Sweet keto chocolate pastry with a tender almond flour and mozzarella crust. Yes, mozzarella! This delicious fathead crust makes an amazing low carb and grain-free pastry.
Anyone who really knows me knows that I can be a little obsessive about things sometimes. It’s not the OCD sort of obsessive; I am not overly neat or super organized and my side of the closet often looks like a bomb exploded in it. My car is a little dirty, I don’t shower every day, and sometimes I reuse a pot or a pan multiple times before washing it. I figure I am saving water that way. So clearly neither hygiene nor personal space are my forms of obsessive. But I do get obsessed with ideas and concepts. A certain something will get lodged in my brain and I will think about it constantly. I will worry that subject like a dog with a bone, unable to shake it or let go until it reaches some sort of conclusion or climax, good or bad. Usually good. This trait can be a strain for others, especially because I often have to discuss my obsession with someone at length. I can’t get it out of my head until I’ve gone over it a few times, from every conceivable angle. I am sure I’ve driven a good friend to the brink once in a while. And my husband puts up with a lot of it. Give the man a medal.
When it comes to food, this obsessiveness usually plays out to good, sometimes great, results. I see an idea on another blog or I notice something about the interplay between my ingredients, and I begin to obsess about how I can use that quality or idea in some other way. I don’t notice it at first. I don’t realize that the idea has lodged itself firmly into my brain, waiting to take it over when I least expect it. It just gets in there and more and more of my thoughts become its slave, turning toward it when I really ought to be thinking about something else. Suddenly I find it’s all I can think about, and I just have to play with it, try it out, and put it into action. The good thing with these food obsessions is that I don’t need to bother friends and family with them. I can just get into the kitchen and mess around. Seriously better than talk therapy!
So my latest obsession is the mozzarella-based low carb dough that I first saw on Up Late Anyway. I couldn’t believe that a danish could be made with mozzarella cheese, even as I saw readers and followers raving over it. Since I don’t particularly like danishes, I didn’t bother to try it out myself at the time. But then I made Maria’s stromboli from The Ketogenic Cookbook and I was amazed at how that dough came together and how much it was like REAL DOUGH! I knew I had to get playing around with it and seeing what else I could come up with.
I had so many ideas for this dough, I barely knew where to start. And then I came across these delicious Chocolate Swirls from Lori of Recipe Girl. I’d saved them to a Pinterest board last Christmas with the idea of making them over, but I was never quite sure about the crust part.When I saw them this year, I nearly shouted out loud. They were the perfect vehicle for test driving the mozzarella dough. Of course, I made plenty of changes to the dough itself. I wanted it a bit bigger and a little doughier, so I used a combo of almond and coconut flour and increased everything, including the mozzarella.
The result was so delicious, so tender and chocolatey. They weren’t really like cookies, but more like lightly sweet, chocolate filled pastries. We ended up eating the slices for breakfast with our coffee and it was like having a low carb pain au chocolat. I made two logs and froze one of them and I can say that this works wonderfully as well. Oh, my friends, consider making these for Christmas morning or another holiday brunch. You deserve it! And there are many more recipes to come with my version of mozzarella dough…oh, so many good things to come.
Chocolate Walnut Swirls
Ingredients
Chocolate Walnut Filling:
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoon powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
Dough:
- ½ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ cups shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
- 5 tablespoon butter melted
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Powdered Swerve Sweetener for sprinkling
Instructions
Chocolate Walnut Filling:
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine heavy cream and powdered sweetener. Whisk to combine and bring to just a simmer. Add chocolate and let sit 5 minutes, then whisk to combine. Add vanilla extract.
- Set aside while preparing dough.
Dough:
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a large baking mat with parchment paper or a silicone liner.
- In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, coconut flour, sweetener, and baking powder. In a large saucepan, melt cheese over low heat until it can be stirred together.
- Add butter, egg, and vanilla extract and stir to combine. Stir in almond flour mixture until dough comes together (keep heat on low). It will still have some large streaks of cheese. Turn out dough onto a parchment-lined surface and kneed until uniform (this only takes a little kneading).
- Divide dough into two even pieces. Cover first pieces of dough with another piece of parchment and roll out into a long rectangle, about 6 by 12 inches.
To assemble:
- Spread dough with half of the chocolate mixture, leaving a 1-inch border on the long sides and a ½-inch border on the short sides. Sprinkle with ¼ cup chopped walnuts. Starting at a long end, carefully roll up dough and pinch the seam to seal. Pinch ends to seal.
