Sugar-Free Pan de Muerto: A Twist on a Mexican Tradition

November and the Day of the Dead festivities are approaching and there’s an uptick of  Pan de Muerto—aka bread of the dead—being sold in bakeries and stores. While this beloved pastry is delicious and traditional, the amount of sugar it contains can raise a concern for diabetics.

Before we dive into the recipe it’s important to know history of Mexican pastry and its origin, which dates back to the time of the Conquest. The circular shape of the Pan de Muerto represents the cycle of life and death. The center of the bread symbolizes the skull of the deceased and the crossed strips symbolize the bones, although it is also said that they are the tears of the deceased.

Currently, there are many ways to prepare Pan de Muerto depending on the region, and it can be covered in sugar or filled with chocolate or pastry cream. In other places, like Oaxaca, they decorate them with alfeñique. The common denominator in all of them is that they contain a large amount of sugar. Great news—you can easily prepare your Pan de Muerto without sugar. (Gasp!) Here’s how:

Ingredients

• 1 cup of almond flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 tablespoons of cream cheese
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 tablespoon of Monk Fruit sweetener
• Orange zest
• 1 pinch of salt

To decorate:

• 1 tablespoon of butter to glaze
• Powdered Monk Fruit sweetener or sifted Monk Fruit sweetener.

Instructions

1. Sift all the ingredients twice.
2. Add the cream cheese and butter.
3. Stir the eggs with the orange zest.
4. Mix all the ingredients to form a compact dough.
5. Divide the dough into 5 parts.
6. Coat your hands with oil to prevent the dough from sticking and form three balls with three of the previously separated parts. Place them on a greased baking sheet or lined with parchment paper and flatten them a little.
7. Divide the remaining dough into 15 parts. Use 3 of them to make small balls that will go in the center of each bread and 12 to make the bones that go on the Pan de Muerto arranging 4 on each bread to form an X.
8. Preheat the oven to 320 ºF (160ºC).
9. Bake the bread for 20 to 25 minutes checking that it does not burn but making sure it is not raw either.
10. Remove them from the oven and let them cool.
11. Glaze each bread with the melted butter.
12. Sprinkle with Monk Fruit powdered sugar or sifted sweetener.

Enjoy!

Nutritional info

Servings per recipe: 3 breads.

Serving size: 1 bread.

Each portion has:

• Calories: 372 kcal
• Carbohydrates: 12 g
• Fat: 31.3 g
• Protein: 14 g
• Sodium: 79 mg