Testimonies of the Day
“The keto lifestyle and triathlon training go hand-in-hand! Forcing my body to utilize fat during the long swims, bike rides and runs makes fueling a breeze! No more gels or sports drinks every 30 minutes…and not only does my body remain strong, my mind and energy do as well.
My kids are loving all of the new recipes I have been making, especially the Keto Fudge! And I had to laugh when my husband was skeptical of your Twice-Baked Cauliflower recipe…and then I had to yell at him to save some for the kids because he was going to eat all of it!!! He requests them all the time now!” Kristen
HAQ Supplement Testimony: “Some of the benefits from working out everyday and eating the Maria way.. my bad back and joint issues are pretty much gone. I was so afraid of how bad my back would be on the cruise sleeping in the beds there. I did not have one problem!!! Amazing!Also, just raked leaves for 2 hours at my house this weekend. That would usually lead me to the chiropractor and medication and hot/cold packs for a week….not this time. Only required me to do some extra stretching of my low back!! WOW! Looking forward to a healthier future!!” – Mary Jo
30 Day Accelerated Testimony: “I am excited to move forward with the plan- just dabbling with the Maria way- my husband has lost 25 lbs (in first 5 weeks!)- I have lost 6 ( go figure) but we both feel so much better being grain free-and sugar free- my pre-diabetes is now in the normal range J My tonsils are decreasing in size by quite a bit- so excited to do some fine tuning- just hoping I can get my weight loss moving – a bit faster hopefully! Hubby loves the recipes and never complains about what I serve for dinner, or any meal for that matter. I have switched my pantry over- need to order a few more supplements- thanks for making everything so easy to follow! You are truly a God send ( literally) thank you for all you do! God Bless!” – Diana
To get started on your path to health and healing, click HERE. I’d be honored to help you too!
Cinnamon health benefits!
1: Antifungal, antibacterial and antiparasitic: Cinnamon has been found to be effective in fighting vaginal yeast infections, oral yeast infections, stomach ulcers and head lice.
2: Excellent source of manganese, iron and calcium. The combination can help to remove bile, which prevents damage to colon cells and helps prevent colon cancer.
3: Anti-inflammatory: Inflammation is the stem of all diseases.
“We’ve long known that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease. In the absence of inflammation or injury to the endothelial cell, the cholesterol would never go through the arterial wall and it would never stay there. – Dr. Dwight Lundell”[59]
4: Helps control blood sugar levels, and can significantly lower LDL “bad” cholesterol, total cholesterol and triglycerides (fatty acids in the blood). A now almost famous study, was conducted by researchers from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2003 that showed that 60 people in Pakistan who had Type 2 diabetes, who ate 1 gram of cinnamon each day over a period of 40 days, experienced a significant decrease in their blood sugar levels, LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol and triglycerides.
We are all, in an evolutionary sense, predisposed to becoming diabetic. So I want to step you through how fat is stored, but more importantly this is how we become at risk for diabetes and heart disease:
1) After you eat excess carbohydrates, blood glucose stays higher longer because the glucose can’t make it into the cells of the muscles. This toxic level of glucose is like tar in the bloodstream clogging arteries, binding with proteins to form damaging AGEs (Advanced Glycated End-products) and causing inflammation. This high level of glucose causes triglycerides to go up, increasing your risk for heart disease.
2) Starch and sugar gets stored as fat (remember starch is just glucose molecules hooked together in a long chain; the digestive track breaks it down into glucose… so a sugary and a starch diet are the same thing!). Since the muscle cells aren’t getting glycogen (because they basically have a crust over the cells and are considered “resistant”), and since insulin stops the production of the fat-burning enzyme lipase, now you can’t even burn STORED fat! So workout all you want, if you continue to eat oatmeal before your workouts, you will never be a fat-burner, you will remain a sugar-burner and you continue to get fatter until eventually those fat cells become resistant too.
3) If that isn’t bad enough, I have more bad news…Insulin levels continue to stay high longer because the pancreas mistakenly believes “if a little is not working, more is better.” NOT GOOD. Insulin is very toxic at high levels, causing cellular damage, cancers, plaque build-up in the arteries (which is why diabetics have so much heart disease) as well as many other inflammation issues such as nerve damage and pain in the extremities. Starch and sugar destroys nerve tissue, causing tingling and retinopathy, which causes you to lose your eyesight.
4) Sorry, but I have more bad news…Our cells become so damaged after a life of cereal and skim milk for breakfast that not only does insulin resistance block glucose from entering muscle cells; the crust we have formed over our cells also blocks amino acids from entering. Amino acids are the building blocks for our muscles that are found in protein. So now you can’t even maintain your muscles. And if that isn’t bad enough, our muscles become cannibals because your body think there’s not enough stored sugar in the cells, so they send signals to start to consume valuable muscles to make more glucose (sugar)! You get fatter and you lose muscle.
