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Pecan Sandies (Keto Shortbread Cookies)

Published Nov 1, 2018 By Julia 19 CommentsThis post may contain affiliate links.

Summary:
Tasting similar to shortbread cookies, these 6-ingredient pecan sandies with almond flour are perfect for anyone looking for an easy keto and low carb dessert.

Pecan Sandies (Keto Shortbread Cookies)

5 from 11 votes
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Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Yield: 10 cookies
Calories: 130
Net Carbs: 1g

INGREDIENTS

  • 3/4 cup blanched almond flour (3 ounces weight)
  • 1/2 cup pecans (2 ounces weight)
  • 4 tbsp salted butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup confectioners swerve sweetener (1 ounce weight)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 325 F. Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  • Process 75% of pecans through a blender or food processor for a few seconds until they’re finely ground. Chop the remaining 25% of pecans into small pieces.
  • In a mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat together butter and sweetener until smooth and creamy, about a few minutes on low speed, scraping down the beaters as needed.
  • Add vanilla and almond extracts, then beat until just combined, about 10 seconds on low speed.
  • Add almond flour and finely ground pecans to the butter mixture, beating together until well-mixed, about 30 seconds on low speed. Stir in chopped pecans.
  • Divide the dough into 8 to 10 balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and flatten them to form cookies. Spread them out on the lined baking sheet.
  • Bake at 325 F until they’re brown around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely before removing from parchment paper. They’re very soft after baking, and will harden as they cool.

NUTRITION

Makes 10 Servings
Amount Per Serving (1 cookie):
Calories 130 (90% from fat)  
Total Fat 13g 20%
   Saturated Fat 3g 17%
Cholesterol 12mg 4%
Sodium 40mg 2%
Net Carb 1g  
Total Carb 2.5g 1%
   Dietary Fiber 1.5g 6%
   Sugars 0.5g  
Protein 2g  
Vitamin A 3% · Vitamin C 0% · Calcium 2% · Iron 3%

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keto friendly pecan sandies freshly baked on parchment paper

What Are Pecan Sandies?

Pecan sandies are delicious nutty cookies, great for special occasions and holidays like Christmas. They’re dry shortbread-like cookies. These are a bit crumbly, but not too soft and not too hard.

They remind me a bit of mexican wedding cookies — also known by many other names like polvorones, russian tea cakes, or snowball cookies — except that these pecan cookies aren’t dusted in powdered sugar.

chopping and grinding pecans to use in these keto shortbread pecan cookies

Recipe Development

Shortbread cookies are traditionally three parts flour, two parts butter, and one part sugar. I started off with those proportions, using almond flour and a sugar-free sweetener. Since pecan sandies are supposed to be nutty in flavor, almond flour makes for a perfect low carb substitution.

My early experiments yielded cookies that were too greasy, so I made some modifications by adding both chopped pecans and ground pecans to balance the fat content. Doing so also increased the pecan flavor, which is always a plus. Note that you can easily get ground pecans by pulsing whole pecans in a blender (I use a Nutribullet).

After getting the texture right, I added both vanilla and almond extracts for a richer flavor.

step by step showing how to make cookie dough for low carb pecan sandies with almond flour

Tips For Making Successful Pecan Sandies

  • For best results, measure out all ingredients by weight, not volume. This is especially true for the sweetener, which can vary a lot in volume depending if it’s granular or powdered, and how it’s packed.
  • Look for “almond flour,” not just “ground almonds” which may not be fine enough. I’ve used brands like Trader Joe’s, Kirkland, King Arthur Flour — they all work great. Nutritionally, it should have 2g net carbs per 1 ounce (1/4 cup) serving.
  • I use Swerve, which is an erythritol blend that measures the same as sugar. If you use another type of sweetener, ideally choose a dry one that’s a 1:1 substitution for sugar. That way, you’ll maintain the same ratio of dry to wet ingredients in this recipe. Note that pure erythritol is only 70% as sweet as sugar and therefore not a 1:1 sugar substitution, and sometimes has rather large granules that you should powder first using a small blender like a Nutribullet.
  • After baking, don’t touch or otherwise disturb the cookies until they have a chance to cool to room temperature. They will be super soft, and will harden as they cool. This could take up to a few hours.
  • If you prefer your pecan sandies to be on the drier and harder side, you can add an extra 1/2 ounce of almond flour or ground pecans to the dough. This will make them firmer, which some people prefer.

