Italian Love Knot Cookies

Alright already, a real Italian is going to fling major insults my way for daring to name these cookies as such. But hey, we low carb cooks have to have a little artistic license, right? These certainly look much like their true Italian namesakes. They taste very similar too. But I promise, you there is no way of rolling this dough into a coiled shape that can then be tied into the authentic knot. It is just not happening. In addition to that, I have yet to find a low carb substitute for the much loved candy jimmy topping. Somehow I doubt those were all that authentic anyway.

All that said, if you like the subtle lemon flavoring, the light airy texture, and the soft yellow glow of this cookie ball, you will fall in love. My carby boy liked them. Dad isn't home from work yet to give his evaluation. I made them to go with the Italian themed dinner we are having tonight. Thin crust pizza and salad. So nice to end with a home made dessert. These would be wonderful with a cup of tea, though they are certainly not dunkers.

That is rather amusing, since I based these cookies on a biscotti recipe I found in that older cook book I was loaned the other day. I know how to do Italian biscotti, and trust me, there is no double baking here. I can't understand how they are remotely similar to biscotti, so I adapted the recipe quite a bit and renamed them. The original recipe called for baking them a total of 35 minutes, but mine were burning after 11, so I definitely decided to change some things. Perhaps a soy protein powder bakes much differently than a whey powder, which is what I use.

Here is what I came up with:

Italian Love Knot Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 Tablespoon oil
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon flavoring
1 cup sucralose or equivalent sweetener
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup vanilla whey protein powder
1/2 cup unflavored whey protein powder
3/4 cup blanched almond meal

In a mixing bowl, whip butter. Add oil, lemon flavoring and sweetener. Blend well. Mix eggs in one at a time. Add baking powder and mix until distributed. Blend in the whey protein about 1/2 cup at a time, beating to incorporate. Finally, add in almond meal by hand. Chill dough for 30 minutes or more. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a cookie sheet with parchment or use a Silpat mat. Scoop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Cookies do not spread. Bake for 7-10 minutes until just browning.
Makes 36-40 cookies.

Hints: Not sure if this matters, but here are a couple of variables which could affect your success. I used GNC whey protein. I used a Pampered Chef scoop to make nice round cookies. The dough is really sticky, so they still aren't perfect. I used lemon flavoring, but the original recipe called for 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon lemon zest. You could try that if you have a fresh lemon.