Delicious Sugar-Free Poppy Seed Filling Recipe - Only 5 Ingredients!

Making Homemade Sugar-free Poppy Seed Filling is so easy and absolutely delicious. With only a handful of ingredients and a couple of hands-on minutes, you can make this keto, sugar-free, and gluten-free creamy poppy filling that is perfect for all your holiday treats!

Sugar-Free Dessert Filling

Why buy sugar-laden poppy seed filling in a can at the store when you can make a delicious sugar-free version at home? Not only is it really easy to make, but it also tastes so much better than anything you can buy at the store!

By cooking the ground poppy seeds with butter, heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla, their mild bitterness is transformed into a rich and delightful filling. Then, by simply tempering some eggs and cooking the entire mixture over a gentle heat, a nice and thick filling (that will NOT leak out of your baked goods!) is created!

A staple in Russian and Ukrainian kitchens, this sugar-free poppy seed filling not only tastes amazing but also creates the most beautiful looking desserts. The contrast between the light dough colour of your favourite sweet bread or cookie with the black poppy seed filling creates the "WOW" factor we are looking for in our Holiday desserts. This recipe is not difficult nor time-consuming and you can even make it ahead of time and store it in your fridge for a week!

Buying Poppy Seeds

You can find good poppy seeds at Whole Foods in the bin/bulk food sections. Most stores carry them but it’s worthwhile to pay a little more for a higher grade poppy seed that tastes sweeter. The cheaper poppy seeds have a slightly more bitter taste.

If you can't find good-quality poppy seeds at your local market, you can always buy them on Amazon. Some of the best brands of poppy seeds are the Amazon Brand as well as Frontier Co-op.

Why Should you Make this Homemade Dessert?

The answer to this question is quite easy. Simply look at the list of ingredients on a can of Poppy Seed filling and you will definitely be quickly putting it back on the shelf! Filled with corn syrup, sugar, and modified corn starch, canned poppy seed filling is definitely considered unhealthy when buying it commercially.

At over 16 grams of sugar in only 2 tablespoons of filling, there is no place for poppy seed filling in a low carb, sugar-free, and keto diet.

Until today!

With only a couple of ingredients and a little time stirring a pot, you can easily make homemade sugar-free poppy seed filling for all your gluten-free and keto treats!

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT POPPY SEEDS:

• Poppy Seeds are tiny nutty-tasting, blue-gray seeds inside capsules on Papaver somniferum, a yellowish-brown opium plant indigenous to the Mediterranean.
• Poppies are native to Mediterranean regions. Today, Holland, Australia, and the Czech Republic are the main producers of poppy seeds.
• Since antiquity, poppies have symbolized honour. Women in the second century Crete cultivated poppy plants for opium, and Hippocrates suggested opium in medicine. Islamic and Arabian countries used opium as a medicine and narcotic in the sixth century. By the 17th century, Asians used the poppy plant as an opiate. Europeans began trafficking the drug in the 19th century, culminating in the Opium Wars, in which China lost control of the industry. The Greeks used the seeds as a flavoring for loaves of bread in the second century, and medieval Europeans used them as a condiment with bread.
• From a nutritional stand point, poppy seeds are rich in fiber, healthy fats, and several micronutrients such as manganese

COULD I TEST POSITIVE FOR OPIATES IF I EAT POPPY SEEDS?

• Poppy seeds contain morphine.  Spanish poppy seeds seem to have the most morphine - about 251 micrograms of morphine per gram of seeds. This translates to about 0.025% morphine by weight. Thus, to get a medically relevant dose of morphine (10 mg) from Spanish poppy seeds you would have to consume 40 grams of poppy seeds!
• Once poppy seeds are eaten, the body develops detectable levels of opiates almost immediately. As a 2003 “MythBusters” episode notes, someone can test positive for opiates as soon as 2 hours after eating a poppy seed-loaded item. Other studies have shown that the levels remain elevated for up to 3 days.  However, in 1998, the Department of Health and Human Services increased the drug test level from 300 nanograms per milliliter (300 ng/mL) to concentrations of 2000 ng/mL. So, you would have to eat a LOT of poppy seeds to produce a positive drug test.

Recipe Ingredients:

Poppy Seeds - Poppy seeds are good sources of protein and dietary fiber, as well as some essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and magnesium. To make this filling, you will need to grind down the poppy seeds in a coffee grinder

Heavy Cream - Heavy cream helps to make this filling nice and creamy. Essentially, the heavy cream with the eggs and sweetener creates a low-carb keto-sweetened condensed milk.

Butter - I typically use unsalted butter but if you only have salted butter, you can use it instead and omit the salt.

Allulose - Allulose is a low-calorie sugar with the same clean, sweet taste you expect from sugar. Allulose is one of many different sugars that exist in nature in very small quantities. It was initially identified from wheat and has since been found in certain fruits including jackfruit, figs, and raisins. A monosaccharide, or simple sugar, allulose is absorbed by the body, but not metabolized so it is nearly calorie-free. You can replace allulose with monk fruit but not with any erythritol-based sweetener as the erythritol will crystallize when the jam is stored in the fridge and create a gritty texture.

Eggs - Adding eggs to the heavy cream and cooking the eggs over low heat creates the thick creamy filling. Without eggs, you will not get the thickness that is required for poppy seed filling.

Salt and Vanilla - These 2 ingredients help to round out the flavour of the filling. You can also add a little lemon or orange zest for even more added flavour.

5 Easy Recipe Steps

Step 1: Crush the Seeds

In a coffee grinder, grind the seeds down into a flour-like consistency. You can also use a high-speed blender such as a Vitamix. Set the seeds aside

Step 2: Prepare the Sweet Cream

Combine the heavy cream, butter, and sweetener in a saucepan. Cook on low heat, stirring often until the sweetener dissolves.

Step 3: Temper the eggs

Gradually pour about half of the hot milk into the beaten eggs, whisking constantly. Return the egg and milk mixture to the saucepan.

Step 4: Allow the sauce to thicken

Continue to cook while stirring until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of a metal spoon. (Run your finger down the coated spoon: it should draw a clear line.)

Step 5: Add the Seeds

Add the poppy seeds and stir well to blend. Remove from heat and allow the filling to cool before using or storing. Store unused filling in the refrigerator for up to five days.

More Easy Holiday Keto Desserts

• Easy Keto Cranberry Pie Dessert - Perfect for Leftover Cranberries!
• Keto Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Keto Pumpkin Caramel Magic Bars
• Keto Chocolate Caramel Pecan Bars - Dairy-Free
• Pecan Maple Cream Shortbread Cups -Gluten-Free and Keto

Print