These low carb, keto friendly butter cookies are eggless and made with almond flour and butter. Perfect for the holidays like Christmas.
These butter cookies are very low in carbs and make for a healthy treat during the holidays. They are not too sweet, with a texture that reminds me of Danish butter cookies or shortbread biscuits. These are quite possibly my simplest-ever homemade cookies. You’ll only need four ingredients to make these simple cookies — almond flour, butter, low carb sweetener (erythritol), and vanilla extract. That’s right, no eggs needed, as room temperature butter binds everything together. You don’t need a hand mixer or any equipment at all; a mixing bowl and a spoon will do. It takes 5 to 10 minutes to whip everything together, and another 10 minutes to bake.
How to make butter cookies from scratch:
These butter cookies took a bit of experimenting to get right. I started with my shortbread butter bars recipe and replaced wheat flour with almond flour, white sugar with erythritol (more on that later), and omitted the egg. The resulting dough was way too buttery and sticky to handle. My next iteration used significantly less butter, just enough to form a cohesive cookie dough. Eggs aren’t necessary in this recipe — the softened butter binds all of the ingredients together nicely. Note that I used softened butter at room temperature, not melted liquid butter.
I use erythritol as a low carb sweetener for all of my keto dessert recipes, like chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies. Erythritol doesn’t impact blood sugar or insulin, as our bodies actually cannot digest it. I buy the granulated form of erythritol online, and use my Nutribullet to pulverize it into powdered form, which is easily mixed into dough. If you prefer, you can substitute erythritol with another powdered sweetener; note that erythritol is about 70% as sweet as white sugar.
These butter cookies will keep their shape during baking and will not spread, so take care to form them to your desired shape before baking. I used a fork to indent a standard criss-cross pattern onto the cookies, but other ideas include making a thumb print and fill with jam, or sprinkling with sweetened cinnamon like snickerdoodles. These cookies are not too sweet, so they’re a blank canvas for adding other flavors, toppings, and decorations.
Low Carb Butter Cookies With Almond Flour
Simple butter cookies perfect for the holidays. Keto and low carb friendly.
Ingredients
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- 1/4 cup powdered erythritol sweetener
- 3 tablespoons salted butter softened to room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350 F.
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Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.
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In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients, thoroughly stirring until resembling a dough. As you stir, initially it will look crumbly and then it will form into a cohesive dough.
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Use the dough to form 1-inch balls, placing them on the baking sheet. There should be about 12 balls, separated from each other by about 2 inches.
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Flatten each dough ball using a fork, then rotate 90 degrees and flatten again, forming a criss-cross pattern. Or form into a different desired shape and pattern.
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Bake at 350 F until the cookies are golden around the edges, 8 to 10 minutes depending on the thickness of the cookies.
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The cookies will be very soft when they come out of the oven. Let cool completely before removing them from the baking sheet.
Nutrition Notes
This recipe yields 0.5 g net carbs per serving (1 cookie). Nutrition information does not include erythritol because it cannot be digested by the body.
| Nutrition Facts Per Serving |
| Calories 80 | |
| Total Fat 8g | 12% |
| Saturated Fat 2g | 10% |
| Trans Fat 0g | |
| Cholesterol 8mg | 3% |
| Sodium 30mg | 1% |
| Potassium 60mg | 2% |
| Total Carb 1.5g | 1% |
| Dietary Fiber 1g | 4% |
| Sugars 0.5g | |
| Protein 2g |
These cookies were absolutely delicious!!! They seem like a great basic recipe for all potential future add-ins, like cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, citrus zest, shredded coconut, and they’re GREAT on their own. One question….my dough was VERY crumbly from beginning to end…any suggestions?
Try using an extra tablespoon of butter, or decreasing the amount of almond flour used. If you have a scale, it can be worthwhile to measure out the almond flour by weight — it should be 4 oz.
These were so good!!! I made a quick strawberry jam in the instant pot (strawberries, swerve, chia seeds) last night and made jam thumbprints with this dough!! I can’t wait to make these for thanksgiving! Im normally a terrible baker, but this recipe is foolproof. I used granular swerve, which turned out just fine. I totally grabbed a pinch of the raw cookie dough to make sure it was the right sweetness. I used a little under the amount listed because swerve is a little sweeter. I think it’d be awesome with almond extract! Very lovely with tea!!
