The 9pm sweet craving: 7 keto desserts to have ready
Most keto days don't fall apart at breakfast. They fall apart at night. You're tired, you've made decisions all day, and the craving for something sweet is louder than it's been since lunch. If the only sweet thing in the house is the kids' ice cream, you already know how this ends.
The answer isn't more willpower at 9pm. It's having something sweet ready before 9pm comes.
When you need it now
This takes five minutes, most of it in the microwave, and it's a real chocolate cake you eat from the mug.
The recipe
Chocolate Mug Cake
6.3g net carbs5 min13g protein361 kcal · serves 1
Per serving, calculated from USDA FoodData Central.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp blanched almond flour
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp granulated erythritol
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp sugar-free dark chocolate chips
Steps
- Melt the butter in a 12-oz microwave-safe mug, about 20 seconds.
- Add the almond flour, cocoa, erythritol, baking powder and salt. Stir with a fork.
- Add the egg, almond milk and vanilla. Beat with the fork until smooth, scraping the bottom edge so no dry cocoa hides there. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Microwave 60–80 seconds, until it has risen and the top looks set but still slightly damp. Check at 60. Every extra 10 seconds makes it drier.
- Let it sit 1 minute. Eat it from the mug.
Check it at 60 seconds. Every extra ten seconds makes it drier.
Two more that are ready in minutes:
Instead of regular soda
Sugar-Free Italian Cream Soda
Sparkling water, sugar-free syrup and a float of cream. It's fizzy, sweet and creamy, in whatever flavor your syrup is.
0.9g net carbs2 min1g protein
Instead of bakery cheesecake
No-Bake Cheesecake Cups
Whipped cream cheese and cream with vanilla. It tastes like the filling of a cheesecake, with no crust and no oven.
3.7g net carbs10 min4g protein
Make these ahead, so 9pm has an answer
These take ten or fifteen minutes on a Sunday and then sit in the freezer or fridge all week. When the craving hits, dessert is thirty seconds away.
Instead of candy bar
Chocolate Fat Bombs
Cold, rich and chocolate. Keep them in the freezer for when you want candy.
0.6g net carbs15 min0g protein
Instead of candy-store fudge
Chocolate Walnut Fudge
Butter, cream cheese and cocoa set up firm in the fridge. One square is a full dessert.
1.5g net carbs10 min2g protein
Instead of boxed chocolate pudding cups
Chocolate Coconut Pudding
Coconut milk and cocoa set with gelatin. Make it the night before.
3.4g net carbs1 hr 15 min4g protein
Instead of pint of store-bought ice cream
Lime Avocado Ice Cream
Avocado and coconut cream churn into a thick, smooth scoop. The lime keeps it from tasting heavy.
3.4g net carbs10 min2g protein
The fat bombs are the one to make first. One is enough to end a chocolate craving, and they keep for weeks in the freezer.
The MyKetoCravings app has 67 desserts, every one at 10g net carbs or less per serving.