Tiramisu fans, rejoice! These little cookie cups are a delightful way to enjoy the sweet coffee-soaked treat in a keto-friendly way. They are easy to make and great for sharing with friends. But be forewarned, you may want to keep them all to yourself.
Like anyone with tastebuds, I love the classic Italian layered dessert. And of course I have a wonderful keto tiramisu recipe that I adore. I also have a thing for little bite-sized desserts that I can take to parties and get togethers. Keto Cheesecake Bites are a particular favorite amongst my friends.
This recipe for Tiramisu Cookie Cups has been on my blog for a very long time. It’s one of those old neglected keto desserts that I had all but forgotten about. I am not sure why it caught my notice again, but I am glad I did.
I re-made them, tweaked the recipe just a touch, and took them to a potluck at my gym. They were a huge hit and disappeared completely by the end of the night. I only wish I’d thought to save a few for myself!
Why we love this recipe
- Tender cookies: The cookie crust is delightfully tender but still has some crispness to it.
- Creamy filling: These cups are fill with a delightfully creamy mascarpone mousse.
- Delicate coffee flavor: Just like real tiramisu, these cookie cups have a little espresso to offset the other flavors.
- Easy to make: Everything comes together quickly and easily!
- Low carb: These are a great low carb treat for any occasion.
Ingredient Notes
- Almond flour: Use a good, finely ground almond flour for the cookie cups for the best texture. If you need to be nut-free, you can try using sunflower seed flour, but you will need to add a tablespoon of lemon juice to offset the green reaction.
- Sweetener: If you want the cups to have some crispness, you need to use an erythritol based sweetener. But the filling should be made with powdered sweetener.
- Mascarpone cheese: This creamy Italian soft cheese has a naturally sweet taste. Most brands are made with cream so they have almost zero carbs per serving. But a few brands do have some carbs so make sure to read your labels.
- Heavy cream: This gives your tiramisu filling a light, mousse-like texture.
- Espresso powder: Instant espresso powder adds just the right hint of coffee.
- Sugar free coffee liqueur: You can also use a tablespoon of dark rum.
- Cocoa powder: Dusting the finished tarts lightly with cocoa powder, just like the classic dessert!
- Kitchen staples: Butter, eggs, baking powder and salt.
Step by Step Directions
- Prepare the cookie dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, espresso powder, baking powder and salt. Stir in the butter, egg, and vanilla until the dough comes together.
- Form the cups: Roll into approximately 1-inch balls and place into the prepared mini-muffin tin. Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of each mini-muffin cup.
- Bake the cups: Bake at 325ºF for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are lightly brown and the cookie cups are puffed up a bit. Remove and let cool 10 minutes, then gently press into the centers with a blunt rounded implement to reform the wells. Allow to cool completely, then gently loosen with a knife to remove from the muffin pan.
- Beat the mascarpone: In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone on medium low until smooth. Don’t over-beat, as it may separate. Beat in the sweetener and coffee liqueur until just combined.
- Whip the heavy cream: In a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream until it holds stiff peaks. Carefully fold into the mascarpone mixture.
- Pipe into the cups: Spoon or pipe filling into cooled cookie cups. Sift cocoa powder over top and refrigerate 20 minutes to firm up.
Tips for Success
Mascarpone is more finicky than cream cheese because it doesn’t have any fillers or emulsifiers. So you need to be very careful not to over-beat it or it will curdle and separate. Just beat it on medium low long enough to smooth it out.
If you don’t have any mascarpone, you can use 4 ounces of cream cheese and 1/4 cup of sour cream. You can use all cream cheese but it tends to be much heavier.
If your mini-muffin pan is not very non-stick, I recommend using parchment or silicone mini muffin liners.
Sweetener options: As noted above, you will want an erythritol based sweetener if you want a cookie that has a bit of crispiness to it. Allulose sweeteners or blends with allulose will make the cookie very soft, and it may cause them to darken more. Keep your eye on them if you use it!
Frequently Asked Questions
Cream cheese and mascarpone are not the same thing, although they do have some similarities. They are both soft cheeses with a very mild flavor. However, mascarpone is made entirely of heavy cream, with a rich buttery flavor. Cream cheese is a mixture of cream and whole milk, and has a tangier flavor. Additionally, most commercial cream cheese contains stabilizers such as xanthan gum.
You can make these cookie cups 1 to 2 days in advance. Because of the creamy filling, you need to keep them refrigerated until ready to serve. You could also make just the cookie cup part well in advance and freeze them, unfilled. Then you can fill them an hour or two before serving.
This keto tiramisu cookie cup recipe has 5.5g of carbs and 2.0g of fiber per serving. That comes to 2.5g net carbs for 2 cookie cups.
Espresso Powder
This super-fine instant espresso powder can really improve your baked goods. It also boosts the chocolate flavor in other recipes. I love the King Arthur Baking espresso powder.
