Low carb Cheese Danish

 If you have not had a cheese danish in over a year prepare to be excited.  I made the blueberry loaf for my husband but this one…. this one is for me.  Have you heard of the Atkins induction mock danish recipe? It’s a low carb standby.   There’s nothing similar to a danish in that recipe and the fact that it is microwaved just hurts even more!  What’s worse than all this is that there are perfectly innocent people who think this is their only option to get that tastiness in their life.  This just makes ketogenic dieting and low carb lifestyles look bad.

I don’t have the words to explain how much I love cheese danish.  It has to be the kind with the turnover-like dough.  I can’t stand the processed cakey kind that comes in a box.  This has to be fresh from the bakery.  When I made the stromboli for the first time my exact next thought after “Omg, what have I done??” was “I bet I can make a danish with this.”   I did.  

It wasn’t quite right for me although spectacular enough.  Could I do better? I started to work with the dough yesterday.  I made two different batches using baking powder and decided on the one I’m sharing today.  I am in love.  In love, in love, in love with food completely again! 

This is a three part recipe. Each part is simple though!  In order to not get overwhelmed you will want to get everything prepped first.  I made the powdered sugar in my coffee grinder with truvia.  It’s really very easy to do.  This is what my counter looked like before I started.  The only thing missing is the melted butter for the dough. 

 I started with the filling.  This comes together quickly.  Make sure your cream cheese is nice and soft and you won’t even need to use an electric mixer.  I used a whisk for every part of this recipe except for the dough!

Set this in the refrigerator until you are ready with the dough.

The dough is only slightly different then the stromboli dough but it makes a big difference.  A little bit of extra almond flour adds better flavor. The texture is spot on for a sweet treat.  I didn’t make a perfect square.  Don’t tell anyone!  I was too eager to try out a few different folding techniques to really care about all the edges.  

Check out that mini stromboli! So cute! It was a lot of fun trying new folds but only one of these is perfect for a cheese danish.  And the winner is….

All you have to do is fold the corners into the center and pile that filling on top!

 Did you feel that?  The world just changed a little bit.  Look at the corners on that danish!  It just needs frosting! I almost flaked out and covered it with melted store bought sugar free chocolate drizzled on top.  That would be good too but for this special post I went all out with a great cream cheese frosting. 

I’m out of plastic piping bags and used my small reusable bag for the filling.  If you use a ziploc too then cut the tiniest of holes at the top!

 This is not a mock danish.  This is a real cream cheese danish.  The days of the mock are over.  

Special notes for working with this cheese dough: 

Be sure to use cheese that is <1 carb per serving. If using a pre shredded cheese with over this amount of carbs per serving then it adds starches and powder (used to keep the shreds from caking together) to the dough which will not produce a dough like you see in the pictures above.  I also recommend using a regular shred for the cheese.  Finely shredded cheese does not melt well and will be difficult to work with.  For best results only use a mozzarella that has no more than 5 grams of fat per 28 gram (1/4 cup) serving.   If the dough is still too sticky then you can add in 1 tbsp coconut flour or a few tablespoons almond flour to dry it up some. You may need to extend the baking time by five minutes if this is the case!