Deliciously tender almond flour cookie cups filled with low carb lemon pastry cream. A divine keto Easter treat! This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill.
My kids love Easter almost as much as they love Christmas and for the life of me I can’t figure out why. We don’t really go to any services and I keep a pretty tight lid on the Easter candy. There is some but not a lot and we fill the plastic eggs with other fun things instead. And while I might let them have a few chocolate eggs, I don’t let Peeps anywhere near my house (ugh!). I’m honestly not wild about the day myself. Perhaps it’s the required filling and hiding of aforementioned plastic eggs. And you never know what the weather will be like at that time of year. Could be beautiful, in which I will need to hide them outside and be on tenterhooks, hoping my kids don’t trample the flower beds. But if it has to be inside, I then watch in horror as they tear the house apart. They love the thrill of the chase, I guess. Me, I’m over it.
What I do love is coming up with recipes for Easter dinner or Easter Brunch. And always always Easter dessert. Because that’s what every celebration revolves around for me. Dessert. Not even eating it so much, which of course I enjoy, but the actual making and creation of it. The prepping, the baking, the presentation. The whole she-bang. And then, you know, the eating part doesn’t suck.
I was casting around for what I wanted to make this year and I kept seeing these pretty little cookie cups on Instagram, filled with cheesecake or whipped cream or pastry cream. Who doesn’t love sugar cookies, after all? I love them, my kids love them, and we love them all the more when they aren’t actually made with sugar. Can we even call them sugar cookies? Is that allowed? Well, they are sugar c00kie-esque so I am going with it. And since lemon is so timely for Spring and Easter recipes, I wanted lemon sugar cookie cups filled with a rich lemon pastry cream.
My low carb, sugar-free sugar cookies wouldn’t be what they are without Bob’s Red Mill low carb flours. It still sometimes astonishes me that almond flour and coconut flour can be made to look and taste like regular flour. Sure, it takes some ingenuity and I flatter myself that I have some of that. But really, it is remarkable. Kind of makes you think that wheat became the go-to flour for baking purely by historical accident. If we’d realized earlier that grinding up nuts and coconut could lead to just as tasty treats, maybe we’d all be a lot healthier. And gluten-free to boot!
Cook’s Notes: I tried the cookie cups both with and without liners in the muffin tins. I like the look of the smooth sides better, but the ones in the parchment liners released much more easily.
Lemon Sugar Cookie Cups
Ingredients
Cookie Cups:
- 2 cups almond flour
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tbsp butter softened
- 1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Lemon Pastry Cream:
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 3 egg yolks
- 6 tbsp confectioner’s Swerve Sweetener
- pinch salt
- 2 tbsp butter cut into two pieces
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
Instructions
Cookie Cups:
- Preheat the oven to 325F and grease a 12 cavity muffin pan very well (or line with parchment or silicone liners).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In another large bowl, beat the butter with the sweetener until well combined. Beat in the egg, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, then beat in the almond flour mixture until the dough comes together.
- Roll the dough into 12 even balls and place in the prepared muffin pan. Press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the muffin cups.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cups are puffed and the edges are just golden brown (they won't be completely firm to the touch yet but they shouldn't be mushy either!).
- Remove from the oven and re-shape the cookie cavities with the end of a wooden spoon. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then gently loose with a knife and transfer to a baking rack (if you baked them in parchment or silicone liners, they will be easy to remove).
Lemon Pastry Cream:
- Bring whipping cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks with sweetener and salt.
- Slowly whisk about half of the hot cream into the yolks to temper, then return the yolk/cream mixture back to the saucepan and cook until thickened, 4 to 5 minutes more, whisking constantly. Watch it carefully and do not let it curdle.
- Remove from heat and whisk in butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract. Sprinkle the surface with xanthan gum and whisk vigorously to combine. Spoon into the cups and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.
- Garnish with fresh berries and lemon slices.
Notes
Total fat: 24.68g
Calories from fat: 222
Cholesterol: 93mg
Carbohydrate: 5.56g
Total dietary fiber: 2.49g
Protein: 5.64g
Nutrition
Many thanks to Bob’s Red Mill for partnering with me to bring you this recipe.
More great low carb keto Easter Recipes:
Rosemary Garlic Grilled Leg of Lamb
