Sugar Free Pecan Pie Tarts
I love pecan pie. It is so rich and indulgent I used to only make it once a year for Thanksgiving. But now that I have a sugar free, low carb, keto recipe, I plan on making Sugar Free Pecan Pie Tarts much, much more often.
Pecans are my favorite nut. I also love pine nuts and cashews, but pecans are number one. This is probably obvious due to the plethora of pecan recipes I already have: Pecan Praline Brownies, Toffee Pecan Turtles, Pecan Pralines, Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns, Pecan Cup Cookies, Gorilla Bread, and Candied Pecans.
Pecans definitely win the nut contest. They taste great and meet all my dietary needs without making me feel deprived.
If you haven’t been eating a keto diet for too long, it’s normal in the beginning to feel like you are missing out. That’s what I am here for! I will help you find the best recipes that taste as close to the regular thing as possible but in a much healthier way. These pecan pie tarts are the prime example!
How to serve Sugar Free Pecan Pie Tarts
These are amazing paired with my Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream or Vanilla Ice Cream. You can serve them at room temperature or warm them up. They are one of my favorite breakfasts warmed up for 30 seconds in the microwave and paired with a fresh cup of coffee.
How to Make an Almond Flour Crust
You only need four ingredients to make the crust for these tarts:
- Almond Flour
- Coconut Flour
- Cold Butter
- Cold Water
Toss those into the food processor and hit the button! Just make sure to process long enough that the dough forms a ball. It will look dry and crumbly at first but comes together as the food processor breaks down the almond flour releasing the natural oils.
Does The Butter Really Need To Be Cold?
Yes, it does. In order to make the crust flaky and tender, you have to use cold butter. Trust me; you will appreciate how it turns out when you take that first bite.
Low Carb Pecan Pie Filling
- Softened Salted Butter – the salted butter helps balance the sweetness.
- Sweetener – I use a blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia in my recipes.
- Vanilla – maple extract is also delicious in these!
- Molasses – I use molasses the same way you use an extract, for flavor, not for sweetness.
- Heavy Cream – coconut cream or half and half should work in please of the heavy whipping cream.
- Egg – necessary to hold the pies together.
- Pecans – I like using half chopped and half whole for a variety of textures.
How To Make Sugar Free Pecan Pie Tarts
Step One: Heat the oven to 350 degrees, then prepare a muffin tin by greasing 8 holes with butter or shortening. Prepare the crust dough and divide it into 8 sections and press it into the muffin tin cups.
Expert Tip: After recipe testing, I found that I didn’t need to pre-bake the crust for these at all! It can bake on the bottom rack in the oven at the same time as the filling and turn a lovely golden brown.
Step Two: Beat the butter and sweetener together in a bowl, using an electric mixer. Once smooth, add in the molasses, vanilla, egg, and heavy cream. Fold in the chopped pecans and divide among the baked crusts. Top with the whole pecans. Bake for 20 minutes or until the centers are no longer jiggly and they become golden brown.
Step Three: Let the pecan pie tarts cool completely. Then take a knife and run it along the edges to loosen up the edges. Pop them out of the muffin tin and enjoy!
Can You Eat Molasses On Keto?
While you shouldn’t eat tons and tons of molasses, the very small amount in these pecan pie tarts is acceptable. It’s fine to leave out the molasses if you don’t feel comfortable adding it. However, you only need 1 teaspoon, and that is divided among the 8 tarts. I prefer the flavor that the molasses adds to the mini pecan pies.
Is It Okay To Freeze Sugar Free Pecan Pie Tarts?
Yep! Freezing them is a wonderful way to preserve them, so you have them on hand and ready to go whenever you need a treat. The important thing to do is to wrap them well with plastic wrap before putting them in an airtight container. This keeps them fresh longer and tasting their very best.
Don’t forget to thaw them in the fridge before serving, then enjoy! They will last around 2-3 months in the freezer.
Do I Have to Use Aluminum Liners?
No, but I highly recommend it. This is the best way to ensure the crust stays intact. It’s a lot harder to pop these out of the cupcake tin without liners.
Can I Swap The Pecans?
The key ingredient is truly the pecans, but if you would rather use another kind of nut, there is nothing wrong with that. Almonds would be heavenly! Consider using walnuts or hazelnuts too. Be sure to let us know what you liked best and how it turned out if you swap the pecans.
Prefer a full-sized keto pecan pie? Here ya go! ——–> Keto Pecan Pie and Low Carb Chocolate Pecan Pie
What are your favorite nuts? And your favorite nut recipe? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
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Sugar Free Pecan Pie Tarts
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 1/3 cups almond flour
- 1 1/2 tsp coconut flour
- 2 tbsp cold butter
- 1 1/2 tsp cold water
Filling:
- 6 tbsp softened butter
- 3/4 cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp molasses ***
- 1 oz heavy cream
- 1 egg
- 1 cup pecans divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line 8 holes of a regular sized muffin tin with aluminum liners and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Put the almond flour, coconut flour, and butter in a food processor and pulse until crumbs form. Add the water and pulse until it comes together in a dough. This can take 2-3 minutes on high power. Just keep processing until it comes together. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Press into the bottom and halfway up the sides of the prepared muffin tin cups.
