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.
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Low Carb Almond Cheese Danish – A Light Dessert That Tastes Better than a Bakery!
Low Carb Almond Cheese Danish is a delight that tastes like it’s from a bakery! 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
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium12
30
minutes30
minutes164.7
kcal1
hourThis Low Carb Almond Cheese Danish dessert pastry will amaze! It is so light – it will melt in your mouth and dazzle you with a delicious almond flavor.
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Ingredients
- Cream Cheese Filling
8 ounces 227 g cream cheese softened
1 teaspoon 1 teaspoon almond extract
25 drops 25 drops liquid stevia
1 1 egg yolk
- Dough
4 4 egg yolks save extra yolk for filling
5 5 egg whites
15 drops 15 drops liquid stevia
1/4 teaspoon 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 ounces 85 g cream cheese softened
1/4 cup 59 g Isopure unflavored whey protein
1 tablespoon 1 tablespoon almond flour
1/2 teaspoon 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup 27 g slivered almonds
- Frosting
3 tablespoons 3 tablespoons Sukrin Melis powdered sugar substitute
2 ounces 57 g cream cheese softened
1/4 teaspoon 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons 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.
Nutrition Facts
- Calories: 164.7kcal
- Carbohydrates: 2.9g
- Protein: 5.1g
- Fat: 14.9g
- Saturated Fat: 7.6g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 1.67g
- Cholesterol: 114.8mg
- Sodium: 121.6mg
- Potassium: 109.3mg
- Fiber: 0.3g
- Sugar: 1.5g
- Vitamin A: 1230IU
- Vitamin C: 0.2mg
- Calcium: 49.3mg
- Iron: 0.5mg
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This recipe was phenomenal! I actually used regular sugar as I am only grain free and it turned out great.
I watched a video about folding and my dough was perfect.
Do you have the recipe variation for making rolls??? I would love to try it!
So pleased you enjoyed my recipe. You could try skipping the filling (although that makes the recipe) and not flattening the dough mounds. Experiment with the cook time, perhaps trying a small batch first. I experiment all the time in the kitchen, so let me know if you give-it-a-go andy the results . . . Joanie.
Thank you for the recipe. Tasted really good. Although my batter was thin and it all ran together when baking. Next time I will use a Tbl of coconut flour, see if this thickens it Moore.
Usually, if that happens, it is because the “gentle fold” was a bit too strong. The recipe can require a bit of technique. I do hope your second try works out well, we love the almond flavor and presentation. One of my husband’s favorites. Thanks for the comment . . . Joanie.
This was very tasty, however the batter was super thin even after whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks.
But! They worked out decently and taste really good:) I would make again but whip the egg whites longer.
Thabks for the delicious recipe!
Yes, the egg whites are the key. Thanks so much for your comment. I hope they work out even better for you on the next batch . . . Joanie.
I believed this is one of the best low carb dessert I’ve ever made. I had the same whey protein in Vanilla flavor, yet the dough came out delicious. Thanks for sharing kisses
Thank you so much for the kind comment. We love the light, airy, melt-in-your-mouth result, and the almond flavor. You hit on one of our favorites. Thanks again, hope you enjoy more recipes . . . Joanie.
okay so I wanted to try this recipe because me and my wife have been doing low carb almost a year now. I was very excited to do this recipe. I only wish that you guys have a video to see how the boat is constructed. I have been baking for a couple of decades now in this is the first time I’ve ever tried a Danish. In all the years that I have been making pastries. and the part for the dough is a little confusing. In any of than I wanted wasting all of my ingredients I will try again the recipe looks absolutely delicious. Because I wanted to avoid ones that use mozzarella cheese. If you guys could at any time I know this is old but if you guys could post a video of this it would really help.
Sorry, we do not have a video. We spend so much time in the kitchen, taking and developing the photos, that we have not done videos. If you have specific questions on the dough recipe I would be happy to help. Just be gentle when folding in the fluffy whites and the yolk mixture. I hope you do try the recipe . . . thanks, Joanie.
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.
Hello, I supplemented with coconut flour but I added about 1/8 more than asked and it turned out pretty good!
The beauty of recipe creation is certainly substitutions. I do it all the time. I appreciate your kind comment and that you enjoyed the Danish. Definitely one of our favorite recipes . . . Joanie.