This Low-Carb Keto Cheese Danish is made with Fathead dough that is grain free, tree-nut free and made without sugar! Just 3 g net carb per serving!
Low-Carb Cheese Danish
You might be wondering why the word fathead is in the title right? Maybe some of you know what I'm talking about and you are super excited for this keto recipe!
If you've never heard of Fathead dough before, you may be very new to a low-carb diet or keto diet. It's a simple dough that is basically made of CHEESE! It's a cheese dough!
Yep. You heard right!
The original low carb cheese dough has almond flour in it. Not even quite sure who the original creator of the Fathead dough is, but a reader found this and thought that might be the origin.
My keto version is very far from the original amazing recipe with the ingredients, but it all starts with mozzarella cheese!
Carbs in Traditional Cheese Danish
If you've ever gone to a coffee shop for a simple cup of coffee while on your low carb or keto diet, and then spied a delicious looking danish with a flaky crust, you may have had serious FOMO!
If you're tracking your macro carb count each day on an app like Cronometer, you hopefully decided to stick with just the coffee and skip that sweet treat!
Total carbs in a sugar filled coffee shop cheese danish in a 100 gram serving has 33.8 grams of carbs, and 345 calories.
No need to give in to temptation, when you can make our keto cheese danish with just 7 total grams of carbs and 296 calories!
If you've been following me long enough, you may know that my youngest son has a tree nut allergy so almond flour for family keto recipes are out of the question.
Instead I use coconut flour. You might be thinking, oh boo, I hate the taste of coconut, but don't ditch this amazing recipe just yet!
My little guy is the greatest coconut detector of all and if he can't taste it, neither will you. Plus the flavor is all in the cream cheese filling of this danish anyway.
Can I Use Almond Flour instead of Coconut Flour?
Swapping coconut flour with almond flour is tricky because about ¼ cup coconut is equal to about 1 cup almond.
Coconut also requires more liquids and eggs so for this recipe, you would need at least 2 cups almond flour and reduce eggs to 2.
New Updated Food Processor Method for Fathead Dough
The typical method that most recipes use is to melt the mozzarella cheese and cream cheese in a microwavable safe bowl, then stir together with the rest of the ingredients.
I found it quite difficult to work with the dough and truly incorporate the flour with the melted cheese, so I created this newer method which makes it a lot easier to work with.
Directions for Old method
- In a microwaveable safe bowl add the mozzarella cheese and cream cheese.
- Microwave 1 minute and 30 seconds. Stir until combined.
- In a small bowl, whisk flour, the eggs, vanilla extract and vanilla stevia together until combined.
- Add this to the cream cheese mixture and continue to stir. If you're having a hard time, wet hands to combine by hand.
Directions for New method
Place all ingredients into a food processor and process until combined. Remove and place into a microwavable bowl and microwave for 2 minutes or double boiler to melt mixture over low heat on the stove.
Stir again to combine and then flatten to make the danish shape.
Low Carb Sweetener Options
You don't necessarily need the dough to be sweet, but I think it makes it feel more like a sweet cheese danish with some sweetness to it.
To make this a sweet dough, we do need to add a low carb sweetener. I prefer to use liquid stevia for this dough as I feel like a granular sweetener wouldn't absorb as well into the dough and leave the puff pastry like dough a bit grainy in texture.
A powdered low carb sweetener might work better than granular if you don't want to use liquid vanilla stevia. Monk Fruit also has a liquid option that does not include any erythritol sweetener in it.
I would use a ½ cup of your sweetener in the dough and filling. You can always taste and adjust as you go along. Here's my Sweetener Guide & Conversion Chart to help you decide how much to use.
A creamy cheese danish pastry like this has been on my foodie bucket list for a long time.
I just never thought I could make it well with any of my favorite doughs, that was until I started making recipes with fathead dough!
This dough is a GAME CHANGER!
I've made some pretty cool keto recipes with this fat head dough, but this one is my first sweet recipe using mozzarella dough as opposed to savory.
More Fathead Dough Recipes
Cloud Bread Individual Danish Pastries
and NOW this EPIC keto danish recipe!
Check out my new Cranberry Cream Cheese Danish which is the perfect keto breakfast pastry for the holidays!
