Keto Almond Croissants

Yes, I did that!

Keto Almond Croissants.

I remember the first time I made my original Keto Croissants Recipe I was SO ecstatic and excited. I thought there was no way I could ever improve on them.. but here we are in 2021 with my new “Best Keto Croissants” Recipe and now this one.

Disclaimer: This post contains some affiliate links. If you choose to purchase a product through one of these links, I may receive a small commission. This post is also sponsored by Modern Mountain Flour.  

Every time I think these keto croissants can't get better..they just do!

These keto almond croissants are the BEST on the internet. I'm not tooting my own horn but my low carb croissant and keto pastry adventures have been some of my proudest blog mom moments.

I truly put in the effort to develop and test these recipes. These croissants are the only REAL keto croissant recipe I know of. Most others use fathead dough or another alternative that just doesn't provide the true croissant texture and flavour we all know and love.

I can promise you, these taste like real croissants. Even my harshest critic (My Mom, lover her) approved as well. That's like winning the top chef award in my family, so trust me when I say these are GOOD. LOL. 

These croissants use a dough made with vital wheat gluten, oat fiber and lupin flour.

There's no almond flour in the croissants themselves. This combination of flours provides a much lighter and softer pastry. 

Vital wheat gluten is a very cool protein extracted from wheat. It is completely keto friendly if you do not have a gluten allergy but you can read my entire article on it here if you are still curious about how it's used on a keto diet and what it is. 

Next we have oat fiber which is almost entirely fiber and is great for adding “bulk” to a recipe while keeping things light and fluffy and not adding any weird flavour.

Then we have the star of this recipe and many of my most recent recipes… LUPIN FLOUR. (This includes keto tortillas, soft pretzels, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls and more!)  

Lupin flour is the hottest new low carb flour on the market. It's very “up and coming” at the moment as more people have discovered it. It's made from lupin beans and like oat fiber, it's almost entirely fiber, meaning almond ZERO net carbs. It's also high in protein, which is great! 

Lupin flour is so important because it's what sets apart my 2021 croissant recipe from my original keto croissant recipe. 

Lupin flour provides something almost no other low carb flour can… and that's SOFTNESS. 

Lupin flour gives you that doughy, soft, pull-apart texture you've been missing in all your keto desserts. 

All you need is a small portion to achieve this effect so it's quite cost effective when compared to almond flour or coconut flour!

My absolute favourite brand is Modern Mountain Lupin Flour because it has a more sweet flavour than other lupin flours I've tried AND it doesn't cause your desserts to turn yellow (since some lupin flour is VERY yellow in colour).

They have been kind enough to give me a discount code to share with you guys, so if you do purchase it, you can use 10SAMMYSAM for 10% OFF on amazon.com OR on the Modern Mountain Flour Website.

Using all of these ingredients mentioned above, you get the absolute best, softest, most delicious keto almond croissants you will ever eat!

Not to mention the fact that these are filled with our homemade keto almond paste and topped with slivered almonds and additional powdered sweetener.. (I'm currently dreaming about enjoying these again since our entire batch disappeared in about 24 hours).

I hope you all enjoy this keto croissant recipe as much as my friends and family did!

*P.S. I highly suggest reading through the tips sections and/or watching the video for this recipe as it will make the process much easier than going by the printable recipe alone!*

