Grosgrain: Sugar Free "Keto" Pixie Sticks

I've been doing the keto diet for two months now. There are so MANY things I can discuss about THAT. For now I want to just "sprinkle" this fun goodie. Keto Pixie Sticks! Now, I don't want to get in a debate about using artificial sweeteners for keto purposes. I understand that some people think it totally hinders their progress while others use it in order not to fall into bad sugar habits. I like to think I fall into the latter. I've also heard a lot of people say that eating artificial sweeteners keeps them craving sweets and I DO think that there is something to that.

That being said, I've eaten these and it has not kicked me out of ketosis. Maybe you're different. I've heard so many different things from people who've had totally different experiences than me doing this. At the very least this is a much healthier alternative to processed sugar pixie sticks. I used real freeze dried strawberry powder. You can use any kind of fruit powder though! Mango, lime, lemon, apple, grape, raspberry, blueberry, etc. Though, those will have varying amount of carbs. The strawberry powder has very few net carbs. Only 4 per TABLESPOON! Using the measurements in my recipe below that's only 1.11g of carbs per stick. PS. These DO have a small amount of natural sugar from the strawberry powder but it is free of processed sugar.

I also used erythritol as my sweetener. I liked it because it has a glycemic index of just 1 and has a texture very close to real sugar. At first I used xylitol because of its supposed benefits for oral health. But it has a glycemic index of 12 and it DID kick me out of ketosis. But it tasted great and had a good texture so if you're making these because you just want something less sugary than sugar, xylitol may work for you.

Enjoy!

Ingredient List
1/2 teaspoon of citric acid
15g of freeze dried strawberry powder
40g of erythritol

Tools Needed
wide mouth straws
funnel
bullet blender
kitchen scale
hot glue/ glue gun or plastic sealer

Step 1.
Get out your kitchen scale and tare it to 0 with your container on top. I held out for so long getting a kitchen scale. I only wished I had done it sooner. I use it everyday. It's great for getting exact serving measurements. Especially for bulky things that don't neatly fit into measuring cups.

(I accidentally set mine to ml but it's a 1 to 1 measurement for grams anyway)

Step 2: Add 15g of strawberry powder

Step 3:

Add 40g of erythritol and a half teaspoon of citric acid. You can also add the erythritol to taste. Just use 40g as a guideline. If it tastes too sweet to you add more strawberry powder. If it tastes too sour add more erythritol.

Step 4:

Mix together in blender under ingredients become a fine powder.

Step 5:

Take a straw and glue one of the ends with hot glue. You can also use cardboard straws but I've found that they have to be wide straws. I have a hot sealer that I used for mine originally but most of you don't have that so a hot glue gun will do. Just make sure you pinch the end long enough for the glue to harden. If the glue is too hot and you release too soon it will come open again. If you're using cardboard straws you can also just fold over the bottom.