Breakfasts, Desserts, Recipes, Snacks | 22 comments
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These low-carb lemon danish pastries are so good it’s hard to believe they are an appropriate choice for a ketogenic, diabetic, gluten-free, grain-free or Banting diet!
The recipe for Low-Carb Lemon Danish Pastries
These low carb lemon danish pastries have a tender golden crust with a lovely sheen. Inside the delicious exterior lies creamy lemon filling with just enough tang to offset the sweetness. The end result is reminiscent of a pastry from a high end boutique bakery. These pastries are a perfect way to satisfy a sweet tooth without straying from a low-carb diet.
While these pastries taste great, they are also easy to transport. They make a quick, but satisfying grab’n go breakfast. Try putting them in a lunch box or packing them for a picnic!
Why use mozzarella dough?
These low-carb lemon danish pastries are made with mozzarella dough. Using mozzarella in pastry dough may sound strange, but the end product doesn’t taste like mozzarella at all.
Why use mozzarella cheese? Mozzarella is stretchy when it is hot and as a result, makes the dough stretch like bread dough. This results in a dough that holds together and is easier to roll out. Another benefit of using mozzarella in the dough is that the nutrient content of the cheese satisfies even the most ravenous appetite.
Tips for using mozzarella dough
There are a few tricks when using mozzarella dough. First, be sure to use grated part-skim mozzarella cheese. This type of cheese gives the dough more stretch.
Second, the dough only stretches when it’s hot, so it’s important to work quickly when rolling out the dough and forming the pastries. Having said all that, mozzarella dough is quickly becoming one of my favorite doughs to work with.
Final words
While mozzarella dough is becoming my favorite dough to work with, these low-carb lemon danish pastries are quickly becoming one of my favorite treats. Try them and see what you think!
Love lemon? You might also want to check out our recipe for lemon chia pudding, our lemon donut recipe, or this keto lemon mug cake from A Foodie Affair.
Enjoy!
-Annissa
Disclaimer: Some of the links on this site are affiliate links which means we make a small commission from any sales to help keep the recipes coming! You do not pay any more. Thank you for your support!
Low-Carb Lemon Danish Pastries
These low-carb lemon danishes are so good it's hard to believe they are an appropriate choice for a ketogenic, diabetic, gluten-free, grain-free or Banting diet!
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Keyword easy keto breakfast, keto danish, keto lemon danish, keto pastry, low carb danish, low carb lemon danish, low carb pasty
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 6
Calories 349 kcal
Author Harper Slusher
Ingredients
For the filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 3 Tablespoons stevia/erythritol blend
(Pyure 2X sweeter than sugar) - 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- zest of 1 lemon
For the pastry
- 2/3 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup stevia/erythritol blend (Pyure 2X sweeter than sugar)
- 1 1/4 teaspoon grain-free baking powder
- 2 large eggs (one is for egg wash)
- 1 1/2 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese shredded
- 4 1/2 Tablespoons butter
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350º Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Have a rolling pin and two sheets of parchment about 16 inches long within reach.
For the filling
Add cream cheese, stevia erythritol mix, lemon extract and lemon zest to a medium mixing bowl. Using a mixer, combine ingredients at low speed. When combined, turn mixer to high speed an blend until slightly fluffy. Set aside and prepare pastry dough.
For the pastry dough
In a small mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, stevia/erythritol mix and baking powder using a whisk.
Break one egg in a small bowl. Add vanilla extract and whisk briefly. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and combine using a spoon. The mixture will appear mealy and egg will not mix in completely.
Break the other egg in a small bowl and whisk briefly. Reserve for later.
Melt the mozzarella cheese and the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat stirring constantly. Don't worry if they do not combine.
When melted, remove from heat and add the dry ingredients to the cheese and butter, stirring vigorously. Place dough on a piece of parchment and kneed together until it resembles bread dough. Pat into a disk shape and cover with the other piece of parchment. Roll dough into a rectangular shape about 12" by 9". Remove top parchment.
Using a butter knife, gently cut the dough in half lengthwise, then into six equal pieces crosswise to make a total of 12 small rectangles.
Spoon the filling over six of the rectangles, dividing it equally among the rectangles and keeping the filling about 1/2 inch from the edges.
Carefully cover each of the rectangles with filling with a rectangle without filling. You may need to stretch it a bit to make it fit. Pinch the edges together and press edges with the tines of a fork. Place pastries on the prepared cookie sheet. Cut steam holes in the top of each pastry using the tip of a sharp knife.
Using a pastry brush, lightly brush a bit of reserved egg over the top of the pastries. Place pastries in the bottom third of the preheated oven. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Watch carefully as these pastries will burn quickly.
Nutrition Facts
Low-Carb Lemon Danish Pastries
Amount Per Serving (1 pastry)
Calories 349 Calories from Fat 279
% Daily Value*
Fat 31g48%
Carbohydrates 7.6g3%
Fiber 3g13%
Protein 9.3g19%
Net Carbs 4.6g
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Kerri on September 25, 2016 at 5:18 pm
I love your blog. I follow Keto and sometimes it is hard to find recipes that fit that lifestyle. Keep it up! everything so far has been wonderful! Hardly makes me miss ‘real’ sugar at all. 😉
Reply
Harper and Annissa Slusher on September 25, 2016 at 5:39 pm
Thanks so much! We’re so glad the you’ve been enjoying our recipes! Creating these low-carb/keto recipes has really helped us curb those sugar cravings, so it’s fantastic to hear that our recipes are helping others as well. Looking forward to sharing more with you!