Ingredients In Keto Almond Croissants Recipe

• Vital Wheat Gluten – The base for our croissants. This provides a structure and texture similar to that of regular bread because it is the protein extracted from wheat flour. It is very low carb and of course, high in protein. It is completely keto-friendly UNLESS you have a gluten allergy. You can read more about it HERE.
• Oat Fiber – A very high fiber flour that adds bulk to our recipe without adding a noticeably strong flavour. It's also lower in calories. If you absolutely cannot find this ingredient, you can TRY ground psyllium husks or flax meal as a substitute.
• Lupin Flour – My newest favourite ingredient. I use the Modern Mountain Flour Brand (use 10SAMMYSAM for a 10% discount on amazon or their website). THIS is what makes our croissants so soft. Lupin flour is amazing for softening low carb breads and pastries. It is also a high fiber flour. It's not a nut per-say but it is from the legume family so if you have a peanut allergy, try a small amount first if you think it could cause an allergic reaction. This ingredient should not be substituted.
• Coconut Flour – This just adds the last bit of fluffiness and thickness to the dough! If you don't have it, 1 1/2 tbsp or 18g of tapioca starch can also work. You could even give 1 1/2 tbsp or 18g of cornstarch or arrowroot starch a try.
• Allulose – This is my favourite sweetener for breads and pastries! For one thing, it blends super well into them. But it also has this nice, not over-powering sweetness that tastes more natural in breads. You can also use a monkfruit sweetener or swerve but I do think allulose tastes best if you can use it!
• Baking Powder – This is kind of like our back-up. If for some reason our yeast doesn't fully cause the croissants to rise, the baking powder can help! This is also important because keto ingredients tend to need more “lift” than white flour baked goods because keto flours are “heavier” or “denser”.
• Xanthan Gum – You might be able to get away with these without the xanthan gum but I wouldn't recommend it. It helps give chewiness to the bread without adding additional vital wheat gluten.
• Active Dry Yeast – I use dry active yeast and always bloom it before adding it to dry ingredients. I find it works best in keto baked goods this way.
• Inulin – This is a really cool, high fiber ingredient you can use in place of sugar in bread recipes! If you don't have it, you can simply use 1 tsp of sugar in place of it. All it does is give the yeast something to eat so it can activate!
• Cinnamon – Optional, I just like the flavour it adds to the croissant dough!
• Butter – You can use salted or unsalted, just be sure to add a bit more salt if using unsalted!
• Heavy Cream – This helps to give our croissants a richer flavour. You can also use half and half, whole milk or 18% cream if you don't have heavy cream.

Tools I Used To Make Keto Almond Croissants

• Parchment Paper – I prefer this to making the croissants on a counter for easy clean-up!
• Large Silver Baking Sheet (you can use any kind of baking sheet, silver baking sheets just help to prevent the bottom of the croissants from browning as quickly)
• Canned Olive Oil or Butter Spray for greasing
• Non-Stick Rolling Pin
• Pizza Cutter (Super helpful for cutting dough neatly!)
• Silicone Brush (for brushing croissants with egg)
• Plastic Wrap (To wrap up your dough while it chills)

Tips For Making Keto Almond Croissants

• When first forming your ball of dough, remember not to over-mix and cause the butter chunks to melt. You want to use your hands to get everything to stick together as best as you can without smushing the butter! 
• The longer you can refrigerate your dough between each stage in the instructions, the better your keto almond croissants will come out! 1-2 hours between each stage is best and recommended but you can do 30min if you are in a hurry. You can even refrigerate the finished the croissants overnight (after you brush them with heavy cream and cover them with plastic wrap) then bake them off in the morning.
• When you first roll out your rough dough into a rectangle, it may not be perfect because the butter is still chunky. This is okay! Simply push messy edges back into the dough and continue with the rolling and folding process. It will smooth out as you go.
• As I mention in the full recipe, your dough may become difficult to roll out because of the gluten. This recipe doesn't give a lot of resting time as to speed up the croissant-making process. So if you can't roll the dough out anymore, roll it out as much as you can, wrap it in saran wrap and let it chill for 30min – 1 hour to give the gluten time to relax, then try rolling it out further OR simply slice the rectangle in half and work with one half at a time (as seen in the video for this recipe).
• This recipe makes quite large and filling croissants if you make 7-8 (one sliced with filling could easily make a meal!) Even small croissants are quite filling because of the protein and fiber content in these keto croissants, compared to regular traditional croissants, so just keep that in mind when shaping them!
• These croissants do not need a long rising time at room temperature. It's best to bake them after just 10-15min of them sitting covered at room temperature. If you want the BEST possible texture and to give the croissants the full amount of time to proof, then refrigerate them over-night after brushing with heavy cream and covering with plastic wrap. Then let  them sit for 10min, (covered still) at room temperature prior to removing the plastic wrap and baking them off in a pre-heated oven. 
• Bake these croissants until golden brown. Typical croissants bake at a higher temperature but keto pastries tend to do better with a slight temperature decrease. 
• If you are worried about the raw egg white in the topping, simply place these back in the oven and broil the tops for less than a minute.

