Keto Gingerbread Cookies are a classic low carb and sugar-free holiday treat. Crisp and delicious with a gingery bite, they’re perfect for decorating and sharing with friends and family.
These keto gingerbread cookies have become a family favorite in my house, ever since I first created them back in 2013.
Like most children, my kids adore decorating cookies and we make these fun almond flour gingerbread men almost every year. They really get us into the holiday spirit.
And we love to give them as gifts, along with some of my other holiday treats, like keto sugar cookies and peppermint biscotti. No one can tell that they have less than 3g net carbs per serving.
Make sure you check out my full list of Keto Christmas Cookies for more holiday inspiration!
Why this recipe is so awesome
Gingerbread cookies should be both crisp and tender, which isn’t an easy texture to achieve with keto ingredients. But these cookies live up to the promise! They have the tiniest bit of chewiness to them as well.
Gingerbread cookies need that classic brown sugar flavor, but when I first created this recipe there was no such thing as good brown sugar replacement. So I opted for adding a little molasses or Yacon syrup. These days, however, I make my keto gingerbread men with Swerve Brown sweetener.
I like to take them out just a bit on the early side, to keep them just a little chewier. If you prefer extra crispy gingerbread cookies, simply bake these a little longer and they will crisp up nicely.
Readers love these keto gingerbread cookies!
“Just made these and they turned out so well – even my fussy six year old loved them!” — Talya
“These are sooooo good! I’m a cookie monster on a low-carb WOE and this is the first cookie I’ve found that doesn’t have a weird sweetener taste. I use powdered erythritol with some powdered stevia mixed in. I didn’t even decorate them and they’re delicious. Thank you so much.” — Susan
“My grandddaughter and I just used these recipes for the keto gingerbread cookies and royal icing to make a gingerbread house. It was a success. We really enjoyed every step of the process. Thanks a million, Miss Carolyn!” — Shari
Ingredients you need
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- Almond flour: For keto gingerbread cookies that have good texture and aren’t grainy, make sure you use finely ground almond flour. If you need to be nut-free, try using sunflower seed flour.
- Sweetener: I prefer to use Brown Swerve in this recipe but you can use any erythritol based sweetener. If you want that brown sugar flavor, make sure you add a little molasses or Yacon syrup. I do not recommend allulose or BochaSweet as they will come out much too soft.
- Coconut flour: Since coconut flour is a little drier, it helps firm up the dough for rolling out and cutting. You could try using some oat fiber, if you can’t use coconut flour.
- Butter or coconut oil: Both of these make delicious keto gingerbread cookies. If you need to be dairy-free, choose the coconut oil.
- Molasses: If you can’t find Swerve Brown, add 2 teaspoons of molasses for color and flavor. It will only add about 0.5g of carbs per serving.
- Spices: Gingerbread cookies should have plenty of ginger, along with a little bit of cinnamon and cloves.
- Powdered Sweetener: You want a powdered erythritol, such as Swerve Confectioners, for keto royal icing to firm up properly. Allulose and BochaSweet tend to make it far to soft and watery, so it won’t harden on the cookies.
- Egg white powder: This is just powdered egg whites, and it helps the icing harden into place. You can use egg white protein powder as well. If you purchase meringue powder, make sure it doesn’t have any added sugar. You can skip it if you really need to but it’s a helpful ingredient.
- Kitchen staples: Baking powder, vanilla extract, and eggs.
Step-by-step directions
1. Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, coconut flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and cloves. Stir in the eggs, coconut oil, and vanilla extract until the dough comes together.
2. Roll the dough evenly: Divide the dough in half and turn out first half onto a large piece of parchment paper. Top with another piece of parchment and roll out out about 1/4 inch thick.
3. Cut out: Use cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes and gently loosen and lift with an offset spatula. Place onto the prepared baking sheets. Gather up scraps and re-roll until too little is left to roll out. Repeat with the second half of dough.
4. Bake: Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown and just firm to the touch. Remove and let cool 5 minutes on pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. You can also keep them in longer if you want very crisp cookies.
5. Prepare the royal icing: In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sweetener and egg white powder. Add 2 tablespoons of water and stir until smooth. Add more water a little at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
6. Decorate: Pipe the icing onto the cooled cookies and let set 30 minutes or longer.
Decorating your cookies
Sugar-free royal icing is easy to make and so perfect for decorating any kind keto cookies.
I followed traditional recipes quite closely, and used egg white powder to produce a soft icing for piping that dries very firm and hard. How much water you need varies depending on the consistency you want to achieve.
You could also have some fun with sugar-free sprinkles, as several brands like Good Dee’s and The Sprinkle Company make them now. You can also easily make your own homemade sugar free sprinkles, in any shape or color you want.
Expert tips
How many cookies you get depends on the size of your cookie cutters. I like 3 inch cutters and find that I can get about fifty. It is meant for sharing around the holidays, but you can easily cut this recipe in half if you need fewer cookies.
The great part about keto dough is that you can re-roll the scraps as much as you need without worrying about over-working the gluten. So go ahead and get as many cookies as you possibly can out of this!
If you prefer crispy keto gingerbread cookies, simply bake them a little longer. They should be quite firm to the touch when you remove them from the oven. But keep your eye on them so that they don’t over-brown.
Frequently Asked Questions
This keto gingerbread cookie recipe has 5.3g of carbs and 2.6g of fiber per serving. That comes to 2.7g net carbs per serving of 2 cookies.
This is a great recipe for making ahead and freezing. I recommend freezing the baked cookies undecorated, stacked carefully in airtight containers. Then simply thaw, decorate, and serve. Because they are baked hard and dry, they can last on the counter for up to a week.