5) Instead of feeling energetic after you eat, you are tired, and you crave more carbohydrates and since you have less muscle, exercise is getting too darn difficult, and the sad cycle continues.
6) But there is even more bad news… thyroid disorders also happen too. When your liver becomes insulin resistant, it can’t convert thyroid hormone T4 into the T3, so you get those unexplained “thyroid problems”, which continue to lower your energy and metabolism.
1) Lower your carbohydrates. Not only for you, but your kids too! So they don’t end up so insulin sensitive like we are!
2) Exercise! Even walking after meals. Moving has a major impact on improving insulin sensitivity since muscles burn your stored glycogen as fuel during and after your workout.
3) Add in Cinnamon!
Cinnabon Coffee Cake
Cake:
4 cups blanched almond flour (OR 1 cup coconut flour)
1 TBS aluminum free baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
2/3 cup butter or coconut oil
1 1/3 cups Swerve confectioners
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs (6 eggs if using coconut flour)
2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
Cinnamon Syrup:
1/2 cup Swerve confectioners
6 tbsp butter
1/3 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp ground cinnamon
Cream Cheese Layer:
8 oz cream cheese or coconut cream (if dairy allergy)
1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 tsp Stevia glycerite (or to taste)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch pan. Stir together the almond flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter, natural sweetener, and 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating for at least 1 minute after each egg. Beat in the almond flour mixture alternately with the milk. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Remove cake from pan while it is still warm, and poke holes around the top of the cake with a fork.
To Make Cinnamon Syrup: In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cup erythritol, 1 teaspoon stevia, butter, water, 1 teaspoon vanilla and cinnamon. Heat and stir until butter melts. Pour onto warm cake or place in a serving dish and serve along with each slice of cake.
Cream Cheese filling: beat cream cheese with 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk and stevia (to taste). You can make this ahead of time and store in the fridge (it will get thicker overnight). Dollop a tablespoon or two on top of cake. Makes 14 servings.
NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving)
Traditional Cinnamon Cake = 396 calories, 21.9g fat, 3.6 g protein, 42 g carbs, 0.6 g fiber
“Healthified” Almond Flour Cake = 292 calories, 28g fat, 6.1 g protein, 4.3 carbs, 1.9 g fiber
“Healthified” Coconut Flour Cake = 244 calories, 22g fat, 4.9g protein, 5.5g carbs, 3g fiber
Looks delicious! 🙂
Do you have a substitute for recipes that call for agave or honey? Some paleo recipes call for this, but I want to avoid them. I saw a sugar-free maple syrup but it contains malitol and I’m not sure if that’s a good substitute? Thanks!
This is truly an amazing recipe, I’m so excited to try this. Thank you Maria for your endless ideas to keep me on the straight and narrow.
London
Oh, I’m in heaven! A Cinnabon just opened here in Latvia. My friends (sadly) are all raving about it. Since going wheat-free, I won’t step a foot inside a place like that.
I appreciate all the recipes you create. I just gave this one a try and my kids loved it. (I need to tweak it a bit since the almond flour and coconut flour are a bit different here.)
I’m always surprised at how almond pastries and baked goods fill us up so quickly! No craving a second anymore. Full and satisfied!
Wow! Latvia! I’m always surprised to hear how far some readers are;)))
Please let me know what you think of the recipe!
As a former fat kid, I love Cinnabon! But this is a good substitute… Especially the fact that I don’t feel awful after I eat it!
Oh awesome, I always put Cinnamon on a lot of sweet foods I eat because I know it’s effect on blood sugars but I didn’t know about these other health effects! I definitely love cinnamon even more now
You inspired me! I didn’t realize how hungry I was for cinnamon rolls! I’m allergic to almonds so had to develop my own low carb, gluten free mix. I used it and your recipe as a guide for the cinnamon syrup and made 2 beautiful rolls this morning with scrambled eggs and a few raspberries and blackberries! Thanks for all you do and for you work to educate us about better alternatives!
Thanks Susiet!!! You totally made my morning!!!
Hello Maria –
I found your blog through the friend of a friend and am excited to make more conscious healthy food choices! I just tried this recipe, using 2/3 cup coconut oil and 2 cups blanched almond flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill), followed all directions, but after 45 minutes in the oven the center was bubbling – finally took it out after an hour and it tastes fine but seems very greasy and looks nothing like your picture. Any ideas? Thank you!