How To Store The Keto Almond Croissants / Re-heating Instructions

• You can store these keto almond croissants at room temperature in a ziplock bag for up to 3 days (after that they just lose a lot of their freshness). 
• For the best results, I recommend freezing these and removing only the ones you want when you want them! I take one out of the freezer every morning and microwave it for ~25s on a plate until warm. You can also let it thaw at room temperature or re-heat wrapped in tin-foil in a 350*F oven just until warm.

Keto Almond Croissants

Serves: 7-8 large croissants (or 12 medium croissants)

Ingredients:

Keto Croissants

• 2 tbsp warm water, 30ml (NOT hot)
• 1 tbsp active dry yeast, 9g 
• 2 tbsp inulin, 16g
• 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp vital wheat gluten 100g
• ~1/2 cup allulose, 80g (or 1/4 cup of a sweetener that measures like sugar)
• 1/3 cup oat fiber 42g
• 1/3 cup lupin flour, 32g (USE 10SAMMYSAM for 10% off)
• 1 tbsp coconut flour 8g 
• 1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional, I like the flavour it adds!)
• 1/4 tsp salt (1/2 tsp if using unsalted butter)
• 1 cup cold salted butter, 250g
• 6 tbsp cold water, 90ml (add a touch extra ONLY if needed)
• 7 tbsp cold heavy cream, 105ml
• additional vital wheat gluten for flouring surface
• heavy cream for brushing

