This dessert pastry will amaze! It is so light and airy. It will melt in your mouth with the delicious flavor of toasted almonds and sweet cream cheese. Our Low Carb Almond Cheese Danish tastes just like a “Bear Claw.” With a low-carb lifestyle you rarely get to enjoy a tasty dessert – this one will quickly become a favorite. Enjoy it with coffee after a delicious low-carb dinner or even as a “breakfast” pastry.
Danish pastries actually originated in Austria and were brought to Denmark in the mid-nineteenth century. It is generally known for being a light puffed pastry made of yeast-leavened dough, milk, eggs, and sugar. Layered with butter, the Danish from the bakery is found with icing, slivered nuts, jams, and marzipan and/or custard.
Our Danish replicates the original without using wheat flour, sugar, or high-carb jams. Even more amazing – there is no butter in the recipe. Yet, it is just as light, just as tasty, and all with 3 carbs per Danish. Although a bit of work and care is needed in preparation, we love these! We consider this one of our best recipes!
Ingredients
The main ingredient is cream cheese. It is used in the dough, filling, and even the icing. It will need to be softened, but make sure you use regular fat “original” cream cheese. The other main ingredient is almond extract. Again, it is used in all three parts of the recipe and it is “carb free” and it is the main flavor of our Danish. Mixed in the filling, it has a Marzipan taste!
Sweetness is added with the liquid Stevia drops. It may seem like a lot of sweetener, but the 15 drops in the dough is the equivalent of only 1 tablespoon of sugar. The filling has drops equivalent to 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of sugar. You can adjust the sweetness to your taste. The liquid Stevia we use is not expensive since a bottle contains approximately 800 drops. We use a powdered sugar substitute called Sukrin Melis for our icing since it mixes like baker’s confectionary sugar. Any powdered sugar substitute will work.
Preparation Tips
The key preparation step in our Low Carb Almond Cheese Danish recipe is in separating the eggs. The yolks form a creamy base for the dough. Whipping the egg whites to form stiff peaks is also essential to yield a light and airy pastry. A stand mixer works best. We do caution you not to fold the two together vigorously! You will remove the air pockets from the beaten egg whites and end up with a flat pastry.
If you have ever made “cloud bread” this is a similar process. With a little practice it will be easy to make a perfect low-carb Danish – Joanie has mastered this step. You can also use a variation of the dough recipe for a delicious dinner roll. Joanie has even formed an elongated shape and made “hot dog buns.”
Finally, we recommend using a baker’s piping tool to spread the icing. It is a handy kitchen tool for any baking project and adds that “pastry shop” look to your Danish pastries.
We finished making this Danish yesterday. They will keep well in the refrigerator for at least three days, probably longer (ours never stay around that long to find out). Pour yourself a cup of your favorite coffee or tea and enjoy this delicious Danish for dessert or breakfast. It is definitely Tasty Low Carb and one of our best recipes.
Low Carb Almond Cheese Danish
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 25 drops liquid stevia
- 1 egg yolk
Dough
- 4 egg yolks (save extra yolk for filling)
- 5 egg whites
- 15 drops liquid stevia
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- 1/4 cup Isopure unflavored whey protein
- 1 tablespoon almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds
Frosting
- 3 tablespoons Sukrin Melis (powdered sugar substitute)
- 2 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
Cream Cheese Filling
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the softened cream cheese, the almond extract, the liquid Stevia drops, and one egg yolk until smooth.
Dough
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Separate five eggs into whites and yolks. Save one egg yolk for the cream cheese filling and place other yolks and whites into separate mixing bowls.
- Add the liquid Stevia, cream cheese, and whey protein to the yolks. Stir in almond flour and mix until smooth.
- Beat the egg whites using a mixer with the cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the yolk mixture into the beaten whites.
- Spoon six mounds of the batter on each prepared baking sheet, flatten slightly. Spoon the filling into the center of the 12 batter mounds until evenly used.
- Sprinkled slivered almonds over the top of each batter mound. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before adding frosting.
Frosting
- Mix powdered sweetener (Sukrin Melis) with cream cheese. Add almond extract and stir. Add heavy cream and stir again until smooth. Pipe from pastry bag over slightly cooled Danish.
Can I used almond or coconut flour instead of the whey protein?
Thanks for the question, Lisa. The whey protein should produce a lighter and fluffier danish. Coconut flour or almond flour could be a substitute, but you would add more carbs and likely not see as much rise. We haven’t tried it without the whey protein – let us know how it works! We would think the coconut flour might work well. Joanie.