Ultra tender, moist and buttery-to-boot, these keto peach shortcakes are truly the stuff of (late summer!) dreams.

Keto Peach Shortcake 🍑

With a superb cream filling!

Imho peaches don’t get used nearly enough in keto, and (clearly from this week’s posts) I’m trying to do a little something about that. As it seemed to have surprised some of you that on the fruit carb spectrum, peaches fall smack in the middle between raspberries and blueberries.

i.e. peaches can definitely fit into a keto diet, at least in moderation.

And these keto peach shortcakes are terrific for that, as thinly slicing the peach will get you far. Think you only need 1/3 of a peach per (very generous!) serving. So the carb count here comes to 3g net carbs for the shortcake itself + roughly 3 to 4g net for the peach = 7g net for the entire dessert.

A little more carb-y than usual for a gnom-gnom dessert (insert my 1g net carb brownies here!). But I really do want to push a bit against the paradigm here, as I really have found over the years that you can eat a lot more (non refined) carbs than you think once you’re fat adapted.

That said, do try and procure for yourself a bomb of a peach here. It is, after all, the real star of the dessert. And arguably, even more importantly, you want to make those carbs as enjoyable as possible. Because I’ve found that, as humans, that is incredibly important too: the enjoyment that comes from food. And well, overly restrictive diets can get totally in the way; and so perhaps the real key to making this a true lifelong lifestyle is… balance.

Balance with ridiculously good food, that is!

The Deets

Easy-peasy really, and arguably easiest done in your food processor (as its similar to pie crust!). You simply pulse the flours together, add the butter and pulse until pea-sized, mix in the liquids, and cut-out onto a baking tray.

Just note that the trick lies in keeping the butter pea-sized, and not blending it all together with the flours. These will ensure a light rather than super dense texture.

Still if no food processor is at hand (or you wanna avoid the pain of cleaning it!), I suggest you grate the butter, freeze it and gently work it into the flours. Then you’ll simply pour in the egg mixture, fold it all gently until shaggy and bring it all together onto a ball.

The Main Ingredients

There’s a reason classics become classics, and so the butter and sour cream version is more akin to tradition (and my favorite). But if paleo, or dairy is out of the question,  the coconut oil and cream version is also delicious in it’s own right.

And you can also use ghee. Possible subs, and amount adjustments, are listed next to the ‘main ingredients’ in the recipe card.

Almond flour. You truly need a super finely ground almond flour here, as if you use meal your shortcake will turn out dense and oily. Super fine almond flour brands include Anthony’s (my favorite) and Bob’s.

Golden flaxseed meal.  You’ll want to tripe check (!!) that what you have is the golden variety (I use Bob’s), and regrind the flakes in your (very dry!) bullet or blender until finely powdered. And if intolerant to flaxseed, you can use finely ground psyllium husk (absolutely must let them cool completely before cutting!).

(p.s. here, so I didn’t have a bullet or blender to regrind the flaxseed meal this time around, and it wasn’t the end of the world- as you can see from my pictures. But technically you really should for fluffier texture ok? Easiest to just regrind the whole bag at once and store away).

Coconut flour. I always favor Anthony’s (best taste and texture), but Bob’s works great too.

Whey protein isolate. This one helps to get a fluffier and lighter texture, but keep in mind that this ingredient varies tremendously from brand to brand. I’ve recently been using this grass-fed one, but have also consistently used Isopure’s Zero Carb Unflavored. You can substitute it with more almond flour, just keep in mind your shortcake will be a tad denser.

Xanthan gum. Borrowed from molecular cooking, xanthan gum is the binding agent which makes your toothpaste jelly-like (and your cream cheese, well cream cheese-like). And it’s also the most common gluten-replacer in gluten free baking. And while we do prefer the results with it, you can sub it with twice the amount of flaxseed meal- not a huge deal here.

The Sweetener

These keto peach shortcake work well with erythritol best (golden Lakanto is my favorite), xylitol (non-corn though to avoid tummy troubles!) and allulose (no aftertaste!).

If not restricted by sugars, simply sub 1-to-1 with coconut or regular sugar.

And if doing your own whipped cream (and you should!), a liquid sweetener will work much better. This pure allulose is my absolute favorite, with its biggest plus incidentally being no aftertaste whatsoever.

Ummm… but are peaches keto? 🍑

I guess the most straight forward answer is: its up to you (or your macros that is!), as peaches are widely considered a fairly low carb fruit. Therefore in moderate amounts, peaches can be totally keto friendly.

To give you an idea, peaches contain roughly 13g of net carbs per cup compared to 7g net in raspberries and 17g net in blueberries. i.e. they’re roughly smack in the middle of the low carb fruit spectrum.