Summary:
This recipe is one of my easiest desserts, with only 4 ingredients. The almond flour dough is easy to mix and form by hand, no special equipment needed. Softened butter binds everything together without the use of eggs. The end result is a delicious cookie with a shortbread-like texture, great for a variety of occasions.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup
almond flour (Note 1) - 1/4 cup powdered
erythritol or 3 tablespoons confectionersswerve (Note 2) - 3 tablespoons salted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
- Prepare: Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare baking sheet lined with
parchment paper or nonstick baking mat. - Form Cookies: Use dough to make ten 1-inch balls, placing them on lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart from each other. Flatten each ball using fork, then rotate 90 degrees and flatten again, forming criss-cross pattern (Note 5).
NUTRITION
| Makes 10 Servings |
| Amount Per Serving (1 cookie): |
| Calories 100 (85% from fat) | |
| Total Fat 9g | 14% |
| Saturated Fat 3g | 13% |
| Cholesterol 9mg | 3% |
| Sodium 30mg | 1% |
| Net Carb 1g (Note 9) | |
| Total Carb 2g | 1% |
| Dietary Fiber 1g | 5% |
| Sugars 0.5g | |
| Protein 2g |
PHOTOS
NOTES & TIPS
(1) Almond Flour. I use almond flour that is blanched, which means the skins are taken off of the almonds, so that the resulting flour looks white. Unblanched almond flour should work, but don’t substitute with coconut flour or other flours, which vary in their absorbency. (2) Sweetener. About 1.3 ounces weight for powdered erythritol and 1 ounce weight for Confectioners Swerve. Both of them are powdered sweeteners, not granulated. If you use a granulated version, you can powder it using a small blender like a Nutribullet. For best results, don’t substitute with a liquid sweetener because it alters the ratio of dry to wet ingredients. If you substitute with your preferred sweetener and don’t know how much to use, mix it in to the dough to taste. (3) Cohesive Dough. I find it easiest to combine the ingredients by kneading them together using my hand rather than stirring with a utensil. If you have trouble getting a cohesive dough, your butter may not be soft enough. Let the ingredients sit out longer and try again. (4) Flavor Add-Ins. Since these cookies are like a blank canvas, many readers have shared some creative ideas in the comments section. Here are some of them:- Adding toasted sliced almonds, shredded coconut, or sugar-free dark chocolate chips
- Adding fresh juice or zest from lemons
- Adding unsweetened baking chocolate or cocoa powder
- Replacing some of the almond flour with finely ground pecans
- Replacing some of the vanilla extract with almond extract or lemon extract
- Making thumbprint cookies with strawberry or blueberry jam
- Making snickerdoodles by dusting with cinnamon
- Dipping cookies in melted chocolate
I adapted this recipe from my favorite carbie version of ‘Lemon-Cardamom-Poppyseed’ cookies. Add one egg yolk, poppy seeds to taste, zest of 2 lemons, and pinch of sea salt to taste. Dust with Swerve powdered sugar when cool and firm. SO good.
Did you add cardamom? I love cardamom flavor. Wondering if I can add that.
Great idea! Think I’ll try that next time.
Tired of watching all my high carb, gluten eaters devouring holiday cookies so I decided to treat myself and give these a try. Just took them out of the oven, and they are delicious, a little crumbly but that’s what I was looking for, more like a shortbread cookie. I didn’t crisscross pattern with a fork, I used the back of a spoon dipped in swerve to flatten and sprinkled the top with a tiny bit of coarse salt. The mix of the swerve with the salt on top tastes really, really good on these cookies, thanks for the recipe!
These were great, and the only keto sweet I find palatable. I paired them with sugar free strawberry jam or sugar free ganache icing. Thanks for a small batch recipe, because I ate five immediately. 😂❤️
LOL! I know what you mean! 2nd time making these! If my hubby weren’t here…. who know what would happen!
DISASTROUS MISTAKE: I just made a batch and wound up with a tray full of crumbs. Then I read all the comments and couldn’t understand why I got such poor results. I decided to try a 2nd batch and that is when I discovered that I had grabbed the COCONUT FLOUR in error, thinking that it was the ALMOND. Terrible. Now I have just made another batch but this time with the right ingredient! LOL. The cookies are great (when you follow the recipe correctly). Live and learn.
Used lemon extract! So delish!!
These are amazing! By far the best I’ve made. (I tried making a peanut butter one and it didn’t turn out, they were really dry)….so, I added an egg and an extra tablespoon of butter to this recipe. I made two batches. The second batch I used banana extract and about a 1/4 cups chopped walnuts. They turned out pretty good. I love bananas but can’t have them on keto so with variations works good to give me a banana nut cookie. Thank you for the recipe Julia!!!
Amazingly easy to make and sooo good. I’m the worst baker and even I didn’t mess them up!
I make these cookies 2 -3 times a week. I also like to experiment with different flavorings too. One in the afternoon with a cup of tea is a nice treat.
