These “Sugar” Crusted Almond Pastries are sweet and flavorful despite actually being sugar-free! They are a great low carb treat for Sunday brunch or an afternoon snack.

“Sugar” Crusted Almond Pastries – Low Carb, Keto, Sugar-Free, Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, THM S

This was one of my favorite recipes growing up. As a teenager messing up my mom’s kitchen was my favorite pastime. I loved cooking but hated doing the dishes. And teenagers. I’ll just leave it at that.

My mom had a Pillsbury’s Best of the Bake-Off cookbook that was my go-to for easy recipes. The Sugar Crusted Almond Pastries in that book were one of my top choices. They are very simple, just sugar, slivered almonds, and butter on top of canned crescent rolls. At this point in my life, sugar and crescent rolls are out so I needed to work on my own low carb version.

These are wonderful with a cup of coffee or tea. I’ll admit that I ate a few for lunch today. It wasn’t the healthiest lunch ever but it was a delicious lunch. Tomorrow I’ll have a nice big salad to make up for it.

My husband also gave these two big thumbs up. He’s not a big dessert guy so when he’ll eat a second and a third of something I know it is good.

How to make Almond Pastries

The closest thing I’ve had to a crescent roll is the pastries I’ve made with a mozzarella dough. I knew that with that dough I could replicate the pastries I adored. This dough is based on my Chocolate Crescent Cookies and Cinnamon Rolls with a few minor changes.

Mozzarella in Pastry Dough?

The dough I used for these was inspired by the first mozzarella dough I ever saw. The Cheese Danish on Up Late Anyway.

If you’ve ever made a fathead pizza before you can make these bars. My trick for this type of dough is to mix it in the food processor. This helps incorporate all of the melted gooey cheese without leaving strands that don’t get mixed it.

If you don’t have a food processor you can certainly mix it by hand but it will take some elbow grease.

Pastry Dough Ingredients:

mozzarella

Glazed Crumb Keto Donuts

Healthy Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls

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“Sugar” Crusted Almond Pastries

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

35 mins

Total Time

45 mins

 

These "Sugar" Crusted Almond Pastries are sweet and flavorful despite actually being sugar-free! They are a great low carb treat for Sunday brunch or an afternoon snack.

Servings: 12 pastries

Calories: 146 kcal

Author: Taryn

Ingredients

Pastry Ingredients:

• 4 oz mozzarella
• 1 oz cream cheese
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1 tbsp Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet or my sweetener
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 egg

Topping Ingredients:

• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 2 tbsp butter softened
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet or my sweetener, divided

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a small baking sheet. Mine is a 7 x 9.5 toaster oven size. An 8 x 8 baking dish would work as well.

2. Put cheese in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave one minute. Stir. Microwave 30 seconds. Stir. At this point, all the cheese should be melted. Microwave 30 more seconds until uniform and gloopy (it should look like cheese fondue at this point). Mix in the egg, almond extract, 1 tbsp sweetener, and almond flour. You may need to knead it by hand to thoroughly incorporate the ingredients. Once it is a uniform color press it out into the baking pan.

3. You can use the same bowl to mix the almonds, softened butter, and 1/4 cup sweetener. Spread this out on top of the dough. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tbsp sweetener.
4. Cool for at least 10 min. Cut into squares and serve.

Recipe Notes

A baking mix of equal parts almond flour, coconut flour, and ground golden flax may be used in place of the almond flour.

Notes on Sweeteners: 

I use my own blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia in my recipes. This is twice as sweet as sugar. It is comparable to Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet and Truvia.

To sub in Swerve use 1.5 to 2 times the amount of sweetener called for.

 

To sub in Pyure or Trim Healthy Mama Super Sweet use half the amount of sweetener called for.

 

Substitutions will work in most recipes. They may not work in candies, such as caramel.

Nutrition Facts

“Sugar” Crusted Almond Pastries

Amount Per Serving

Calories 146 Calories from Fat 108

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 12g 18%

Saturated Fat 4g 20%

Cholesterol 31mg 10%

Sodium 97mg 4%

Potassium 78mg 2%

Total Carbohydrates 3g 1%

Dietary Fiber 1g 4%

Sugars 0g

Protein 5g 10%

Vitamin A 4.1%

Calcium 8.6%

Iron 3.4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Originally Published on May 11, 2016. Revised and Republished July 26, 2019.