Hmmm, I will practice it again… I am going to try it with only 1/3 cup oil and I will report back.
Others who have tried it says it comes out great, but they may have used coconut flour…
You only used half of the flour so your ratio is off.
Maria, can you use Almond Meal instead of the flour? Or could I just process the meal in a blender to make it a finer consistency? I didn’t know the consistency is different, thus affecting the outcome. Thanks for your help and keep these great recipes coming! We appreciate it!
Thanks Brenda!
Yes, you can use almond meal, but it won’t be a soft consistency like a cake…a little “whole grain” type feel in the mouth:)
Happy Eating!
Maria,
I made this twice. The first time, I had run out of erythritol, so I used xylitol and almond flour. It was very wet when I put it in the pan, so the syrup just sunk. I was convinced it would never cook, but it did, though it never did set up as a “cake”. We ended up eating it with a spoon, and it was delish (I wish I’d had some ice cream to eat with it! 🙂
The second time, my erythritol had arrived, and I decided to try it with coconut flour. The dough was very thick this time, and it did set up just fine as a cake. A lot of folks really liked it (I made them as mini cupcakes) even though they didn’t know it wasn’t sugar!
Honestly, though, I liked it better mushy. 🙂 It was good as the cupcakes, too, but for some reason, I felt like the cinnamon came through more with the almond flour (maybe because the xylitol tasted sweeter? I dunno, but that one definitely seemed sweeter to me.)
Love all these recipes. You really make living healthfully enjoyable. 🙂 My family thanks you! And I think your cookbooks will make GREAT Mother’s Day/Father’s Day gifts. 🙂
Do you have a lemon bar recipe??? That would be awesome. I love lemon bars. 🙂
Jess
“HEALTHIFIED” LEMON BARS
CRUST:
3/4 cup blanched almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup coconut oil or butter
1/2 cup Truvia (or erythritol and 1 tsp stevia glycerite)
1 tsp Celtic sea salt
CRUST: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a square glass pan. In a medium bowl, mix ingredients. This will be a thick cookie crust; press onto bottom of pan. Place in oven to pre-bake the crust. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
FILLING:
3 large eggs
1/2 cup Truvia (or erythritol and 1 tsp stevia glycerite)
1/2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
4 TBS lemon juice
In a medium bowl, beat the ingredients for the filling until well combined. Pour the mixture evenly over the pre-baked crust and bake again for about 15-20 minutes or until set. Let cool. Store in fridge or freezer in an airtight container. Makes about 16 bars.
NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per bar)
Tradidional Lemon Bar = 160 calories, 8g fat, 1.9g protein, 19g carbs, trace fiber
“Healthified” Lemon Bar = 112 calories, 10g fat, 3g protein, 2.5g carbs, 1.2g fiber
these lemon bars sound tasty too…
Does truvia have any effect on blood sugar? I thought I read somewhere that it should be avoided.
Great blog post too! Very informative.
Thank you Maria.
I avoid it because it comes from GMO ingredients, but I don’t think it has an effect on blood sugar. 🙂
Thanks!
I fixed the recipe to be 4 cups of almond flour instead of 2. Coconut flour is a 1:4 ratio of almond flour.
I’m so sorry I missed that! Thanks for your help!
You work so hard & always give us great recipes, one little mistake once in awhile is to be expected!
Yay Lemon bars! Will be trying these next. thanks!!!
Made the cake on the weekend with almond flour and xylitol, and with three tiny shifts in the recipe. First – using only about 40% of the recommended amount of sweetener for the cake. Second – baking the cake for 60 minutes. It took a long time for the centre to bake, eventhough the edges seemed perfectly done after 40 minutes. So, I covered it with aluminium foil and took it out after additional 20 minutes. Wonderful. Third – adding about a 1/2 tsp guar gum to the syrup since it seemed too watery. Making a thicker sauce, I got an “icing” that made a nice glaze that only partially sinked into the cake. I loved the texture of the cake that was firm yet moist and fluffy. No doubt I will be making this one again. Thanks Maria!
Nice job. Glad you liked it. 🙂
I use cinnamon each morning on my oatmeal because of all the health benefits from cinnamon. Is the cinnamon from my spice cabinet the same as the nutritional supplement in veggie caps? 1000mg in veggie cap isn’t even a full tsp and i use way more than a full tsp on oatmeal each morning. Just trying to figure out cost savings if it’s truly the same thing. Thoughts?
I’m not familiar with veggie caps. It is always best to get your vitamins and minerals from the source foods than a supplement whenever possible, but many times supplements are still necessary. 🙂
This recipe ROCKS! I am one happy girl! I made it with coconut flour and it was*perfect*! Thank you!
