low carb baking mix

When we first started eating low carb and wheat free (2 + years ago)

to make the transition easier,

I made a lot of baked goods,

mostly muffins,

using almond and coconut flours.

Both flours are quite expensive, in my opinion.

Also, almond flour is kinda high in calories

and coconut flour just has a unique taste.

But mostly, they're expensive

so once the transition to a breadless life was over,

I just baked less.

~

Fast forward to THM. (Trim Healthy Mama, remember?)

There are quite a few recipes for muffins and cakes in mugs,

which are single serve muffins and cakes.

(I sometimes quadruple a recipe and bake it in an 8x8 pan and serve it to the whole family :-)

I'm really not sure what makes one a muffin and another a cake?

Anyways.

They usually call for ground flax or almond flour, or both.

Now, flax is not terribly expensive, and it is very good for you (although the calorie count is a bit high, too)

and we've been eating flax for over a dozen years,

but
 it has a certain mouth feel that isn't always desirable.

Conundrum.

Enter oat fiber.

Not to be confused with oat flour...

Now.

On its own, oat fiber pretty much tastes like cardboard.

But

 it has zero carbs, zero fat, and zero calories

(this would explain the cardboardiness ;-)

and if you mix it with ground  flax and almonds,

well,

you've got a winner!

 I have come up with a basic baking mix

that combines oat fiber, almond flour, and ground flax.

With it, I make rolls and biscuits, burger buns, chocolate cake, lemon cake, Italian cake, and my basic muffins.

The really cool thing,

beside the fact that the addition of the oat fiber to my baking mix

lowers the fat content and calorie counts significantly,

is that I use less of the baking mix with oat fiber.

So what used to require 4 TBS, before the addition of oat fiber to my baking mix,

now only requires 3.

I save money

and 

consume even fewer calories!

(Not that I am overly concerned about calories,

 but if I can eat a muffin that tastes just as good, but has fewer calories, and costs less, why would I not want to?!)

Enough blathering; here's the recipe:

Low Carb All-Purpose Baking Mix
(This fits really well in an emptied 54 oz coconut oil jar)

3 cups ground flax (I just use my spare coffee spice mill. I also have a strong preference for golden flax over the brown!)
1 1/2 c almond flour (either purchased or homamade)
1 1/2 c. oat fiber
5 1/2 Tbs baking powder
1 scant TBS sea salt

Mix well (I just shake it) and store in fridge
and use for all your THM-friendly MiMs (muffin in a mugs, for the non THMers)
just remember that you only need a total of 3 TBS dry ingredients where you once used 4 :-)

 I've not ever tried substituting this in recipes that call for regular flour
because I started with recipes that were already low carb.
(although I suspect it might work fairly well)

I'll try to get back here soon with a few recipes,
but here are a few to get you started
(just remember to reduce the flour by 3/4 - and you won't need to add any salt or baking powder)

~

P.S Friday is time for my 4 week progress report. I'm sure you've been waiting on pins and needles ;-)
I'm hoping for better results than last month to be sure!

EDITED TO ADD
I've crunched the numbers - using this baking mix reduces your calories and fat grams by almost one half!
This posts breaks it down

Here is a recipe for Italian Cream Cake, using the baking mix.

And here
 is a recipe for the most amazing grain free chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten.

And my version of The Primative Palate's bagel dogs
(buns made out of the dough are sooo delish,
especially toasted and slathered with butter!)

And a wrap / tortilla / flatbread recipe that is perfect for all sorts of toppings and fillings.