Keto Tiramisu Cookie Cups
Equipment
Ingredients
Cookie Cups:
- 2 cups (224 g) almond flour
- 1/2 cup (100 g) erythritol sweetener
- 1 tsp espresso powder or instant coffee
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp (85.21 g) butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Tiramisu Filling:
- 6 oz (170.1 g) mascarpone cheese, room temperature
- 1/3 cup powdered sweetener
- 1 tbsp sugar-free coffee liqueur, (or dark rum)
- 1/4 cup (59.15 ml) whipping cream, chilled
- Cocoa powder for sprinkling
Instructions
Cookie Cups
- For the cookie cups, preheat the oven to 325ºF and grease a mini muffin tin (24 mini-muffin capacity).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, espresso powder, baking powder and salt. Stir in the butter, egg, and vanilla until the dough comes together.
- Roll into approximately 1-inch balls and place into the prepared mini-muffin tin. This recipe will make exactly 24 so if you've made your balls too big or too small, go back and redistribute the dough.
- Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of each mini-muffin cup. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges are lightly brown and the cookie cups are puffed up a bit.
- Remove and let cool 10 minutes, then gently press into the centers with a blunt rounded implement to reform the wells. Allow to cool completely, then gently loosen with a knife to remove from the muffin pan.
Tiramisu Filling
- In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone on medium low until smooth. Don't over-beat, as it may separate. Beat in the sweetener and coffee liqueur until just combined.
- In a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream until it holds stiff peaks. Carefully fold into the mascarpone mixture.
- Spoon or pipe filling into cooled cookie cups. Sift cocoa powder over top and refrigerate 20 minutes to set.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Bite-sized desserts are the best–especially, now, with Tiramisu! And, what a spectacular discovery that a little guar gum acts as an effective emulsifier for mascarpone. Love this dessert recipe, Carolyn!
I was cruising the Internet today looking for fermentation products (I’m making sauerkraut). I stumbled on a Mascarpone recipe that differs from yours in one particular ingredient: it includes tartaric acid (not cream of tartar). I can’t say whether his formula would break down or not, but it’s worth checking out: http://www.stumptownsavoury.com/search/label/cheese about half way down the page.
These are such pretty little bites!
What a fun idea, making Tiramisu cookie cups! Very original 🙂 I’ve never worked with mascarpone, so reading you’re story was kind of like, wait, what?? You’ll have me all nervous the day I decided to try it out for the first time! At least I know the emulsifier trick now… thanks for the tip!
It doesn’t always happen with mascarpone so give it a go and at least you know how to fix it if it does!
Such a cute, bite-sized dessert!
These look fantastic. Tiramisu is one of those desserts I can never get enough of.
I love that we were both thinking Tiramisu this week Carolyn!! These look fabulous!
These are so fun. I would start to eat “just one” and then 12 would go missing!
These are beautiful!
Oh wow. I’d have been curled up in a ball if I’d seen my hard work separate like that. Kudos to you for pressing on and finding a way to fix it. Thank you, too, for sharing it with us! The tiramisu cups look delicious. I’m tempted to make them today, but Hubby wouldn’t be able to stop at one or two. The fact that they’re so easy to serve up would have him finishing the batch in one sitting. Someday though.
Making an actual tiramisu never seems to work for me (long story!), but I love the flavors of tiramisu, so these cookie cups are perfect and won’t fall over! I’ll have to try making mascarpone by hand too.
These are super cute and look delicious! Thanks for solving the great mascarpone mystery! I have had the same problem – the first time I thought it was the sweetener, the second time it was just the mascarpone and the same thing happened so I was stumped! It’s so delicate that I’ve found I can only mix it by hand, very gently – any mechanical mixer seems to annihilate it instantly! Good to know there is a way to bring it back if it happens to me again though! I’d never heard of the stabilizer trick – think xanthan gum would work the same as guar gum?
Yes, I just happened to have guar gum instead of xanthan this time. I think xanthan would work fine!
Good to know about the mascarpone! I’ve never had any separating out experiences but I have a container in the fridge and who knows how it will behave. These tiramisu cookie cups are the perfect bite-sized desserts!
So stinking cute! I feel like these are both a good and a bad idea for me- typically the smaller a yummy treat is, the more I feel I can eat. And these look delicious! Yay to the google gods for supplying you with the emulsifying trick!
LOL, yes, I do that too. If it’s bite-sized, I often think I can have several in one go!
Wow! This sweetener looks like a dream come true! Good for baking too, YAY! Is almond flour lower in carbs than regular flour? These look soooo amazing, what a GREAT idea!
Yes, almond flour has only about 1/4 of the carbs of wheat flour.
Such beautiful little bites, Carolyn! Thanks for sharing.
What a great idea! You always have the best ideas on low carb things!
How cute are these! Love little bite desserts.
Could these be any cuter? I think not.
These are so cute! Love these little cups!