Thumbprint cookies!! What a great idea, I’m going to try that soon 🙂
These were a huge hit at my work potluck. A plate of 3 dozen (half with Lily’s dark chocolate chips) and they disappeared before the tray of another co-worker’s famous lemon bars. I was surprised that they went that quick, considering that I even labeled them (Sugar-Free almond butter cookies) One thing to note… SALTED butter and POWDERED sweetener makes a difference.
That’s fantastic! I’m really surprised they went faster than lemon bars though 🙂
I’ve made these several times now with great success. It’s a great cookie on it’s own, but it’s also a great base for other flavors. I’ve added cinnamon, chocolate chips, orange zest, & cocoa powder & they were all delicious! It’s an amazingly quick & easy cookie to make. And they freeze well, too. Thanks so much!
Thanks for your amazing feedback, Robyn! I can’t wait to try those flavors you suggested. Good to know they freeze well too 🙂
Is there a really big differance I have granulated fine erythitol and not powder will it come out the same ?
I think it’s worth making, even if you have granulated not powdered. Depending on the size of the granules, the cookies may have an “erythritol crunch” when you eat them, because sometimes you will get a crystallization effect with erythritol. Some people mind it more than others.
I tried this recipe and love tye cookies. I am not on a keto diet; however I try to stay gluten free. These cookies are great and satisfy my craving for something sweet.
Yep, these cookies really hit the spot when I have a sweet tooth 🙂 Hope you get a chance to make this again soon!
Just started keto and my sweet tooth was calling for something…anything then I found this…made it tonite…so so delicious. I only needed one to calm the beast. Ty ty for putting this recipe up
Haha you’re welcome! I usually make some fat bombs, which keep well in the freezer, for times when I have a major sweet tooth. This is a fruity strawberry/raspberry flavored one: https://www.savorytooth.com/fat-bombs/
If using Monkfruit sweetener, is it the same amount?
Hi Sally! I just checked 2 monkfruit sweetener brands — Lakanto and Nourished. It looks like both of them measure the same as sugar. Since erythritol is only about 70% as sweet as sugar, I would use a little more than 1/4 cup. If you tend to like desserts less sweet, use 1/4 cup. If you like things to be on the sweeter side, use more than 1/4 cup. I also suggest powdering the monkfruit sweetener using a nutribullet or small blender, if it comes granulated. The powdered version will incorporate more easily into batter.
Lakanto monk fruit tends to be sweeter than sugar! I usually use a 1/4 less of what is called for of sugar…or else it’s too sweet
Yeah, Lakanto sells different monk fruit sweeteners. This one is a 1:1 substitution for sugar: https://amzn.to/2AvR4xJ. Best to check the label on the one you’re using, just to be sure 🙂
Have you tried this with an egg?
Hi Beth! I haven’t, and the recipe works well without it. If you try it with egg, let me know how it goes!
These were so easy and delicious! I used monk fruit sweetener. They came out perfect!
Wonderful! I haven’t tried using monk fruit sweetener yet, but I know a lot of people love using it!
These are great I was suprised as they were so easy. I added some of my home made sugar free chocolate chips.
Glad to hear this was easy for you! I need to add sugar free choc chips next time 🙂
Sandra, Would you mind sharing your recipe for the homemade chocolate chips?
Hi Julia!
These are absolutely wonderful, I replaced butter with ghee and added caramel syrup from choc zero which gave me caramel almond goodness 🙂
That sounds amazing 🙂 I need to check out choc zero’s caramel syrup!
Can you use Pyure? If so–the same amount (1/4 c)?
Hi Pam! Pyure sells a variety of sweeteners (erythritol, stevia, etc.); which one are you referring to? If you have their erythritol sweetener, you’ll need to powder it first because they’re sold as granulated. You can use a nutribullet or other small personal blender. Then measure out 1/4 cup of powdered erythritol.
Can you use Xylitol? If so they have an icing sugar version which is great for baking.
I haven’t used xylitol before. Sounds like it would work well for this recipe, but I don’t know how it measures compared to erythritol.
I just made with xylitol (1/3 c) and a dash of stevia and they were DELICIOUS!
Fabulous!! Thanks so much for letting us know.
With a little tweaking, it tasted like a snickerdoodle… enjoyed by all, even a few who aren’t “interested” in low carb treats. Definitely repeating!
Mmmm snickerdoodles 🙂 I’d love to hear what tweaks you made!
This is a simple recipe which makes a very nice buttery cookie, and low carb as well. How nice to be able to enjoy a sweet treat and still keep to my keto diet. Thank you!
These are absolutely wonderful!!! Thank you so much for this recipe! I’m a happy camper!