Almond Paste

• 1/4 cup salted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup almond flour, 85g
• 1/4 cup powdered monkfruit sweetener, 60g
• 2 tbsp egg whites, 30g (or 1 large egg white)
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, add the 2 tbsp warm water, yeast and inulin and use a fork to gently stir everything together. Cover with saran wrap and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together all of your dry ingredients including; vital wheat gluten, allulose sweetener, oat fiber, lupin flour, coconut flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, cinnamon and salt.
3. Next, chop the cold butter into rough small chunks (they don't have to be even) and add them to the bowl.
4. Use a fork or dough blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients and make the pieces smaller. (I like to use the end of the fork to poke down on the pieces. This may take a bit. Don't worry about the pieces being perfectly small!) 
5. Once the pieces are about the size of mentos as I like to say, you can then add the cold water and heavy cream, along with the yeast mixture from earlier (which, should now be quite foamy).
6. Stir everything until the dough starts to come together, then use your hands to form a rough ball. Our goal is not to fully blend the dough, but simply to get it to stick together in a ball shape with chunks of butter still easily visible. Add an extra tablespoon of cold water only if needed.
7. Next, wrap your large ball of dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to chill for 30min -1 hour.
8. Meanwhile we can make the almond paste. Add all of the almond paste ingredients to a bowl, then mix well(a hand mixer works best for this) until everything is combined. Then cover and refrigerate until you need it.
9. After 30min – 1 hour, you can un-wrap the ball of keto croissant dough and place it on a greased and lightly vital wheat gluten-floured surface. (I prefer to use two pieces of greased and floured parchment paper for this). If not using parchment paper on the bottom, at least use one piece on top of your dough. This will prevent the rolling pin from sticking to the dough.
10. Roll the dough out length-wise to get a long rectangle. Fold one side of the dough inwards, then the other like folding a brochure or letter. Gently push any rough edges in to straighten out the shape of your dough. Then turn it 90*. flour the surface and top of the dough again and repeat the first step of rolling it out into a long rectangle..then again fold it like a letter. Repeat this process 4-5 times in total. Your dough may get tough to roll out. If this happens, simply refrigerate and cover the dough for another 30min – 1 hour to allow the gluten time to relax.
11. After these initial 4-5 folds, refrigerate your dough for 1 hour. Then repeat for 2 more folds or just until your butter is almost completely blended and streaky rather than chunky. If your dough is super tough to roll, you can roll it into a thick rectangle and cut it in half. Then roll out each half separately to make the process easier. 
12. Once you are done with rolling and folding, make sure your dough chills for at LEAST 30min or preferably 1-2 hours prior to the next step. 
13. Pre-heat your oven to 350*F.
14. Take your dough out, un-wrap it and slice it evenly in half if you haven't already. Re-wrap one half and place it back in the fridge for later.
15. Roll out this piece of croissant dough again, but this time, width-wise AND length-wise to create a large thicker rectangle.
16. Make sure your dough gets about as thin as you can get it. It will likely be about 1/4 of an inch thick (basically thin but still easy to pick up without breaking).  
17. Cut any weird un-even edges off your rectangle using a sharp knife or pizza cutter (save the dough!) Then for LARGE croissants, cut the rectangle diagonally from one corner to the other into 2 long triangles. For SMALL croissants cut the rectangle of dough into 4-6 smaller rectangles (see video for how I sliced smaller croissants).
18. Use the left-over scraps to form one final large croissant by placing the pieces of dough together and rolling them out to form another rough long triangle. (Or form a couple more croissants if making smaller croissants). 
19. Take the triangles and using a knife or pizza cutter, slice just a bit up the middle of the short FLAT side of the triangle (see photos). Then pinch the corners of this side and gently pull them apart slightly (again, see the photos). This just helps our croissants look prettier after rolling them up. Add a small scoop of almond paste to the bottom of the croissant then roll the croissants from the bottom (cut-side) up to the very tip of the triangle, then gently press the tip of the triangle into the dough to help the croissant hold together. Don't worry if it's not completely sticking just yet. Repeat this process for all of your croissant triangles.
20. Place finished croissants on a parchment-lined baking sheet spaced evenly apart. Remove your second-half of the dough from the fridge and repeat this same process. 
21. Once you have all of your croissants on a parchment-lined baking sheet, lightly brush all of the croissants with heavy cream. Cover your croissants with plastic wrap. Then let the croissants rise for ~10-15 minutes at room temperature OR refrigerate over-night, un-wrap and bake straight from the fridge in a pre-heated oven. If you let them rise past this time, the butter may melt out when the croissants are baked.
22. Place your oven rack on a the highest setting if your oven tends to brown more from the bottom-up, place the rack on a lower or middle shelf if it browns more from the top-down. 
23. Bake the croissants for 21-25min or until golden brown.
24. Brush the leftover almond paste on top of the croissants and then press on slivered almonds and sprinkle with powdered sweetener. Enjoy your keto almond croissants!

You can store these keto almond croissants at room temperature in a ziplock bag for up to 3 days (after that they just lose a lot of their freshness). 

For the best results, I recommend freezing these and removing only the ones you want when you want them! I take one out of the freezer every morning and microwave it for ~25s on a plate until warm. You can also let it thaw at room temperature or re-heat wrapped in tin-foil in a 350*F oven just until warm.

Nutrition (1/12th of recipe or 1 croissant): 280 cals | 26.5g fat | 3g NET carbs | 9.6g protein | 4.5g fiber

Print Recipe

4.67 from 3 votes

Keto Almond Croissants

Light, fluffy, golden brown keto croissants filled with a keto almond paste.

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time22 mins

Refrigeration Time3 hrs

Total Time3 hrs 52 mins

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Keyword: keto almond croissants, keto croissants, low carb croissants

Servings: 12 croissants

Ingredients

Keto Croissants

• 2 tbsp warm water 30ml (NOT hot)
• 1 tbsp active dry yeast 9g
• 2 tbsp inulin 16g
• 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp vital wheat gluten 100g
• ~1/2 cup allulose 80g (or 1/4 cup of a sweetener that measures like sugar)
• 1/3 cup oat fiber 42g
• 1/3 cup lupin flour 32g (USE 10SAMMYSAM for 10% off)
• 1 tbsp coconut flour 8g
• 1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon optional, I like the flavour it adds!
• 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp if using unsalted butter
• 1 cup cold salted butter 250g
• 6 tbsp cold water 90ml (add a touch extra ONLY if needed)
• 7 tbsp cold heavy cream 105ml
• additional vital wheat gluten for flouring surface
• heavy cream for brushing

