Keto Sugar Free Mince Pies

Name: Sugar Free Keto Mince Pies
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 53 min
Ingredients: 1 cup / 100g almond flour (100g); 1/4 cup / 30g coconut flour (30g); 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp xanthan gum; Pinch of salt; 2/3 stick / 70g butter (cold ); 2 tbsp / 30g cream cheese; 1 large egg + egg wash; 1 small apple (140g, peeled and cut into small cubes); ¼ cup / 20g flaked almonds (toasted and chopped); zest 1/4 lemon; zest of 1/2 orange; 1/4 cup / 20g sugar free dried cranberries; 1/2 tsp ginger; 1/2 tsp cinnamon; 1/8 tsp nutmeg; 3 tbsp golden erythritol; 2 tbsp / 30g butter (melted); 1 tbsp water; 1 tsp lemon juice (optional); 1 tbsp of brandy (optional)

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With a buttery, flaky almond flour shortcrust pastry and a low carb mincemeat filling, these Keto mince pies are the essence of a proper low carb Christmas!

My whole family LOVES mince pies. Especially my daughter goes crazy for them. As soon as they appear in the shops, she'll use her pocket money to buy a pack here and there, trying to figure out which one is the best.

I get it. Mince pies do taste great. The combination of the sticky dried fruit and the Christmas spices in the mincemeat and the buttery, flaky shortcrust pastry is quite irresistible.

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Carbs in mince pie
Ingredients
Instructions
Serve with
FAQ
Storage
Related Recipes
Recipe

Carbs in mince pie

However, the amount of sugar and carbs a supermarket mince pie contains is eye-watering, however little they are. One Waitrose Christmas Mince pie comes in at 36 grams of net carbs and 16 grams of sugar (that's equivalent to 4 teaspoons of table sugar)!

My kids buy what they want with their pocket money, but I did point out the different sugars in the last lot of mince pies she schlepped home. On top of the apple puree and the sultanas, raisins and currants which contain plenty of fructose all on their own, there was added sugar, glucose syrup and glucose-fructose syrup.

Companies like to use different types of sugar so they don't have to list it as the main ingredient. If you buy packaged ingredients it's always worth reading the label! (Or, even better, don't buy packaged ingredients.)

a mince pie on a plate with a bite taken out by a fork

Ingredients

How can you follow a keto diet or low carb diet AND enjoy mince pies? After all, they are one of the essential Christmas recipes, alongside sugar free Christmas pudding, keto fruit cake and low carb panettone.

When you keto-fy a recipe, you often need to come up with creative substitutions and keep an open mind. Meaning, these gluten free keto mince pies do not EXACTLY taste like regular mince pies. They are a touch fruitier.

But they contain all the same spices and textures we love about mince pies.

Check out the ingredients for this healthy mince pie recipe in the image below:

Let's get into the nitty- gritty. What's the secret ingredient of these diabetic mince pies? Dried fruit such as raisins or sultanas contain WAY too much sugar to make it into a keto dessert, whether it's December, Christmas or not.

Easy - I replaced them with homemade sugar free dried cranberries.

My dried cranberries are sweetened with allulose. They are super juicy and at 1.4g net carbs per tablespoon a fraction of sugary mincemeat!

Instructions

This section contains step-by-step instructions and photos that show how to make this recipe. See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

Fruit mince filling

Place everything except the brandy and almonds in a saucepan and simmer on a low heat until quite thick but with just a little moisture left.

Option to press with a fork if you want less chunky apple. Stir through almonds and optional brandy and allow to cool.

Shortcrust pastry

In food processor, pulse all the dry ingredients until combined. Add the butter chunks and cream cheese and pulse until combined. Add the egg and pulse to combine again.

Shape the shortcrust dough into a ball and wrap in cling film. Chill in the freezer.

Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper until 3 - 4 mm thick. Use a 7.5 cm cutter to cut out bases....

... and then stars.

mince pies without the top before baking, leaving the filling visible,

Now you assemble the mince pies! Grease a shallow muffin baking tray with butter and add a base. Add the mincemeat...

... and then your pastry lid! Press to seal slightly and brush with egg wash. And off into the oven they go, for about 18 minutes.

Top Tips

If the dough becomes too warm to cut out at any point, simply place it back in the freezer for 5 - 10 minutes to firm up.

Don't attempt to remove your lovely sugar free Christmas mince pies from baking tray until they are fully cooled! They are fragile while hot and firm up as they cool.

Serve with

These mince pies are perfect all on their own dusted with powdered sweetener.

But to take it up a notch, why not serve them with sugar free custard or low carb vanilla ice cream?

Lovers of a classic mince pie experience may enjoy eating them with brandy butter (that's hard sauce in the US). For this, add brandy to extra thick cream and sweeten to your liking.

Or serve them like me with a dollop of sugar free whipped cream!

sugar free mince pies stacked, one topped with cream

FAQ

Which sweetener can I use?

I used golden erythritol for the filling because I like the caramel flavour. Any 1:1 sugar substitute will work though. You could use monk fruit, xylitol or allulose.

How can I lower the net carbs further?

I wanted to stay close to the original recipe - that's why I used apple in the filling. However, to reduce this recipe from 6g to 4.4g net carbs per mince pie, swap the apple out with zucchini.
Use 1 ¼ cups / 150g chopped zucchini (peel and core them before chopping.) Also, increase the sweetener to taste as you're now missing the natural sweetness of the apple.

Can I use coconut flour instead?

Use the coconut flour pie base of this Strawberry Mascarpone Tart. It works well and is sturdy! Another nut free option is to substitute the almond flour with a mix of sunflower seed flour and sesame seed flour.

Storage

I stored my mince pies in a closed container in the fridge for 3 days and reheated them in the microwave before eating.

They are probably fine for 1-2 days at room temperature as well.

I did not try to freeze them, but it should work (up to 3 months). You may want to reheat them in the oven to ensure the shortcrust stays nice and crisp.

And just in case you're wondering - my daughter gave these healthy mince pies the thumbs up!