newly baked low carb pecan sandies on a baking sheet

More Easy Low Carb Desserts


Blueberry Muffins
Tall stack of best low carb chocolate chip cookies, one with a bite taken out
Chocolate Chip Cookies
These pumpkin cheesecake bars are layered with a bottom almond crust, a middle cheesecake layer, and a top pumpkin layer. They are low in carbs and perfect as a keto-friendly holiday dessert.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Low carb butter cookies using almond flour, perfect for Christmas and holidays
Butter Cookies

Filed Under: Desserts, Keto Copycats, Per Serving: Under 5g Net Carbs Tagged With: 31-60min, 6-10ingredients, almond extract, almond flour, erythritol, fall, featured, gluten free, oven, pecans, thanksgiving, vanilla extract, vegetarian, winter

About Julia

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julia is a recipe developer and the founder of Savory Tooth. She shares simple recipes and guides for keto and low carb diets. Learn more.

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newest oldest most voted
Gail

These cookies are incredible! I made them today exactly as written, and they were perfect! A cookie (well two, actually) and a cup of coffee after dinner tonight . . . so good! Thank you for sharing this recipe.

Vote Up3Vote Down  Reply
1 year ago
Annie

These are OUTSTANDING! I used Swerve brown sugar in place of white and the results were spectacular. I had a chef/friend try these cookies and she didn’t know they were low carb. My other tip: press the dough into a square pan lined with parchment or seran wrap (with long tails to make it easy to remove) and freeze the dough for @30 minutes give or take. It makes them easy to cut into 1″ squares and bake. SO good!

Vote Up2Vote Down  Reply
11 months ago
SR:

These are so delicious! Very hard to eat just 1. Instead of using the almond extract, I used a full teaspoon of vanilla. I’ve tried the half tsp of almond extract before and thought it gave it an imitation flavor (McCormick).
These literally melt in your mouth! Thank you for sharing!

Vote Up2Vote Down  Reply
1 year ago
Steve

I have made these twice so far and they come out Perfect both times. These cookies are just fantastic. Very tasty little fat bombs.

Vote Up2Vote Down  Reply
1 year ago
Sheila

I made these and had to bring the rest to work since I ate half of them while they were cooling! They are absolutely delicious! So easy to make and so few ingredients. Thank you for sharing. I will be making these again soon (to share of course, they are too dangerous to keep at home)….

Vote Up2Vote Down  Reply
1 year ago
Julia

Haha I’m glad you enjoyed them, Sheila. I know all too well the dangers of keeping something tasty stocked at home…

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
1 year ago
Heather

Just made these and they are delicious! I added a couple of pinches of coarse salt to my dough at the end. Will definitely add these to my ‘favorite cookies’ rotation!

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Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
1 year ago
Deborah Beaumont

I have made these a few times. Delicious. Today I used macadamias instead of pecans. Yummo xxxxxxx

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
SR:

Thanks for the tip! I am going to try this!! Sounds delicious!

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
1 year ago
May

I made these last night,they are so moist so good,thank you very much for all your recipes!

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Julia

I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed them, May 🙂

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Yarelis

Can I use coconut flour?

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
5 months ago
Jennifer Dowell

My husband was recently diagnosed as type 2 diabetes and has given up so much trying to not go on meds for over 2 yrs. We have never been sweet eaters so was not sure at the time how this happened. But as we started learning and gathering info we made a plan to change things and the only thing missing was he wanted some type of snack. Looking online I found this recipe and so glad I did. One of the easiest things I have ever made and let me tell you. Better than store bought. Love love love it!

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
10 months ago
Patti

I didn’t have almond extract so I used Carmel and it really worked. Also didn’t want to bake right away so I formed it into a tube wrapped in plastic wrap and put in the fridge until I was ready to bake — Sliced evenly and baked all uniform and evenly cooked — they don’t spread so I only had to bake once — did let them cool on the cookie sheet before removing them.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
10 months ago
Christine

Anyone add Anise extract? Just wondering if it would be good in these.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
1 year ago
Franklyn

Delicious, they are freshly baked and cooling. Thanks for the recipe.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
1 year ago
Kat

Confectioners sugar? Not granulated? Just making sure I’m doing the right thing…

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Julia

Right, I use confectioners not granulated, by the brand Swerve.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Pat

Made this recipe today. Instead of chopping the extra pecans I chopped up dried cranberries. They are very tasty.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago

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