the whole recipe, so that’s not much), but because the protein helps give the baked good structure in the absence of gluten. This is the brand I use: http://www.thehealthyelement.com/products/whey-protein-unflavored-32-oz?gclid=CK7mr42J4rICFYyZ4AodSFEARw#.UGq67lEfg_g but I am sure there are others. I don’t use the isolate at all.
TracyKM says
Thanks for the link! It’s got a lot less protein in it than the isolate I have (and less than the old whey concentrate that I used to use). I think it’s okay to use the isolate in recipes that use the concentrate, because it’s a finer texture, but if you use concentrate when it should be isolate, they turn out chewy.
Just realized I don’t have nearly enough lime juice so I have to wait even longer 🙁 Was hoping to make them for Thanksgiving this weekend!
Russell van Kraayenburg says
Holy moly these little loafs look incredible! I love the flavor combination here.
Arhelia says
I made these over the weekend! So yummy, my son and I ate a whole loaf but it’s mini :). I did toss the chopped frozen cranberries with a couple tablespoons of truvia and vanilla extract thenit was very liquid which turned my loaves a greyish color so next time I will not let the cranberries bleed into the loaves otherwise very yummy!
Stephanie says
Just wondering if there is anything that could be used as a substitute for the protein powder ?
Carolyn says
YOu need to replace the protein in gluten somehow, but any kind of protein powder will do…hemp, soy or what have you.
Kammie @ Sensual Appeal says
Shared this om my blog. Amazing! http://www.sensualappealblog.com/2012/09/29/saturday-pow-1/
Sharon Glanville at BeBetsy says
This is my kind of recipe – always on the lookout for something low carb and really delicious! Thanks for sharing this recipe. Oh, did I say I love cranberries? I so do. Oh, and the frosting on the top looks really, really yummy!
Katharine says
Am currently eating a piece of this delicious bread. Didn’t even get to the glaze part… perhaps I’ll add some tomorrow… it’s wonderful without it! I can’t believe how much the texture reminds me of a gluten-filled version I used to make. I’m digging the unflavored whey protein powder way more than the vanilla whey protein in recipes. I can’t even detect it. FYI – I think your instructions mean to say “lime zest” in step 3 (there is no mention of lime zest in the instructions). I added the lime juice in step 3. Then saw I was supposed to add lime juice in step 4. It all worked out great, but just for future bakers…
Roxana | Roxana's Home Baking says
I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t stop laughing. I can only imagine the rush trying to silence those fire-alarms. Glad to hear everything turned out OK and these mini loaves look beautiful!
Sandra's Easy Cooking says
Oh wow…that loaf does look amazing and perfect for the season! Gorgeous pics!
Chelsea {Whatcha Makin' Now?} says
Oh my! I love cranberries in baked goods! I never thought about adding lime. That sounds even more delicious.
Kammie @ Sensual Appeal says
OHHH my WOW! Totally pinning. Totally making it. SOON
Michele says
Wow. I absolutely adore your web log more with every recipe you post.
Carolyn says
Thank you, Michele! I love hearing that.