Molasses is a byproduct of sugar production and naturally contains a lot of sugar. It has 15g of carbohydrates per 1 tablespoon serving, so it’s not truly keto friendly. However, you can use a little molasses to mimic brown sugar flavors in keto recipes. If you can’t get Swerve Brown, try adding 2 teaspoons of molasses to these keto gingerbread cookies. It will add less than 0.5g per of carbs per serving.
More delicious keto gingerbread recipes
Keto Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 4 cups (448 g) almond flour
- 1 cup (182 g) brown sugar substitute, See recipe notes for alternative
- 1/4 cup (30 g) coconut flour
- 2 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) salt
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) ground cloves
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup (54.5 g) coconut oil, (or butter) melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Royal Icing:
- 1 cup (182 g) powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 tbsp egg white powder
- 2 to 4 tbsp (59.15 g) water, room temperature, (more to thin out as necessary)
Instructions
Gingerbread Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 275ºF and line two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, coconut flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and cloves. Stir in the eggs, coconut oil, and vanilla extract until the dough comes together.
- Divide the dough in half and turn out first half onto a large piece of parchment paper. Top with another piece of parchment and roll out about 1/4 inch thick.
- Use cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes and gently loosen and lift with an offset spatula. Place onto the prepared baking sheets. Gather up scraps and reroll until too little is left to roll out. Repeat with the second half of dough.
- Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown and just firm to the touch. Remove and let cool 5 minutes on pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Sugar-Free Royal Icing
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sweetener and egg white powder. Add 2 tablespoons of water and stir until smooth. Add more water a little at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
- Pipe icing onto cooled cookies and let set 30 minutes or longer.
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi, Carolyn, Thank you so much for all you put into making a really good gingerbread cookie recipe and sharing it with us, your faithful followers. I made these today and they turned out so impressive for shape, sturdiness and ease. I did take away one star – only for the erythritol, because, as the nature of erythritol it really has a strong cooling aftertaste. I’ll ice them tomorrow to see if that helps tame the cooling. I do love that they are sugar free, grain free, dairy free and so easy!
i absolutely love making gingerbread cookies, and am so grateful to have this keto recipe to follow as its guided me through the Christmas season. my whole family loves it❣️
First attempt at gingerbread cookies and it worked great. Thanks.
hard to handle I used liquid oil should I have used solid, I did put in fridge for 1 hour but they broke easily tasted great would add more ginger next time.
well I made these with my grandkids they were very good although my icing did not turn out too good
James Rhamy.
11 /09/2024
Thanks Carolyn for this wonderful recipe. I used sunflower seeds flour, which I made with the help of your tips. I also added 5g chocolate powder to offset the color. They turned out a bit crumbly which suggested the four was not that fine. But the flavor was really great. Thanks again. : ) Lee
It may be the cocoa powder making them a bit crumbly, since it’s very dry. It may need a bit more oil or butter!
Thanks Carolyn. I will be trying a little more butter in my next batch. : )
Made some of these tonight (without the icing) and they turned out just fine. Nice ginger and cinnamon flavour, which paired well with the 10 mL of molasses I’d added.
As usual, Carolyn’s recipe works out well. Thanks!
Hello Carolyn from Quebec, Canada. I appreciate all your recipes and already looking forward to preparing my Christmas. I allow myself to ask…I am going with my family to Walt Disney and rented a house in Davenport Florida, can someone tell me if there are Keto food markets and especially for bread if you can name me a good kind of bread that I could buy please? thanks in advance
the new Swerve Brown has allulose in it!
have you tried recipe with the new swerve brown? do cookies bake too dark with it?
Yes, you are correct it does. I should have changed the recipe so that is uses my brown sugar replacement… https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/brown-sugar-substitute/
I personally do not like coconut flour. Can I substitute for more almond flour? Is it a one to one replacement of butter for coconut oil?
You will not taste the coconut flour. Butter and coconut oil are cup for cup.
Is Oat Fiber a 1:1 substitute for coconut flour?
I don’t really use it so I can’t advise.
Can you make this dough ahead and chill in the fridge?
Sure! Let it come to room temp before rolling it out.
5 star cookies from Carolyn. They are just perfect.
Thank you!
Hi Carolyn, this will be my first time making keto gingerbread cookies. I have not baked cookies at 275 degrees before. Is that correct or should it be 375 degrees?
Thank you! Wendy
Nope. 275F – this recipe wouldn’t be so popular if I had the incorrect temperature in there.
Is there an alternative to the egg white powder? I’m in the Caribbean, so besides taking about 2 weeks to get it, it will double in price.
You can use liquid egg white and reduce the water.
Hi Carolyn: today I made ginger snap cookies out of this recipe. They smell amazing and they are cooling now. I am a believer in you. Thank you for your website.
Thanks so much!
Very good recipe! I enjoy making diabetic friendly treats as gifts to family and friends who are careful about their blood sugar, or my keto friends. I’m looking forward to making these for them! just want to say, if not able to use swerve brown sugar replacement, Lakanto golden monk fruit is an excellent alternative. Keep up the great work!
Hi! I am looking for a low-glycemic recipe to make a gingerbread house. 1. Do you think this will stand up like a house? 2. If so, can you estimate how much “square footage” this recipe makes? I guess that would be how many cookie sheets if you didn’t cut the cookies out. (also — I think I’d try the oat fiber instead of coconut flour because I have a lot to use up — have you tried that?)
I am sorry, I cannnot. You will need to experiement.
Hi Carolyn! Did you recently update this recipe? I swear there was molasses in it last time I made it. Just made another batch and it’s just not the same. Am I crazy!? Thanks so much!
The recipe always said molasses was optional when using Swerve.