You can even get pretty versatile with the cream cheese filling if you like by adding in some pureed fruit or fresh fruit to the cream cheese.
I just wanted it plain and simple, vanilla flavored cream cheese filling to enjoy with my morning coffee!
My teen and I tried this right out the oven and were not fans of warm cream cheese so it's best if you refrigerate it for a bit, tastes even better the second day!
The entire family loved this keto pastry danish and continue to ask for it again and again, even the picky one!
Keto Cream Cheese Danish
Low Carb Keto Cream Cheese Danish {Nut Free}
Ingredients
Dough
- 4 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla liquid stevia
Filling
- 12 ounces cream cheese
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla liquid stevia
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Place all ingredients into a food processor and process until combined. Remove from food processor and place into a microwavable bowl and microwave for 2 minutes or double boiler to melt mixture over low heat on the stove.
- Spread mixture onto a piece of parchment paper lined onto a baking sheet or use a rolling pin between two pieces of parchment.
- Slice on sides of dough at an angle. See video. Set aside to make filling.
- Add the filling ingredients to a stand mixer or use a hand mixer and blend on high until smooth.
- Spread the filling down the middle of dough and fold sides across the middle.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.
- Allow to cool about 10 minutes before serving if enjoying warm or cool completely, cover with plastic wrap or store in an airtight container and refrigerate.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Marcia Little
Brenda, this recipe is wonderful, haven't tasted it yet, it is cooling still but smells so god. I added sf raspberry jam to the filling, about a half cup, I am a raspberry-a-holic. Lol, and it thinned out the filling almost too much, will add another egg next time to thicken it. Yum, thank you.
TRACIE
I'm beyond excited abt this recipe!
It's in the oven now
Not only is this my first try at a danish but also my first time making any type of fathead dough
Feel like I did pretty good. Of course I had to cut the recipe way down as it's just me and my husband and I don't trust myself to not eat it all lol
Thanks for sharing amazing recipes and the videos are so helpful too
Brenda
Thanks!
Grace Smith
I love it! Nice sized portion and some chia strawberry jam and this rocks! I was wondering about adding flax for just a little "bite" . Since I havent tried that before, I did your way. I had xylitol (2 tsp) and it was not sweet enough but im afraid to add more without some liquid. I really need to turn the pan midway. The darker side came out kinda dry. I did overcook it a little maybe. The jam made it sweeter (erythritol thank goodness- no tummy upset). Overall this is exceptional and will be my new go to "bread". Thank you for posting!
Jackie
This looks great! Do you think I can substitute half of the coconut flour for flax seed meal? Coconut is a bit higher in carbs even though I love it!
Brenda
possibly but not sure since I've not tried it. maybe almond flour would be better. my youngest has a tree nut allergy so I can't use almond meal.
Mek
Lovely. Made this but I used fresh ricotta instead of cream cheese!!
Meredith
Hi! Just found your blog today. So many amazing recipes! The Danish recipe looks awesome and I may make it as is but I was really hoping to find something with a ricotta based filling. Then, voila, I found your cannoli recipe. Do you suppose it would work to swap the cannoli filling for the cream cheese filling? Thanks!
Brenda
That sounds like a fabulous idea!
Meredith
Awesome, I'll try it!
Kelly
I made this today. Delicious . I went a step further and drizzled some sugar free icing on it. Thank you so much for your recipe
Kim
I have a guest room in my house. You can move in. We (read: you) can cook for me all day long! It's a really nice room, seriously.
I made these a little less American (read: sweet) and only used a tsp of sweetener in the dough and in the filling with some sf raspberry jam. They tasted more like cheese and less like sweet dough that way, with the raspberry to cut the cheesiness, but that's how I like my danish. I agree, much better cold.
I was craving when I found your site and you rock. I didn't have quite enough mozzarella for the dough, even with halving the recipe so I used 1.5c. mozzarella and 1/4 c. dry pressed cottage cheese (farmers cheese) and it worked really well, I think it made the dough a tad less pliable, but again, added that nice sharp cheese taste.