Love this recipe! I’ve made it several times now using different variations of sweeteners. 1/2 Lakanto monkfruit granular and 1/2 stevia were delicious and had the perfect texture, but I could just barely taste the bitterness from the stevia. Then tried only Swerve confectioners in another batch, also delish, but the texture wasn’t as good. My final and favorite version uses 1/2 Swerve granular and 1/2 Swerve confectioners…the texture, consistency and flavor are amazing! Family, and most important critics, all agree these are the closest we will ever get to grandma’s butter cookies, and they are keto friendly and guilt-free! Now, to experiment with other flavors (almond extract, chocolate mint…) yum!
This is my favorite cookie base. I have made lemon butter cookies using this recipe and they come out amazing. Tip: Watch your bake time carefully, under or over the optimal time will yield less than perfect results. Since everyone’s oven differs, experiment and find what the “sweet spot” is for yours!
Made these for the first time today. Used a bit more butter than specified and also used 1/4 almond extract and 1/4 vanilla extract in the first batch (yes.. they were so good that I made a second batch!). Will definitely be making these again! Thanks
Thank you so much for this recipe !!! I make them …..A LOT lol . although I do use the swerve granular they turn out amazing . first time I made them I missed the part where you noted no mixer needed . next time I mixed by hand and I have to say you can tell a difference .both were very delicious but , the batch mixed with the the electric mixer had a better texture . but just my opinion absolutely zero complaints on this recipe DELICIOUS !!!
These are good but even better with a little cream cheese frosting. Yum! Also love how easy and limited ingredients this recipe has.
These were great! I made a few batches and tried some variations, as I am experimenting with keto baking. One interesting variation was substituting in 1/4 cup coconut flour in place of the 1 cup of almond flour, and adding an egg. I also used almond extract instead of vanilla and they turned out a bit like a macaroon. Next time
I might add coconut into them. I also didn’t have blanched almond flour but they were still delicious. I used ZenSweet Monkfruit Sweetener because I couldn’t find my fave Whole Earth sweetener. They were a bit too sweet so I also made a batch with less and they were great. Thanks for an awesome recipe with so many ways to adjust and experiment!
😭 I wish I would have read this before I made them. I have been craving macaroons and have the extra ingredients. oh well. I’ll just have to make another batch 😂
I made the cookies as per the recipe. I added shredded coconut. The cookies were better than anticipated. My only complaint is that they were so delicious that my wife and I ate them all in two days.
Made last night. Quick easy and tasty. I did refrigerate after baking. Refreshing treat.
So Good! Especially a day or two later. Tastes the closest to shortbread that I’ve been able to find. I made half the batch plain and half with chopped pecans. Couldn’t decide which I liked better. Only other change was that I flattened with a spatula instead of using a fork.
These turn out so crispy and were so buttery! Heaven. There is a slight cooling effect from the erythritol but only in the first bite or two.
I followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfect. I did sprinkle a little salt and monk fruit sweetener. They were delicious. I will try different variations. Thank you for the recipe, a really great snack for everyone.
Wow. These turned out great. So easy to make. The only modification I made was that I added some gelatin powder as suggested by another reviewer to help them hold, and added some pecans.
How much gelatin powder did you use?
I also added gelatin powder and they turned out great! I added a 1 oz. packet of the unflavored Knox brand gelatin.
If you don’t mind sharing, what effect does gelatin powder have in the cookie?
I just made these cookies today. I did add an extra tablespoon of butter to the recipe. Also, instead of vanilla extract I used almond extract (3/4 tsp) and also added anise (1 tsp.) to the recipe. They were delicious! An almond biscotti cookie! Thank you ever so much. I’m making the thumbprints next time….
I made these as I’m now on a Keto lifestyle and I’d like to have a little something naughty for here and there… I like eggs in my baked goods, so I added 1 egg. I also had a tiny accident with the almond extract and added a tiny bit too much (no such thing, but I digress). So I added another scant half cup of almond flour to make up for the extra liquid. I added up all the calories and macros and I was able to get 14 cookies out of the batch (I weighed the balls to ensure consistency) and they came in at 128 Calories/ 8gFat/ 5gC/ 5gP/ 1gfiber per cookie.
thank you for an EXCELLENT base recipe. I will make these in the future with lemon extract then tossed in Swerve confectioners sugar (greek style) or maybe replacing some of the almond with pistachios, replacing the vanilla with rose water, and a tiny bit of cardamom (Persian style).
THANK YOU!
I literally just tried these & I’m AMAZED at how they can be crispy! Didn’t do the criss cross pattern, just rolled them into balls & flattened them out. They taste just like non-keto cookies! Definitely the best keto cookie recipe I’ve tried out so far.
I made these, with slight adjustments. I used a store-brand Splenda, so increased the sweetener to almost 1/2 C. I added cardamom to the cookie, then created a thumbprint and poured blackberries into the center. They were divine. took about 12 minutes to cook, as I only make 6 cookies out of it, so they were large enough for the thumbprints to hold a goodly amount of berry.
Love it! Do them every week.
I am in Europe and I am not sure what you mean when you say “almond flour”. Is it just fine ground almonds, or is it made from (partly) de-oiled almonds?
By almond flour, I mean almonds that are blanched (skins removed) then finely ground to a flour-like consistency. Unblanched almond flour is likely OK to use; it will just result in darker cookies.