I was blessed with a bagful of fresh-picked peaches last week from a colleague whose trees produced a bumper crop this summer. After I got over being a bit jealous that our container garden was a flop [between the squirrels, heat & neighborhood cat, it doesn’t look like anything is surviving], I decided to make a peach cobbler for the family this weekend.

Then, I thought to myself: why not make a peach dessert that I can enjoy, too?

I searched for some recipes online and came across one from Dana Carpender’s low-carb blog, which is aptly named Hold The Toast. The basis for my peachy experiment came from a recipe in her blog archive. Unfortunately, I do not have polyol, heavy cream or almond meal on hand … and I only ended up with about two cups of peaches, so I had to improvise.

Who says you can’t enjoy dessert on a low-carb eating plan? This was scrumptious, if I may say so. I hope you’ll try it and let me know what you think.

Low-Carb Peach Crisp

• 2 cups peaches, peeled & cut into chunks
• 2 Tbsp Splenda
• 2 Tbsp sugar-free maple syrup (I used Log Cabin brand)
• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1/4 cup chopped almonds (If you want a finer texture, use a food processor; I just coarsely chopped mine)
• 1/4 cup whey protein powder (I used Genisoy brand)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup soy milk or almond milk (I used Almond Breeze by Blue Diamond, which is my new favorite beverage, hands-down)

Spray an 8×8″ baking dish with Baker’s Joy non-stick spray. Spread peach chunks evenly in the dish and drizzle syrup to coat. In a bowl, combine dry ingredients & almonds. Add milk-substitute to dry mixture and stir to blend (mixture will be a bit runny). Pour almond mixture over peaches and use a rubber spatula to gently smooth the mixture (avoid stirring it with the fruit, just spread to coat). Arrange butter chunks, evenly spaced. Bake at 375 for approx. 30 min. until topping is slightly toasted.

Unless you eat the whole pan – believe me, I contemplated it! – a modest serving size should run you about 5-7 carbs total – the bulk of that being the peaches, and a little from the almonds. If you really feel like splurging, you could add a scoop of Breyer’s Carb Smart vanilla ice cream. 😉  I was happy just to eat it hot, straight from the dish!