Start the new year off right with a delicious low carb mug cake. It’s ridiculously easy and it’s peanut butter and chocolate. How can you go wrong?
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to 2015. Is it just me or do 2014 go by in a flash? Time moves faster year after year and I’m at that point where it’s all becoming one big blur. My husband and I were commenting on this a few months ago as we drove down to see his parents before we moved. We were trying to recall some of our other trips to Pennsylvania and what we did on those trips and we had trouble remembering the details. Whereas our children, whose brains are not yet full of 40 odd years of memories, were able to recall specific moments on each of those trips and distinguish all the trips from one another. They became increasingly frustrated with our inability to zero in on these moments as they could. “No, Mum, not THAT time…don’t you remember when we went down for Grandpa’s birthday and we did such and such?”. Sure, kid…vaguely. Now that you mention it, I have a fuzzy recollection of that. But mostly it’s all blended in with all the other times we came down to see Grandpa and Grandma. And it’s just easier if it stays that way!
Until a few years ago, I had no idea that there were “lucky foods” that people ate on New Year’s Day. As a kid I ate whatever my parents happened to serve and there were no traditional first-day-of-the-year foods in our house. I do remember some lovely brunches with quiche and croissants. And later on, I ate whatever foods my queasy stomach could handle after a night of celebrating and drinking too much. But black-eyed peas, cabbage and sauerkraut or pickled herring? No, these lucky foods never graced my New Year’s Day table. And apparently I never suffered much ill luck from not partaking. Mind you, perhaps I would have had even BETTER luck if I had consumed a pickled herring on New Year’s morn. Perhaps I missed my chance at fame and fortune. We will never know, will we?
You know what I think is lucky? Discovering the low carb diet and falling in love with creating recipes that seem indulgent but are actually healthy. That’s my kind of luck, right there. I also think peanut butter and chocolate are lucky, especially when they come together in one package. You’re lucky when you have the chance to eat peanut butter and chocolate together for breakfast without derailing your low carb, grain-free diet. You’re particularly lucky when said breakfast takes all of about 3 minutes to whip up, because then you can make some for the whole family before they are even awake. Doesn’t it feel great (and lucky) to be able to create a healthy breakfast treat that meets with everyone’s approval, all in the time it takes to make your morning coffee? Yep, that’s my definition of lucky.
So eat this peanut butter chocolate chip mug cake and revel in your luck. May 2015 bring you much lucky low carb goodness! To your health.
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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mug Cakes
Start the new year off right with a delicious low carb mug cake. It's ridiculously easy and it's peanut butter and chocolate. How can you go wrong?
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/3 cup Swerve Sweetener (OR 1 1/2 tbsp THM Sweet Blend)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup sugar-free chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a microwave-safe bowl, melt peanut butter and butter together until smooth.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, and baking powder. Stir in the eggs, vanilla extract, melted peanut butter mixture and water until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Divide among 6 ramekins or mugs and microwave each for 1 minute, until puffed and set. Serve warm.
Recipe Notes
Serves 6. Each serving has 10.73 g of carbs and 4.2 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 6.53 g.
Food energy: 323kcal Saturated fatty acids: 9.22g Total fat: 27.59g Calories from fat: 248 Cholesterol: 82mg Carbohydrate: 10.73g Total dietary fiber: 4.20g Protein: 10.44g Sodium: 326mg
Happy New Year!!!
Thank you for all the great Lo Carb recipes! I look forward to another year of fun with you! Best of luck to you and your family both in your new adventure on the West Coast and in the new year!
Thanks again for all you do!
Sherrie
Thanks, Sherrie!
Happy 2015!
I am still waiting for the luck and wealth to come my way from all the black eyed peas and collard greens my mother insisted on serving every new years day. It wasn’t until I got interested in cooking that I realized, none of it had much flavor. Now collards is one of my favorites, cooked my way.
Mmmmm…can’t wait to make this. But I need instructions for one mug. So I am trying to take 1/6 of everything. Not a math person. 🙁
You can half the recipe, make 3 and keep the other two in the fridge after cooking them. But there is no way to do 1/6 of the recipe.
I measured an egg once (yah I’m that kind of person) and it was about 9tsp. So if you wanted to make 1/6 recipe and dont mind wasting an egg, just beat one very well then use 1tbsp of the mixture for one mug cake.
Just to clarify, here are the measurements to make 1/6th recipe.
1 tbsp peanut butter
2 tsp butter
2 tbsp plus 2tsp almond flour
1 tbsp sweetener
heaped 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 tsp water
1-tbsp beaten egg
2 tsp chocolate chips
So, if I want to bake in the oven could you tell me how?
325F for 10 to 15 minutes, I would think. I can’t say for sure, I didn’t try it.
Happy New Year!!! I’m going to try making a single one – I’ll just have to use one whole egg in it – won’t be the same, but should work ok. Also – what did you put on top? Cream cheese? These look great.