Bobbie Wittich
Just wanted to comment on this recipe! I had some reservations about the dough. I used whole milk mozzarella. The dough went together beautifully! I substituted almond extract for the vanilla, used Just Like Sugar (baking type) as sweetener. I topped the completed Danish with sliced almonds so it resembeled the baked good called Bear Claw. Cooling now, but the smell is wonderful! Can't wait to taste it!
Thanks for making this public!
Shiro
I made this today and it is delicious!!! I didn't realize that it makes 12 servings though (my fault). It was HUGE! Going forward I will make only half the recipe. I was not sure if to use 1/2 cup sweetener in the dough and another 1/2 cup in the filling or 1/2 cup split between the two. I ended up using 1/4 cup powdered erythritol plus 1/2 tsp stevia in the dough and another 1/4 cup erythritol plus 1/2 tsp stevia in the filling. This made it sweet but not too sweet. I also added low carb mixed fruit chia jam on one half of the pastry and that was the favored half. Next time I will put jam on the whole thing.
THANK YOU for such a great recipe!
Jackie
Will be trying this and wondered about the sweetener sub in the comments. Thanks to Shiro for giving a little detail on subbing erythritol & of course Brenda for taking the time to post it !!
Ads
Bello. This looks really good but I want to know if you think it would be good to replace the mozzarella forma ricotta
Brenda
Sure I think that would be great.
Bonnie
I just made this ... smells good but not very pretty! Questions:
1. My dough was very dry and not pliable. I rolled it out okay, but each strip broke rather than bending. I used 144g coconut flour (1 cup). I was tempted to add some moisture, would cream/butter help, do you think?
2. I baked it for 28 minutes, still not sure that the cream cheese filling has cooked. And my filling looked like a lot more than on the video.
Thanks, Bonnie
Bonnie
It tastes great - added some leftover sf cherry pie filling and sprinkled cinnamon sugar over the top ... Just need to figure out this dough ... it has potential but was too dry to roll thin
Shiro
I noticed the same thing about the dough not being very pliable. It kinda worked if I pushed the dough up from underneath the parchment paper and then peeled it off then it was above the filling. I might try using half the coconut flour next time. I figure coconut flour needs a lot of moisture so 1 full cup may have made it too dry? With the mozzarella being so gooey it should make the dough more pliable.
I'm glad I was not the only one who ended up with too much filling. I thought I had whisked it too much and made it too fluffy. I used it all anyway and miraculously it did not leak out of the pastry.
jVicki
I have found that when fathead gets cold it get tough and harder to roll out. I saw someplace that if it is hard to stir, before adding the egg to pop it back into the microwave for a short time and warm it back up before adding the egg. I try to work quickly with it, only using it so far for pizza and nacho chips. I also only made it
with almond flour, so I have not had an issue with it
Melody
So in addition to the ingredients listed in the recipe you also add 1/2c sweetener to both the crust and the filling? Is that 1/2c each? Is that an occasional thing or highly recommended? Thanks!
Brenda
I only added it because I felt a typical danish is much sweeter than my recipe so a little would help make it more authentic to a traditional danish, certainly could be left out.
Tina
Sorry, I looked again and it was pinned to a board that was labeled Paleo. My apologies 🙂
Tina
The pin highlighted that this recipe was Paleo. Cheese is NOT Paleo. Please update your pin as it is deceptive. :/
RachelH
I made this the other day. I had some leftover cherry (No Sugar Added) pie filling, and added that.
Everyone loved it.
Brenda
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Jackie Burrell
Where did you find no sugar added cherry pie filling? I'd love to know. Thanks !
Debbie T
Walmart carries their own Great Value brand of no sugar added as well as the Duncan Hines/Comstock and Duncan Hines/Wilderness brands of no sugar added pie fillings. At least, that's where I've bought them in the past. I believe all 3 are sweetened with sucralose which is why I stopped using them.
Margaret Tombs
I've made fathead dough with flaxmeal and it worked fine, it just looks browner.
Brenda
Ok thanks, good to know!
BH
Which brand of flaxseed meal do you use? We have a nut and coconut allergy here so I need an alternative. Thanks! 🙂
Brenda
I used Bob's Red Mill.