Almond Paste

• 1/4 cup salted butter room temperature
• 3/4 cup almond flour 85g
• 1/4 cup powdered monkfruit sweetener 60g
• 2 tbsp egg whites 30g (or 1 large egg white)
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

Instructions

• In a small bowl, add the 2 tbsp warm water, yeast and inulin and use a fork to gently stir everything together. Cover with saran wrap and set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together all of your dry ingredients including; vital wheat gluten, allulose sweetener, oat fiber, lupin flour, coconut flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, cinnamon and salt.
• Next, chop the cold butter into rough small chunks (they don't have to be even) and add them to the bowl.
• Use a fork or dough blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients and make the pieces smaller. (I like to use the end of the fork to poke down on the pieces. This may take a bit. Don't worry about the pieces being perfectly small!)
• Once the pieces are about the size of mentos as I like to say, you can then add the cold water and heavy cream, along with the yeast mixture from earlier (which, should now be quite foamy).
• Stir everything until the dough starts to come together, then use your hands to form a rough ball. Our goal is not to fully blend the dough, but simply to get it to stick together in a ball shape with chunks of butter still easily visible. Add an extra tablespoon of cold water only if needed.
• Next, wrap your large ball of dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to chill for 30min -1 hour.
• Meanwhile we can make the almond paste. Add all of the almond paste ingredients to a bowl, then mix well(a hand mixer works best for this) until everything is combined. Then cover and refrigerate until you need it.
• After 30min - 1 hour, you can un-wrap the ball of keto croissant dough and place it on a greased and lightly vital wheat gluten-floured surface. (I prefer to use two pieces of greased and floured parchment paper for this). If not using parchment paper on the bottom, at least use one piece on top of your dough. This will prevent the rolling pin from sticking to the dough.
• Roll the dough out length-wise to get a long rectangle. Fold one side of the dough inwards, then the other like folding a brochure or letter. Gently push any rough edges in to straighten out the shape of your dough. Then turn it 90*. flour the surface and top of the dough again and repeat the first step of rolling it out into a long rectangle..then again fold it like a letter. Repeat this process 4-5 times in total. Your dough may get tough to roll out. If this happens, simply refrigerate and cover the dough for another 30min - 1 hour to allow the gluten time to relax.
• After these initial 4-5 folds, refrigerate your dough for 1 hour. Then repeat for 2 more folds or just until your butter is almost completely blended and streaky rather than chunky. If your dough is super tough to roll, you can roll it into a thick rectangle and cut it in half. Then roll out each half separately to make the process easier.
• Once you are done with rolling and folding, make sure your dough chills for at LEAST 30min or preferably 1-2 hours prior to the next step.
• Pre-heat your oven to 350*F.
• Take your dough out, un-wrap it and slice it evenly in half if you haven't already. Re-wrap one half and place it back in the fridge for later.
• Roll out this piece of croissant dough again, but this time, width-wise AND length-wise to create a large thicker rectangle.
• Make sure your dough gets about as thin as you can get it. It will likely be about 1/4 of an inch thick (basically thin but still easy to pick up without breaking).
• Cut any weird un-even edges off your rectangle using a sharp knife or pizza cutter (save the dough!) Then for LARGE croissants, cut the rectangle diagonally from one corner to the other into 2 long triangles. For SMALL croissants cut the rectangle of dough into 4-6 smaller rectangles (see video for how I sliced smaller croissants).
• Use the left-over scraps to form one final large croissant by placing the pieces of dough together and rolling them out to form another rough long triangle. (Or form a couple more croissants if making smaller croissants).
• Take the triangles and using a knife or pizza cutter, slice just a bit up the middle of the short FLAT side of the triangle (see photos). Then pinch the corners of this side and gently pull them apart slightly (again, see the photos). This just helps our croissants look prettier after rolling them up. Add a small scoop of almond paste to the bottom of the croissant then roll the croissants from the bottom (cut-side) up to the very tip of the triangle, then gently press the tip of the triangle into the dough to help the croissant hold together. Don't worry if it's not completely sticking just yet. Repeat this process for all of your croissant triangles.
• Place finished croissants on a parchment-lined baking sheet spaced evenly apart. Remove your second-half of the dough from the fridge and repeat this same process.
• Once you have all of your croissants on a parchment-lined baking sheet, lightly brush all of the croissants with heavy cream. Cover your croissants with plastic wrap. Then let the croissants rise for ~10-15 minutes at room temperature OR refrigerate over-night, un-wrap and bake straight from the fridge in a pre-heated oven. If you let them rise past this time, the butter may melt out when the croissants are baked.
• Place your oven rack on a the highest setting if your oven tends to brown more from the bottom-up, place the rack on a lower or middle shelf if it browns more from the top-down.
• Bake the croissants for 21-25min or until golden brown.
• Brush the leftover almond paste on top of the croissants and then press on slivered almonds and sprinkle with powdered sweetener. Enjoy your keto almond croissants!