Whipped cream. Love it when it melts over the hot mug cake!
i’m gonna attempt making a quarter of the recipe – it’ll just be a bigger serving 😉 using an egg yolk so i can store the white for omelettes.
and to think … I have all of these ingredients in my home right now! I know what I’m having for lunch since I’ve already eaten breakfast (my man took me out this morning!). Thank you for all you do for people like me, Carolyn, and I wish you and your family a healthy and happy 2015!
Thx for adding thm sweet blend. I found your blog from mamas on their blog posting your recipes. Please continue! Happy New Year!
So well said (as I prepare my black eyed peas) we are “lucky” to have fallen in love with a low carb lifestyle and the wholesomeness of the food we eat! Happy New Year to you too!
I’m definitely going to make this, I’m a peanut butter/chocolate lover!
The only thing is I will use regular sugar instead of a sugar “sweetener”.
My question is how much regular sugar to substitute?
Exactly the same amount, they can be subbed 1:1.
Just made 1/2 the recipe and it is delicious!!! Thank you so much for all your great recipes. I have been grain free for 4 years now and am so glad I found your blog. Everything I have tried has been great!! Happy new year!
Thanks, Sherie.
Ummmm, delicious? As I sit here eating mine! I threw in a few chopped pecans and poured a little heavy cream over the top. Amazing!
So glad you like it. It’s my kids fave!
All I want is a copy of the peanut butter chocolate muffin cup sent by e-mail as my computer acts up at times and I always get my e-mails saved I tried to do it your way but the scrambled letters don`t seem to come out right
Thank you when and if you will send it
I’m looking for low carb Leto friendly recipes.
These look amazingly delicious!!!
Hi Carolyn, Thank you for this lovely recipe! I made these for the first time yesterday and they are delicious! Ive been having trouble finding tasting desserts for our little 4 year old who suffers from food allergies. He loved this cake and was asking for more : ) I made these in silicone cupcake forms and they worked just perfect. Im looking forward to the recipes you post ahead! Happy new year to you and your family.
So glad you found something that works for your son!
I don’t know about “lucky” but Koreans eat a rice cake and wonton soup every new year and we have a tradition where the kids bow to their parents and older family members in order to get good new year’s blessings . . and hey, I’m with you! the low carb diet and actually eating foods you love and enjoy but are actually healthy, sounds terrific!! I love this mug cake!! Here’s to a wonderful, low carb diet year for you, Carolyn!
I love hearing about different traditions like that, Alice 🙂
Thanks for the recipe 🙂 however for those of us who do not have a microwave or just simply prefer to cook them in the oven, do you have a conversion time and temperature possibly…TIA
I am guessing that 325 for 10 to 15 minutes would work. Keep an eye on them to see how they are doing.
Thanks!
I must make this soon….I was just wondering what size mug are you using?…we have 8oz, 10oz, 12oz, 16 oz. The picture in the white mug looks beautiful.
It’s a smallish mug, probably 8 ounces. The ramekins are 1/2 cup or so.
I just have to say . . . YUM! Thanks for sharing this. I made these with 1/3 cup xylitol and a dash of pure stevia extract powder. I tried swerve when we first cut sugar out in July 2013 and no one in my family could handle the minty/cooling effect of erythritol. I also realized I was out of vanilla extract so I used butterscotch extract. There are 5 of us so I divided the batter evenly between 5 coffee cups. 1 minute was perfect. It was so moist and tender. Thanks again.
So glad you liked them, Kristi!
This looks delicious! Would it work with coconut flour?
Not as it is. For coconut flour, you need about 1/3 to 1/2 cup, and you need to up the eggs to about 4.
Thank you for another fantastic recipe! Yummy! Your email is the first I open,
Your recipes have kept our lives low carb. Thanks again.
So glad to hear it!
I just tried these and they are delicious! I have one question – what is the gritty taste? I’m thinking it’s the almond flour because of the texture. Thanks.
Mine are not gritty at all so I wonder what kind of almond flour you are using. Or what kind of sweetener?
Are you sure you didn’t use almond meal/flour instead of finely ground?
I definitely agree. As you get older your brain fills up more and one year is a smaller fraction of your life the longer you life, therefore seeming shorter and shorter. Not cool! But I’ll forget about that once a mug of this appears in front of me.
Hey Caroline, think i could sub out coconut oil for the butter? on a yeast cleanse right now and no butter for 1st 2 weeks.
thanks and we love all your recipes!
You bet, that would be just fine.
This looks like a great recipe for a dinner we’re hosting next weekend for another couple who are on a low carb diet. Had a question about the peanut butter: would crunchy peanut butter made with just peanuts work? That’s the type our family eats as regular peanut butter contains sugars and hydrogenated oils.
Yes, that should be great.
