Grain Free Pecan Tassies are just as good as my original pecan tassies made here. Pecan Tassies were the first recipe I ever blogged and it has a very sentimental meaning for me.
These are my favorite Christmas cookie. This is the sugar free, low carb version, but it’s just as awesome. I can hardly stop eating them. And, just in case you didn’t know this, I now own a thriving cottage home keto bakery.
When I was a teenager, my brother and I lived only with my father. One Saturday night during the holidays a neighbor came over and showed us how to make Christmas cookies. No one baked in my family. No one ever made us cookies and without a mother at the time, life was harder, more lonely.
We both felt low with abandonment and it seemed like such a treasure to have a woman come to our house to make cookies with us. I can picture my brother taking a spoon and filling each cookie with a brown sugar, pecan mixture.
I remember feeling grateful that she took the time to write down the recipe and give it to me. Isn’t it astounding that it’s the small kindnesses that can fill a heart for a lifetime.
She wrote out the recipe for pecan tassies on a little index card and I still have it. I’m not that person who saves a lot of things, but this held a very deep memory that was happy at a time those were rare. We baked until late into the night, and since both she and my brother are deceased, I feel a need to carry this tradition on.
Grain Free Pecan Tassies are low carb, sugar free made with a Homemade Brown Sugar
Macros: Each Pecan Tassie is 117 calories, 2.5 g carbs, 2 g fiber (.5 carbs) 3 g protein, 11 g fat.
Homemade Brown Sugar
I recently discovered that it’s pretty easy to make a healthy, low carb brown sugar using blackstrap molasses. There are 14 carbs per tablespoon of Swerve granulated, making this only an additional 7 carbs per 12 cookies. It tastes just like brown sugar and helps
The original pecan tassies recipe tastes more like a mini pecan pie but with more of a pastry feel, as the dough is made with cream cheese. This grain free pecan tassie is more like a pecan bun or cake. It’s delicious and it freezes perfectly.
I made several test batches of Grain Free Pecan Tassies using the almond flour and we agreed that adding in a little bit of orange extract into the dough and adding cinnamon pushed the flavors more towards that orange cinnamon roll we love on Christmas morning. It’s so delicious.
The Dough Process
I use almond flour, egg, melted butter, a little swerve and some orange zest for the dough. I weigh the dough and divide it by 24. Each dough ball weighs about 12 grams. It then gets tamped down to make a pastry cup.
I’ve found through experience that these can sometimes stick so I cut little round parchment papers to place on the bottom of each cup. If you just made one circle on a parchment sheet and fold over several times and cut, you will quickly have small rounds. It really does help. I also spray the pan.
Sugar Free Brown Sugar
If you don’t have Swerve Brown sugar you can add black strap molasses (about 2 teaspoons) to filling.
The filling is easy to make. I use my homemade brown sugar, melted butter, chopped pecans and cinnamon. The filling is then spooned into the cups and topped with more chopped pecans. They only take about 15 minutes to bake to a golden brown.
Read more about why I love Swerve here.
Play around with this recipe for Keto Friendly Pecan Tassies
You can play around by adding chocolate chips or unsweetened coconut.
The fantastic news is that these freeze so well. Just take out and defrost for 30 seconds for a quick treat, or go ahead and make all the cookies you want in advance so the holidays are easy.
More Low Carb Christmas Cookies from Spinach Tiger
Keto Grain Free Pecan Tassies (sugar free)
Ingredients
- Some of these ingredients include Amazon links which I earn a commission on.
Make Dough
- 2 cups almond flour
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 2 tablespoons Swerve granulated
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
Make Filling
- 1 cup Swerve Brown Sugar See Notes
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 cup pecans divided
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- baking spray or extra butter for pan
Instructions
Make Dough
- Combine almond flour, cream cheese, butter, swerve, orange extract to make dough.
- Refrigerate wrapped in plastic, for an hour or up to two days.
- Make Filling
- Mix swerve brown sugar, eggs, melted butter. Set aside.
- Chop 1/4 of pecans for topping cookies. Set aside
- Chop remaining pecans very fine to mix in the egg butter mixture.
- Assemble
- Spray baking pan or butter, as dough can tend to stick. I cut out small parchment rounds for bottom of each muffin tin.
- Put dough into mini muffin pan. You should get 24. Press into bottom and form a cup.
- Pour the nut mixture into dough cup and top with some of the chopped pecans.
- Bake at 350 degrees F. for approximately 15 minutes or until golden.
Notes
Nutrition
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If i make 12 larger ones instead of 24 minis how should i adjust temp and time on the bake?
Not sure. Probably start with 5 more minutes, but keep a watch on them.
Theses are delicious, Thanks again and the story you shared about how you and your brother first baked this recipe is heart warming and even more delicious.
Aww thank you. I can still remember that night vividly.
Flavor was good but had an issue with them crumbling when taking out of pan.
I’m thinking on this and I just changed recipe to butter or spray the pan first. That should help.
I have an issue with the sweetener becoming crunchy. Do you know if that’s just the nature of the sweetener or if I’m doing something wrong? Also think I’m definitely making again but I think I will try and use the paper or silicone cups. As I did spray my pan real good and had issues with sticking and crumbling. Thank you for this very tasty recipe.
Do you mix all the dough ingredients together and then chill? You only say to mix the almond flour, swerve, and orange extract.
Yes, I just fixed that. Thanks for catching.
Can you tell me the nutrition facts for these – especially the carb count?
I just put in the nutrition. Zero net carbs. 2 carbs, 2 g fiber.
Thank you!