Thanks! Glad you like it. 🙂
I made this tonight using coconut flour and it is awesome! Even the hubby liked it (I’m having a very hard time getting him away from sugars, starches and processed foods). Thank you for sharing your wonderful healthy recipes! I’ve tried many of them and they’ve really helped me develop a new eating lifestyle and I’ve learned so much from the information you share!
Thanks!
It was Amazing Maria Emmerich. Thank you very much for sharing healthy recipes.
thanq very much
Thank you!
I am anxious to try this recipe. I just wanted to clarify that you can use 1 cup coconut flour and 6 eggs OR 4 cups almond flour and 3 eggs. Do I have that right? Is the coconut flour that much more dense and that is why you need so much less?
Thanks!
Leslie
Yes, that is correct. Coconut flour sucks up a lot more moisture and that is why it needs more eggs. The end result will be similar. 🙂
Maria, did I understand right 4 cups blanched almond flour = 1 cup coconut flour (If I use almond flour that means 4 cups, OR if I use coconut flour I’m using only 1 cup?) If this is right can I substitute 1 cup of almond flour with coconut flour (just for taste) so I’m taking 3 cups of almond flour and 3/4 cup of coconut 🙂 Would that be the right amount of these two? And can you guess how much eggs for this combination?
Yes. But add more liquids!;)
I notice in the cookbook, it says 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon for the syrup and here it says 3 teaspoons. Which is it?
I just checked my copy and it says 3 tsp. Where did you get your copy (kindle, paperback, etc) and when?
Will JLS brown work for the syrup? I know it has tons of fiber.
Yes, that should work. 🙂
This recipe is SO SO GOOD!!! This might just be my new fav recipe of yours. Not to mention it was so easy to make. Thanks!
Thanks Molly! You are so sweet! 🙂
Wow!!! I’m eating a piece right now and thinking how happy I am to have found your site! I used all almond flour and it turned out fantastic. It is moist with a ton of cinnamon flavor. Thanks for another great recipe!
Thanks! 🙂
I made this tonight. It is picky husband approved! Absolutely amazingly delicious! And you can’t tell at all it’s low carb.
Awesome! Thank you! 🙂
Made this last week and my husband kept asking me today when I was going to make it again. So, I am making it while he is away on a job. Should be done before he gets home. We love this recipe. It is another easy one to put together, and tastes great.
Awesome! Thanks! 🙂
Hi.
I think it would be worth mentioning that the cinnamon should be Ceylon cinnamon and not Cinnamon Cassia to avoid the higher leves of coumarin found in Cassia.
Love your blog.
Best,
Maria, I made this cake last night …. DELICIOUS. I love cinnamon and this was the first recipe I’ve tried that was all coconut flour, rather than a bit mixed with almond. I am really enjoying trying your recipes. Thanks for all you do.
Thanks!
I LOVE cinnamon and this one hit it out of the park! I went with coconut flour and butter for my oil. The eggs I had were jumbo so I only used 5. My batter was too thick to pour (probably because I didn’t use 6 eggs) so I just scooped it into my pan and gently smoothed it out with a spatula. I baked it for 30 min. and it had spread out nicely but was getting very brown on the edges and not quite done in the middle. I laid a piece of foil over the pan and baked it for another 10 min. Came out perfect and the Cinnamon Syrup and Cream Cheese Icing tasted amazing!! Thanks for another wonderful recipe!
Thanks!
This recipe is amazing! It taste just like a cinnabon. I used coconut flour instead of almond flour. It taste very light and cake like. I also only made the syrup topping not the cream cheese topping b/c I am lactose tolerant and didn’t have coconut cream at hand. It taste really good on its own. I look forward to having another slice for breakfast!
Thanks!
Just an idea but you should put a blog on your top 10 most popular recipes of 2013. The ones that were clicked on the most or have the most comments. I would be curious to see which ones they are. I have been following you for a year and love every recipe I have tried.
Thanks for the idea. I will look into doing that. 🙂
Do you have a brand of erythritol you like? The NOW brand uses corn, so I want to avoid that. Thanks!
If it is from non-GMO corn it is an ok option (like Swerve).
I had pretty much written off coconut flour, but I still had leftover coconut flour and was running low on almond flour, so I used it to make this recipe. It turned out surprisingly well… I loved the cinnamon syrup and I can see using it on other things like drizzling it on pancakes! I am wondering how it would work if I made cupcakes from this, perhaps added an egg to the cream cheese mixture (adding less liquid so it’s thicker) and layering it in as a ‘filling’ for the cupcake and then thickening the syrup with guar gum (idea from above comments) to pipe on decoratively on the top.