Delicious! Since there are two of us, and to prevent us from having three each at one go, I wrapped two (uncooked) in plastic, refrigerated, and just microwaved them now…yes, we did have two each after dinner…. These were just as good as the ones were last night, and probably better tasting than they would have been cooked yesterday and eaten cold today. Now I am wondering how far ahead I can prepare the batter and just bake as needed?
This is one of the best, if not THE BEST, low-carb dessert recipe I’ve come across. Fluffy, delicious, and easy to customize. Thanks!
These are the Creme de la Creme of mug cakes….my all time favorite (and I am beginning to be way too familiar with mug cakes). But the peanut butter adds some density so that these are not just fluff on a spoon. There is just the right amount of substance….and the flavor is FABULOUS.
Caroline, you are amazing. You obviously put a lot of testing into your recipes because they are the gold standard in my opinion.
thank you for putting food worth eating on our low carb table.
This looks AMAZING but I am deathly allergic to almonds. Can I substitute the almond flour for something else?
Try sunflower seed flour.
Fantastic recipe!! I ended up baking it in an 8×8 pan. Just wonderful!
I hadn’t yet found a mug cake recipe I liked, but your recipes have never steered me wrong, so I gave it a shot. Despite realizing that a minute is a little too long for my microwave (the first cake was a bit dry), the flavor was an instant hit and I loved it! I finally settled on 50 seconds (even better I don’t have to wait as long!) and I learned this even tastes good cold leftover from the fridge. Thanks for making a mug cake believer out of me!
So glad to hear it!
I also baked this in an 8×8 pan, it was great!
Hi I am excited to try this! Could this be made with splenda? I am new to low carb, are we talking liquid or dry sweetener? Thanks!
I didn’t try this with Splenda, although I think it should work. My sweetener is granulated, what were you planning on using?
I was thinking granulated splenda
Then you should be able to sub that in directly for Swerve. *I think!*
Made it with splenda and it worked perfectly. The whole family enjoyed it 🙂
Glad it worked out!
Hi! Thank you for the recipe, I would like to know the calories per each muffin, is it 323kcal each? thanks!
Yes, 323 cal per cake.
Thanks for the recipe! Where can one find sugar-free chocolate chips?
Please click the link in the recipe! 🙂
I divided the batter evenly between 4 mugs, microwaved for 1 minute each and they came out fine, except all the chocolate chips sank to the bottom. Is that because I had more in each mug than the recipe calls for? Anyone else have this happen?
Hi Carolyn,
How long would I bake this if I make it in an 8×8 pan and at what temperature?
I have not made it that way but I would think that 325 for 15 to 20 would probably be right. Keep an eye on it, you will need to figure out when it’s done.
Carolyn or anyone, any ideas why the chocolate chips all ended up on the bottom when I made this?
Sounds like somehow your batter is too thin. What brand of almond flour are you using?
I made it with the King Arthur Flour brand. I usually have Honeyville but was out. The King Arthur seems pretty similar to Honeyville’s. I’ll try to have the batter thicker next time, maybe with a bit more almond flour, and see if that helps.
I use powdered Swerve and it wasn’t sweet as I would of liked it! Was I suppose to use granulated Swerve? Is there a difference? I think I would really like it if it was just a little more sweeter!! Thanks!!
The kind of Swerve would really make no difference. Just use more…sweetness is a very individual taste.
I have just another question please, what kind of peanut butter did you use in this was it sugar free? They really did turn out good and I am going to add just a little bit more sweetener I just don’t understand why it wasn’t that sweet to me I have been on this low carb way of eating for a year so it’s not like I am not used to eating no sugar. Thank you so much for this recipe will try to tweak it a little.
This is sooo good! I doubled it and baked it at 325 for about 20 min. Forgot to set the timer so just kept adding time. My husband and I love it. Thanks!
I used about 1/2 c gentle sweet and a dash of stevia extract. Also natural peanut butter.
Can defatted peanut flour be used in place of peanut butter?
I don’t really know. Possibly if you make it into a peanut “butter” first?
I just made these and divided into four larger size coffee cups. All puffed up perfectly. I added a dollop of whipped cream that I added confectioner swerve, a 1/2 tsp of vanilla and a 1/2 tsp of hennessey for fun.
Very easy to make and a hit with my fussy daughter and husband. Yum!
Love the taste of your deserts. I am having a problem with my cakes turning out crumbly & dry yet I use the brands you do. Any suggestions that I could use to maybe help?
Sounds like they are getting over-cooked. Do you use the same sweetener? Same brand of almond flour?
OMG this was so good. I have neither a microwave nor an oven, so I ended up making this in a shallow bowl in my toaster oven, and while it didn’t quite rise properly (the toaster oven isn’t the greatest), it was still amazing. Thank you!
For those wondering about how long to cook in the oven, I cooked them at 350° for 17 minutes in ramekins and they came out perfect. I also subbed almond butter for the peanut butter. Delicious!