RachelH
OMG, this is good. I had some leftover no sugar added cherry pie filling, and cherry cheese Danish is AMAZEBALLS!
Brenda
Awesome, thanks for coming back to share!
MLCDz
Oops! Is there a way to delete my previous comment? I just re-read/looked up the fathead pizza crust and crackers recipes, and even Tom Naughton says they're not his! They are the source that you originally posted Cooky's... Sorry about that. If the other one got posted, I apologize for the misleading information. If it didn't please don't publish either comment. Thanks.
Brenda
I deleted the previous comment, thanks!
Beth H
sugarfree and creamy.... 🙂 I'm going to add a thin layer of SF Jam and take your suggestion to refrigerate until chilled and enjoy tomorrow morning. What's a Danish if not a little sweat. Great with a hot cup of coffee. Thanks for the work into these recipes.
Brenda
Thanks! Let me know how you like it!
Mary
This looks good, and I am looking forward to trying this with berries. Thank you for all of your creative work! I love cooking with stevia. I've never heard of "fat head dough," but "cat head biscuits" are biscuits as large as a cat's head.
Kathleen Ruth
I appreciate recipes that use coconut flour. There are no nut allergies in my family but almond flour is SO expensive that I prefer to use coconut flour whenever possible.
This sounds amazing and I'm making it for tomorrow's breakfast.
Tanya
This is a great breakfast treat. And so easy to make! I whipped it up before bedtime and we had a marvelous breakfast treat with my coffee the next morning.
Thanks so much for sharing these healthier recipes!
Linda
This looks so delicious. Did you use full fat mozzarella or part skim to make the dough?
Jo Gard
I'm afraid I'm leaving this site as it is just as disappointing as all the rest I've tried. sugar free ha. if this is sugar free why put in a sugar alternative all the time. that to me is a massive fail. so you failed this time around.
Tanya
This is a great breakfast treat. And so easy to make! I whipped it up before bedtime and we had a marvelous breakfast treat with my coffee the next morning.
Thanks so much for sharing these healthier recipes!
Kathleen Ruth
That's what "sugar free" means, you know--sweets that have a sugar alternative! Stevia is natural (in fact I just used the last of what I grew last year) and a GREAT alternative sweetener!
This recipe is one I'm going to try for my sister's upcoming visit.
Cynthia
Can you tell me how you process your stevia? I've grown it for two years and saved and dried the leaves but not sure what to do with them
Brenda
I would just grind the leaves in a blender and store in a mason jar.
Mary McKinney
Kathleen, When you grow the stevia how do you process it to eat? I have always wanted to do this. Thanks!
raye
@jo gard -
MASSIVE FAIL on YOUR part. Even meats and leafy greens are not completely sugar free, but this is a blog about replacing sugar and grains.
Really hard to replace sugar with meat or cheese.
Doreen
Go away rude person. Didn't you say you were leaving?
CJ
@ Doreen LOLOL!!
Patrolchemist
You know nothing. Its sad.
Maurcheil
What a hateful statement. Sugar free does not mean sugar alternatives are not a wonderful substitution, so if you are having a difficult time with this concept then it might be in your best interest to go ahead and find another forum that is better suited to your desires
Marilyn Johnson
What exactly are you searching for?
Deeva
That's not a FAIL. Maybe this isn't what you need, then I hope you find what works for you.
There are those that because of health reasons need an alternative, but still want to have a sweet taste.
Doreen
Rude.
Jennifer
Jo, are you six years old?
Tiffany
Jo Gard, I dont understand your comment. Why would anyone make dessert type treats without trying to sweeten it with a sugar free alternative? Were you looking for baked goods that are not sweetened with a sugar free alternative? If so, I think that would be a huge and disgusting fail. Savory chocolate chip cookies etc? Maybe I misunderstood.
jackie
Alternatives are NOT sugar.. Big difference....
The Bee
Uh because cheese danish is sweet. Don’t know where you’re from, but danish is a pastry, not a savory dish. DURR!!!
Gris
What, exactly did you expect in a low carb danish recipe? The sweetness comes from somewhere.
Laura
What were you expecting? A recipe sweetened with fruit or something completely not sweet? Maybe try making it without sweetener or better yet, find a savory recipe...