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Keto Ham Cheese and Spinach Bites — A Low Carb Savory Appetizer.

The perfect appetizer is easy to eat & bite-size. Cocktail foods also must pair well with other dishes. So a simple but flavorful recipe is essential. Individual appetizers are also the perfect opportunity to create beautiful presentations. This recipe for keto ham cheese and spinach bites meets all of these criteria. To top it off this recipe is keto-friendly and very low in carbs with only one net carb a piece.

Crescent like Keto Pastry

For these savory low carb ham and cheese bites, you will need to prepare a simple twist on a fathead pastry dough. This pastry dough is reminiscent of a crescent roll. The baked dough will not be flakey like a crescent. However, it is light and buttery which makes it a wonderful keto substitution.

Pastry dough is the most versatile sweet or savory way to create a bite-size appetizer dish like this. In fact, most of my favorite appetizers before going low carb were made with pastry dough.

Be sure to make the dough ahead of time so that it can cool fully in the refrigerator. This step is important because fathead pastry dough is very sticky until cooled. Once properly chilled the dough is incredibly easy to work with.

Once properly chilled the dough is easy to roll out, and the cheesy bites are easy to assemble.

Kid-Friendly Keto Hand Pies

Yes, easy enough that you can make this recipe with your kids.

I loved making these bite-size appetizers with my 3-year-old. Creating recipes that can include her makes cooking so much more fun. It was also such a proud momma moment that we made these low carb puff pastries together.

As my daughter gets older I am having more and more fun including her in the kitchen. She is more willing to try new foods when she has helped me in the preparation. I have even noticed that she is making healthier food choices on her own.

I hope you will get the whole family together and make these keto pastries too.

To make these keto-friendly ham cheese and spinach bites you will need:

• Clifty Farm’s Country Ham Biscuit cut slices
• Frozen Spinach
• Cream Cheese
• Mozzarella
• Almond Flour
• Ground Flax Seed
• Gelatin or Xanthum Gum
• Egg

Ham & Keto

Are you worried about eating ham, or wondering if it might be keto-friendly?

Country ham is a great choice for a low carb or ketogenic diet. I had never tried Country Ham until moving to the south. It is quite a bit saltier than any ham that I have had before, so just keep that in mind.

I really love this ham, and the best part of country ham is that it does not have a sweet sugary glaze.

Country ham is now my favorite ham for cooking for this reason. I notice that I do not need to add seasonings or any salt. Less seasonings but more flavor is a win-win!

Country ham is cured with some sugar, but the macros and the overall taste tell me that it is very little. So in my opinion ham is a perfect meat to add to my family’s keto lifestyle.

More Country Ham Recipes:

Yield: 40

Keto Ham Cheese and Spinach Bites

Print

Keto Ham Cheese and Spinach bites are a delicious savory appetizer. Easy enough to make with kids. These individual minis also make a statement with a beautiful presentation.

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups Mozzarella 
• 2 ounces of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of almond flour
• 1/2 cup ground flax 
• 1/8 tsp of xanthum gum or gelatin
• 1 egg

Cheese Spinach and Ham Filling

• 5 ounces of frozen spinach 
• 6 ounces of cream cheese 
• 1/2 tsp of onion powder 
• 3/4 cup of finely chopped Clifty Farms Country Ham Biscuit Slices 

For Rolling out the dough

• Spray Coconut oil or other spray oil of your choice

Instructions

When I am prepping to start making this dough I like to get everything ready and in a mixing bowl before starting. My dry ingredients go into my mixing bowl, and the mozzarella and cream cheese in a microwave-safe bowl.

Pastry Dough

1. Prepare to make the dough like you would any fathead dough. Combine the almond flour, ground flax, and gelatin/xanthum gum. I like to mix these ingredients until they are well combined in my mixer.
2. Add 1 egg to the dry ingredients and mix until it forms a dough.
3. Melt the cream cheese and mozzarella cheese in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir cheese mixture. Microwave for an additional 30 seconds. Continue melting the cheese in 30 second increments until it is hot and workable but not starting to burn or brown. This normally takes a total of 2 minutes.
4. Straight from the microwave - while the cheese mixture is nice and hot add the mozzarella and cream cheese mixture to the dough mixture.
5. Mix or knead until the dough is well combined and fluffy
6. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. This helps to make the dough much easier to work with. Without refrigeration, the dough will be too sticky like any other fathead dough. Don't hesitate to make this dough a day in advance, and refrigerate overnight.
7. While your dough chills prepare the filling

Cheesy Spinach and Ham Filling

1. Defrost and strain the frozen spinach. Press out as much water as you can while the spinach is in the strainer.
2. Allow the cream cheese to start to soften while you finely cut up the ham.
3. In a small mixing bowl combine the softened cream cheese, strained spinach, and onion powder.
4. Mix everything by hand, and until well combined. Some of the cream cheese will remain chunky and that is OK!

Assembling the Pastry Bites

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pull the chilled pastry dough out of the fridge. Roll the dough out in between two sheets of greased parchment paper. Spraying the parchment paper with coconut oil makes the dough very easy to roll out smoothly. Roll the dough to about the thickness of a Crescent roll.
3. Trim the rolled out dough to 10"x10" square. Take the trimmed off dough and put it back into the fridge while you assemble the bites.
4. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 2"x2" mini squares.
5. Fill each mini square with approximately one teaspoon of the cheesy spinach filling.
6. Add 3-5 pieces of the chopped ham. Fold each corner towards the center as pictured.
7. Repeat this process until each mini pastry is filled and folded. While you are working place each bite on parchment paper on a baking sheet.
8. Bake for 20 minutes. Or until the dough just starts to become lightly golden.
9. While the first batch bakes repeat all the above steps with the remaining dough until you have used all of the dough and filling.
   

Notes

Depending on the size of your bite-sized pastries the number will vary. I made 40 individual appetizers.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

40

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 74Total Fat: 6gCarbohydrates: 2gNet Carbohydrates: 1gFiber: 1gProtein: 3g

brilliantlyketo.com offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from multiple online calculators. Although all attempts to provide accurate nutritional information have been made, these figures are only estimates as products and ingredients macros vary.

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