Video

Notes

Ingredients In Keto Almond Croissants Recipe

• Vital Wheat Gluten -  You can read more about it HERE.
• Oat Fiber 
• Lupin Flour - My newest favourite ingredient. I use the Modern Mountain Flour Brand (use 10SAMMYSAM for a 10% discount on amazon or their website). This ingredient should not be substituted.
• Coconut Flour 
• Powdered Monkfruit Sweetener
• Allulose
• Xanthan Gum 
• Active Dry Yeast 
• Inulin

 

 

Tips For Making Keto Almond Croissants

• When first forming your ball of dough, remember not to over-mix and cause the butter chunks to melt. You want to use your hands to get everything to stick together as best as you can without smushing the butter! 
• The longer you can refrigerate your dough between each stage in the instructions, the better your keto almond croissants will come out! 1-2 hours between each stage is best and recommended but you can do 30min if you are in a hurry. You can even refrigerate the finished the croissants overnight (after you brush them with heavy cream and cover them with plastic wrap) then bake them off in the morning.
• When you first roll out your rough dough into a rectangle, it may not be perfect because the butter is still chunky. This is okay! Simply push messy edges back into the dough and continue with the rolling and folding process. It will smooth out as you go.
• As I mention in the full recipe, your dough may become difficult to roll out because of the gluten. This recipe doesn't give a lot of resting time as to speed up the croissant-making process. So if you can't roll the dough out anymore, roll it out as much as you can, wrap it in saran wrap and let it chill for 30min - 1 hour to give the gluten time to relax, then try rolling it out further OR simply slice the rectangle in half and work with one half at a time (as seen in the video for this recipe).
• This recipe makes quite large and filling croissants if you make 7-8 (one sliced with filling could easily make a meal!) Even small croissants are quite filling because of the protein and fiber content in these keto croissants, compared to regular traditional croissants, so just keep that in mind when shaping them!
• These croissants do not need a long rising time at room temperature. It's best to bake them after just 10-15min of them sitting covered at room temperature. If you want the BEST possible texture and to give the croissants the full amount of time to proof, then refrigerate them over-night after brushing with heavy cream and covering with plastic wrap. Then let  them sit for 10min, (covered still) at room temperature prior to removing the plastic wrap and baking them off in a pre-heated oven. 
• Bake these croissants until golden brown. Typical croissants bake at a higher temperature but keto pastries tend to do better with a slight temperature decrease. 
• If you are worried about the raw egg white in the topping, simply place these back in the oven and broil the tops for less than a minute.
• You can store these keto almond croissants at room temperature in a ziplock bag for up to 3 days (after that they just lose a lot of their freshness). 
• For the best results, I recommend freezing these and removing only the ones you want when you want them! I take one out of the freezer every morning and microwave it for ~25s on a plate until warm. You can also let it thaw at room temperature or re-heat wrapped in tin-foil in a 350*F oven just until warm.

Other Similar Recipes You May Like:

The Best Keto Croissants

The Best Keto Croissants (Original Recipe -No Lupin Flour)

Flaky Keto Puff Pastry

Keto Chocolate Cream Cheese Braid

Keto Raspberry Cream Cheese Puff Pastry