This is something I could serve to sugar-addicts and I think they would still like it.
Thanks!
Just made this tonight I made a couple of mistakes but they turned out well! I only had powdered Swerve then I mixed the 1st 4 dry ingredients and then wet ingredients and then ended up mixing them like that as the milk had already been added! I also didn’t have almond milk so I added 1c. whipping cream. It was very good! Note to self read instructions before making! I just ordered a few of your books as well and am looking forward to getting them!
Thanks!
I made this again following the recipe exactly and using Swerve. It was great looking and terrific tasting. My boyfriend said it was the best dessert he’s ever eaten!
Thanks!
Is it a regular 9 inch round cake pan that you use? Thanks!
Yes. 🙂
I LOVE cinnamon. I just learned about you a week ago, Maria, so sit down before you read this…
the cinnamon in my cupboard is from Aldi. Sorry! I see someone recommended Ceylon cinnamon. I found some on Amazon. Just wondering if you have a preferred cinnamon/brand. VERY excited to make this cinnamon syrup for my coffee. In my past life, my fav drink at Starbucks was Cinnamon Dolce Latte.
Thank you!
This looks amazing!
Can’t wait to try it;)
Thanks for the recipe
Maria,
I hacen’t made this yet, but am confused by your picture as to what I am actually looking at. The top of the cake looks like it has a crumble texture, while the poured very white topping looks like a glaze.
So the questions are: Is the topping just a smoothed out top as it sounds in the directions, and is the white glaze the cinnamon syrup, or is this the cream cheese? If it was the cinnamon syrup, I would think it would be a tan color from the cinnamon. If it was the dollop of cream cheese, then wouldn’t be syrupy as it looks like in the picture.
I made this last night with coconut flour and just finished a slice with my morning tea. I’m shocked at how nice the texture turned out. Having tried many brands of coconut flour, I generally find coconut flour baked goods disappointing but this was lovely. I used Trader Joe’s Coconut Flour. The texture made me think of hummingbird cake, which could be a fun variation. My sweet tooth runs a bit sweeter than Maria’s so I upped the stevia a bit and was happy I did. Also, I think there’s way more of the cream cheese filling (icing?) than actually needed but that’s probably a matter of preference. Next time I’ll cut that part in half, thin it a bit more and drizzle it over the cake. Overall, I’d say this is the best coconut flour baked good recipe I’ve made. Well done Maria! Thank you!
Thanks!
Maria, do you know if there is a conversion for using stevia concentrate rather than stevia glycerite? Can’t wait to try this recipe 🙂
Hmm, not sure. I guess it would depend on what the conversion says for the concentrate. 🙂
Made this and it was really yummy – think I would probably use less of the cinnamon syrup next time as mine went a bit too soggy but other then that it was a good first effort!!
The best part was serving it to other people and them loving it too!
Thanks!
I made this yesterday, and one piece kept me full all day – the cake has a perfect texture, and tasted great. Even my boyfriend who is wary of unfamiliar sweeteners enjoyed it, and was impressed by the lack of ‘sweetener aftertaste.’ I made an extra batch of the cinnamon syrup, and thickened half with a little xantham gum – planning to use it on your pumpkin pancakes! Thanks so much for your recipes!
You made my day!!!! Thank you!!!
How much servings does this make.?
It states at the end. 14 servings.
Maria! This was the perfect Keto Coffee Cake for Christmas! My father in law and I both indulged in this for breakfast…. (my mother in law who eats sugar, has actually been sneaking pieces of this one!) It’s lunchtime now and I’m still so full from breakfast I don’t think I’ll even be hungry until dinner 🙂 Totally curbed the sweet tooth craving while the rest of the family was sitting around eating real cinnamon rolls. I think your recipes are the REAL thing and the processed, supposed “real coffee cake” is the imposter- seriously! Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks!
It must be annoying to hear how people doctor your recipes, but I just made some no less than revolutionary from this recipe, I mixed almond and coconut flours and modified the eggs to 4. Used heavy cream. Then I whipped up some keto cheesecake (1pkg cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar alt., 1 egg, splash of vanilla and 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon). Poured the cake in a large baking dish and patted down to about 1/2 inch thickness. Baked 10 mins, pulled out, swirled dollops of cheesecake on top and baked another 20. Holy smokes. So light and delicious. Thank you for this recipe!!!!!
I’m making these right now and notice that the cinnamon syrup doesn’t have Stevia listed in the ingredients in the recipe list, but it is listed in the directions. Is it stevia glycerite, and am I supposed to use it?
It is completely optional. I need to edit that post. Sorry about that🙏