- Repeat with remaining dough and remaining chocolate mixture. **Rolled dough logs can actually be frozen at this point. Thaw completely before baking.
- Place logs on prepared baking sheet and bake 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown and just firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool completely (don't cut into it while still warm or your chocolate filling will ooze everywhere!). Sprinkle with powdered Swerve and slice into ½ inch slices to serve.
Notes
Total fat: 15.33g
Calories from fat: 137
Cholesterol: 31mg
Carbohydrate: 4.02g
Total dietary fiber: 1.98g
Protein: 5.50g
Natalia says
Hi Carolyn, everytime I tried a fathead dough, the result was somewhat disappointing. I think it has to do with the mozzarella cheese. I am not in the US and suspect our cheese is not the same… would you mind sharing a link to a typical mozzarella cheese used in the US for fathead? Hopefully I can find the equivalent here in Europe. Thanks!
Carolyn says
Yes, that’s very likely the case! https://www.safeway.com/shop/product-details.237050733.html?cmpid=ps_swy_por_ecom_goo_20210831_71700000086489851_58700007371561187_92700066024788946_MerkleENT&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgaGgBhC8ARIsAAAyLfFadPs-knHc1rZujiPn31rSo8t_gqrB3v_1mIS93baHx8D0bC9XWQAaAupqEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
dharmadiva says
Love your recipes! I’m wondering if there is anyway to make this dairy free? I guess the main issue is the mozzarella in the fat head dough? Would love some other possibilities if you have any ideas? Thanks!
Carolyn says
Sorry, I really don’t see this working without the mozzarella.
dharmadiva says
okay thanks for replying Carolyn, I guess I am ever hopeful for a dairy free fat head type dough recipe!
Carolyn says
If I ever manage it, I will shout it from the rooftops!
Karen says
I got so excited when I saw this. We used to have a nut roll that had walnuts and sugar filling with cinnamon….and I thought I could leave the chocolate out to to try to make something similar. Alas, ‘fathead dough’….and I’m dairy free. Sigh. Thanks for all the wonderful recipe options. It is amazing what you have in here for us to choose from!
Carolyn says
I am sorry… I wish there was another good pastry that worked like fathead.
Gena says
So, I have a question about the coconut flour. Every other fathead dough recipe uses only almond flour, why do you use both in this recipe? Does it change anything from the almond only recipe, such as rising or texture or flavor?
Carolyn says
TEXTURE! I’ve made this with all almond and it’s okay but better with both. It’s more crumbly with the almond flour, since that’s much more coarse than coconut flour.
Rivka says
Can you make a large batch of this dough and freeze it?
Carolyn says
You can but it tends to lose a little of its elasticity.
Sabrina says
This looks fabulous but I’m not a huge fan of walnuts (I know, weirdo!). Do you think almonds would be good?
Carolyn says
Almonds or pecans or just leave them out.
kohmarss says
I made these last night and they turned out ok but the dough turned out very bitter and I could taste the cheese. Maybe I added too cheese much or maybe I need more sweetener.
Carolyn says
What sweetener did you use?
Wendy says
Made these this morning. They are very good though making them requires some craftmanship.
Really like them!!! Thx for the recipe.
Jessica says
So with the cheese is this a sweet or savory item? Thanks
Carolyn says
Sweet but you can also make a savoury version of this dough.
Nicky K says
I tend to use xylitol as a sweetener as I find other sweeteners have a funny aftertaste I can’t stand. I live in London and don’t think we get swerve here. Do you know how much xylitol would be the equivalent?
Carolyn says
It would be about the same but I can’t be sure of the consistency.
theresa says
Hi dont think we have swerve sweetener in SA. See you use it in a few recipes. Any replacement suggestions
Carolyn says
Any erythritol based sweetener will do.
Sheryl says
This sounds sooooooooooooooo yummy! I can’t wait to try it!!
I do have a question: it says to roll it to 6″x12″ and then roll it up from the long end….That would make the roll 12″ long, correct? and then do it this the other half again? So 2 logs each 12″. Then it says to cut in 1/2″ slices but it says it makes 30 slices all together, but if my calculations are correct it would come to 48 slices. I’m not trying to be nit-picky, I just want to be sure I’m getting all I can out of my serving!!
Carolyn says
Good point, my slices may have been closer to 1 inch. Or 3/4 inch. I honestly didn’t measure them exactly.