- Set aside 24 whole pecan halves to top the tarts. Coarsely chop the rest of the pecans.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl combine the 6 tbsp butter and sweetener. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the vanilla, molasses, heavy cream, and egg. Beat until combined. Stir in the chopped pecans. Divide between the crust shells. Top each with 3 pecan halves.
- Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 20 minutes until no longer jiggly and golden brown. Cool completely.
- I prefer to make these a couple of days ahead of time. The flavor improves after being in the fridge for a bit. I rewarm them in the microwave for 20-30 seconds (remove the aluminum liner before microwaving).
Notes
Nutrition
Originally Published June 11, 2016. Revised and Republished December 13, 2020.
New to THM and was wondering if this would be an S?
Yes
Honey works fine but looking to try this today. I make tossed salad with everything in it and at serving top with sliced strawberries, toasted pecans and feta cheese crumbles. Yum. I’m hopping this sweetener won’t be as hard as honey. Thanks!
This recipe is ahhmazing! It’s the first dessert that I have liked after starting thm 2 months ago (I almost wondered if I accidentally slipped in some sugar. ;)) ! Thank you!
Can I substitute honey for the artificial sweetener?
The sweetener I use is natural (a blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia) and I’m not sure honey would work. If you try let me know how they turn out 🙂
I used the same kind of sweetener and it crystallized in the middle. What did I do wrong?! Would suggest cooking the filling in a pot before hand to melt the sweetener?
Sugar alcohols do tend to crystallize but I haven’t noticed that in this recipe. Did you refrigerate them?
Since we eat ketogenic what could I use instead of molasses if anything I know it’s a small amount but on keto any sugar is not good? Hope there is something that would work looks yummy otherwise
You can just leave it out.
Would THM baking blend work in place of the almond and coconut flout?
It should. Use a little less.
The taste is exactly like real pecan tarts. However getting them out of the muffin tray was impossible. It ended up being a delicious nightmare. Next time I will make the recipe in ramekins.
I have never had a problem getting them out of the muffin tin….I put them into the fridge for an hour and take them out..since it is SF sweeteners there is nothing to be sticky so they pop out! I don’t even prebake the crust before filling. I just fill and bake for 20-22 minutes. Refrigeration is the key.
I can’t get mine out either…stuck solid! Made them for Thanksgiving for my guests and I am going to have to have them just scoop from the tin to the bowl (have been refrigerated for 5 hours, no difference). They are delicious though!
I run a thin knife around the edge to pop them out.
Truly Delicious!!! I’m always very skeptical knowing I will not LOVE or even like anything with a low carb crust! I typically am so disappointed I don’t even eat it and end up throwing it away. NOT THIS TIME!!! I didn’t even want to share!!! The only tweak I made was I added protein powder in place of coconut flour and I added a little sweetness to the crust… mostly out of fear I would already hate it!! Boy was I wrong! So good and crunchy like a crust should be!!! Mmmmmm
Thank you!!!
Have made these twice in the last week. Delish! As in OMG!!! The first time I didn’t prebake the crusts and just baked the whole thing 20 min. Turned out perfectly…so the next time I did the same thing but tweaked the filling…omitted the cream, added 1 tablespoon jack Daniels whiskey to the goo and added 4 sf choc. Chips to the bottom of the tart. I then chopped my pecans but not a cup, more like 1/2 cup (less carbs.) Sprinkled that over the goo! I call them Derby pie tarts.
Hi. What is your sweetener blend that you used, or can I use liquid or powdered Splenda? Thanks.
Hi Lorraine, I use a blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia. http://joyfilledeats.com/sweetener I’m not sure if splenda would work in this recipe.
If you do half and half. I did Pyure and Splenda, it worked well for me.
What is the final carb count?
Well they tasted delish, but the filling bubbled out into the pastry when cooking – this make them stick to the pans. Must definitely wait a day or two so they harden up in the fridge to remove from tins. . Also this pastry was really, really good – it’s much better than the usual LC melted butter & almond flour pressed into the tins. It is almost like ‘proper’ shortcrust/biscuit pastry (I did add 1 teasp of natvia and a pinch of salt to the pastry).I am going to try it as a base for LC lemon curd tarts and I might add a pinch of xanthan gum. Thank you for sharing your recipes.
I have a recipe that I use it as a base for lime curd tarts 🙂
would baking blend work in place of the coconut and almond flours? I only have it right now?
Hi Diana, I think so. I do prefer the flavor of using mostly almond flour in crusts. You could also just substitute the dough from these: https://nanaslittlekitchen.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/sugar-free-southern-pecan-tassies-lowcarb-s/
Not me everyone have just used a shot glass hehe
I use the little plastic measuring cups that come with liquid medicine sometimes. That’s actually what I used for this and then I converted 30 ml to 1 oz before I posted. I knew 30 ml would confuse everyone. lol.
1 OUNCE heavy cream? Really? Couldn’t you just tell me how much this is in teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, etc.?
I’m sorry Ruby. One ounce in a liquid measuring cup equals two tablespoons. I have a small liquid 1/4 measuring cup that shows tablespoons, ounces, and cups. It is very helpful. Have a nice day. -Taryn
Thank you for this recipe!! If people don’t understand baking/cooking equivalents, they should learn to use google. 😛
lol… you ARE on the internet