-HarperReply
Janet on May 8, 2017 at 4:52 pm
What happens if I use regular mozzarella?
Reply
Harper and Annissa Slusher on May 9, 2017 at 7:32 am
Janet,
The reason I use part-skim mozzarella cheese for this recipe is that it tends to be stretchier. Any mozzarella cheese that has a good stretch should work.
-AnnissaReply
Rachel on August 28, 2017 at 3:14 pm
Have you tried freezing and reheating them? They are amazing. I’d like to make a bunch and freeze them like toaster strudels
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Harper and Annissa Slusher on August 28, 2017 at 5:10 pm
Rachel,
I glad you enjoyed them! I haven’t tried freezing and reheating them. They tend to be eaten too quickly in my house. If you try it, I’d love to know how it goes!
-AnnissaReply
Kelly on September 13, 2017 at 5:45 pm
Do you use preshredded cheese? Ive only ever used block cheese and shredded it myself and these types of “breads” never turn out.
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Harper and Annissa Slusher on September 14, 2017 at 6:16 am
Yes. I often use pre-shredded cheese for this recipe.
-AnnissaReply
Je-Nien on January 4, 2018 at 11:17 pm
I can’t wait to try these! What do you use for the drizzle on top? I have to make a few small changes for our SCD diet, but we love the mozzarella dough pizza crust (made with Brick cheese), so I’d love to find other uses for that. Thanks!
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Harper and Annissa Slusher on January 5, 2018 at 9:19 am
Hi Je-Nien! We used a thinned out version of our Low-Carb Cream Cheese Frosting. We just made a tiny batch for it. You could also use our orange-scented glaze. This one is dairy-free and you could substitute lemon zest and extract for the orange to make it work perfectly with the pastries.
-AnnissaReply
Karen on February 6, 2018 at 8:07 pm
First of all, let me say you’re mozzarella cheese dough is amazing! I’ve used it for tortillas and pizza on Super Bowl Sunday. I’m wanting to make this pastry recipe and wondering if I could replace the lemon extract for almond extract (and some slivered almonds)? Have you ever tried that?
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Harper and Annissa Slusher on February 7, 2018 at 10:10 am
Thanks so much for your kind words! You could absolutely switch it for almond extract. You may be interested in my bear claw recipe. This recipe uses mozzarella dough, but has a ground almond filling. It sounds like it might be just what you’re looking for!
-AnnissaReply
Geoff Cooper on September 5, 2018 at 9:33 am
When the recipe asks for 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, shredded, does that mean exactly that since 1 1/2cups mozzarella would weigh considerably more that 1 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella. I usually bake by weighing ingredients and 1 cup of mozzarella, for instance, would be 113 grams, whereas if I shredded some mozzarella and then measured 1 cup it would weigh much less. So is the recipe 1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella or 1 1/2cup mozzarella, which is then shredded?
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Harper and Annissa Slusher on September 5, 2018 at 3:13 pm
Hi Geoff,
It should weigh about 6 ounces. One of my future goals is to start adding weights to all of my ingredient lists with each new recipes. I think this will help with accuracy and also will help international followers make my recipes. I hope this helps!
-AnnissaReply
Monica on September 23, 2018 at 8:23 pm
I can’t use stevia or artificial sweeteners, can you recommend another sweetener I could use while still keeping the carbs down?
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Harper and Annissa Slusher on September 26, 2018 at 2:32 pm
Hi Monica,
Stevia and erythritol are not really “artificial”. Stevia is derived from a plant and erythritol is a sugar alcohol. You may consider trying one of the fiber based sweeteners such as “Just like Sugar” or Vitafiber. The sweetness level varies all of sweeteners, so you would need to adjust the amount. The sweetener I use in most of my recipes, Pyure, is twice as sweet as sugar. The difference in bulk can sometimes affect the recipe. Hope this helps!
-AnnissaReply
Mariah Byers on February 20, 2019 at 8:10 pm
I only have stevia. Can I make this work?
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Annissa on February 21, 2019 at 11:23 am
I think so. We used Pyure in the development of this recipe. This sweetener is twice as sweet as sugar. Pure stevia is MUCH sweeter than sugar, so you will need to decrease the amount significantly. Generally 1 teaspoon of powdered pure stevia equals one cup of sugar.
-AnnissaReply
Kathy kirby on July 13, 2020 at 6:07 pm
I want to thank you so much for so many great recipes .
I found out I am diabetic and trying to figure things out.
You have given me recipes and ideas
God bless you
KathyReply
Annissa Slusher on July 14, 2020 at 3:19 pm
You’re so welcome! I think you’ll find that eating low-carb can be delicious and satisfying. Good luck on your journey and I’m glad I can help.
-AnnissaReply
Suz on October 19, 2020 at 1:52 pm
These were good. I misread the directions and thought I was suppose to fold over each rectangle. Couldn’t get 12 so I got 9. I then discovered what I did. Baked the 9 at 340* Convection for 14 min. You can taste the filling as you make it, so I ended up with 1.5 tsp of juice of the lemon I got the zest from. And added 5.5 T of pwd. swerve The filling is to die for! I added 1/3 C granular swerve to dough and that wasn’t to much. Didn’t want to fuss with the topping so I sprinkled pwd. swerve on top. Next time I will make the frosting glaze. Does anyone know if they get soggy with the glaze when stored? Thank you for the recipe. Sorry but I don’t use pyurine sweetner, so I thought maybe someone else could use the info on using swerve.
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Annissa Slusher on October 20, 2020 at 11:19 am
Thanks for sharing your experience with Swerve. I’m sure others will appreciate it as well.
-AnnissaReply
