Keto Gingerbread Cookies are a classic low carb and sugar free holiday treat. It’s the perfect keto cookie recipe for decorating with your kids and giving as a healthy holiday gift. A great make ahead recipe too!
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 children love decorating cookies and we make these fun gingerbread men almost every year.
I can’t honestly say I feel the same myself about the decorating part. I think much of it has to do with the finicky nature of working with royal icing. My hands, so steady in other times, tend to shake a little as I squeeze the piping bag. Lines I mean to be straight end up wobbly and crooked. Lines that should be curved just end up looking ragged and uneven.
I simply do NOT understand how people get those beautiful cookies all perfectly even and filled in. I feel a little like a kid who can’t stay in the lines when colouring at school. I’d much prefer just to dip the whole lot in chocolate, thank you very much. Simpler, faster and it satisfies that primal urge for all things chocolate.
Keto Gingerbread Cookies Video!
But my kids love doing the whole cookie decorating thing, so every year around the holidays I set aside some time for this arduous task. This year I decided I wanted to make the perfect low carb gingerbread men.
As always, I let my kids decorate their cookies with a few sprinkles and candies. And as always, I had a heck of time finding the smaller candies that are just right for cookie decorating. Why do mini M&Ms abound when you don’t need them, but when you do, they are nowhere to be seen?
I kept my cookies quite simple, with just a little sugar free royal icing.
Tender low carb gingerbread men
I don’t know about you, but I like my gingerbread cookies to have a little tenderness to them. I didn’t want these to be super-crispy or rock hard, and I wanted them to have just a little chewiness upon biting into them.
To that end, I decided to make them with coconut oil instead of butter. Coconut oil typically makes baked goods more tender, but you can easily make these with butter instead, if you prefer.
The dough was a little too soft and overly-fragile, so I added just a bit of coconut flour to help it hold together a little better. And I was careful to take them out just a bit on the early side, to keep them softer. If you are the sort who prefers crispy gingerbread cookies, simply bake these longer at a lower temperature, and they will crisp up nicely.
Do note that this recipes makes a lot of gingerbread men. It’s meant to be shared and given away as gifts. But you can easily make a half batch, as I did in the video!
How to decorate Keto Gingerbread Cookies
In the end, the kids and I had a ball decorating these sweet little sugar free gingerbread men.
The sugar-free royal icing recipe follows traditional recipes quite closely, and uses egg white powder to produce a soft icing for piping that will dry 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, since several brands like Good Dee’s and The Sprinkle Company make them now.
I myself worked hard at making my cookies look like classic gingerbread men. And gingerbread trees, just to shake it up a little. Most of them didn’t turn out half-bad, but by the end I was quite literally drizzling the icing on in a random, abstract-art way, just to be done. My patience for these things is incredibly limited and this recipe makes a lot of cookies!
How to store Keto Gingerbread Cookies
These cookies are great make ahead holiday treat, since they can be frozen for several months. I recommend freezing the baked cookies undecorated, stacked carefully in airtight containers. You can put waxed paper between the layers of cookies if you need to.
Then simply thaw, decorate, and serve. Or give away as gifts to friends and family!
More keto gingerbread treats
- Keto Gingerbread Cream Cheese Pound Cake
- Keto Gingerbread Cake Roll
- Keto Gingerbread Cheesecake
- Keto Gingerbread Whoopie Pies
- Keto Gingerbread Cupcakes
- Keto Gingerbread Chaffles
Keto Gingerbread Men
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 4 cups almond flour
- 1 cup Swerve Brown (or 1 cup granular)
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 2 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup coconut oil (or butter) melted
- 2 teaspoon Yacon syrup or molasses (optional, for color and flavor)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Royal Icing:
- 1 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 tablespoon egg white powder
- ¼ cup water, room temperature (more to thin out as necessary)
Instructions
- For the cookies, preheat oven to 275F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, sweetener, coconut flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt and cloves.
- Stir in eggs, coconut oil, Yacon syrup (if using) and vanilla extract until dough comes together.
- Divide 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 ¼ inch thick.
- Use cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes and gently loosen and lift with an offset spatula. Place onto prepared baking sheets.
- Gather up scraps and reroll until too little is left to roll out. Repeat with 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.
- For the royal icing, in a medium bowl, whisk together powdered sweetener and egg white powder. Add water and stir until smooth. Add more water 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
- Pipe icing onto cooled cookies and let set 30 minutes or longer.
- *For crisper cookies, bake at 225F for 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. They will crisp up as they cool
Notes
Sheila says
can the batter be frozen? so if I mixed up the batter, froze it, then later on, thawed it and rolled and baked them.
Carolyn says
Yes, absolutely!
Agnes Peter says
HI Carolyn, i wanted to write back to tell you, that i had tried your recipe a few times. I had to do a few modifications here around the temperature. What has worked here is (depending on the oven) is 155C and about 20 to 25 minutes.
The cookies come out just firm to touch and then when left to cool, they harden. Not soft and not so hard. It’s a great tasting cookie. Thank you for sharing it.
My first few attempts failed. I don’t know what the 275F mark just didn’t work. But the temperature adjustment at least for me, has worked.
A question on storage – how long can these last after baking and put to storage? In airtight container – they can last a week? Or after baking can i freeze these or put in he fridge? and how long can these last in the freezer or fridge? Another question is say can i freeze the dough and for how long? Do i keep them in freezer or fridge temperature.
I made some 2 weeks ago and put them in airtight container and sealed them, but i discovered some turned mouldy. Hence i have those questions about storing them.
Carolyn says
I never advise keeping cookies at room temperature for more than 5 days or so. You can freeze these easily, though.
Vicki Mills says
I have a silicone 24 cavity gingerbread man mold. Do you suppose I could push little balls of dough into the cavities and bake these that way?
Carolyn says
I am not sure since I don’t know what the mold looks like. I just worry that they wouldn’t crisp up properly if they are to thick.
Georgiana Aron says
Hi,
This recipe looks really amazing!
Will it be possible to get the ingredients in grams please? I have had many failures measuring in cups and I want to be on the safe side this time!
Thank you very much!
Warm regards,
Georgiana
Carolyn says
I just enabled the metric conversion button. Thanks!
Agnes Peter says
Hi I just tried your recipe. It seems to take much longer than 20 minutes to bake. Probably about 40 mins. Also, I used 2 Medium sized eggs instead of 2 large eggs. Any advice for me. The temperature is 135C for this bake. Should I increase the temperature?
Carolyn says
What sweetener did you use?
Jon S. says
Hello, Carolyn;
Since going keto I’ve been looking for replacement recipes.
I’ve used some of your’s & I thank you for them.
I’m not good enough to convert grain & sugar recipes to keto.
My Dad used to eat some crisp gingerbread cakes that he liked.
So I want a recipe for that.
Can you suggest changes to make this recipe more like the crisp style?
Thank you for all you do & for you kind assistance in advance.
have a GREAT day, Neighbor!
Carolyn says
Use this recipe: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/classic-gingerbread-men-low-carb-and-gluten-free/
mariam says
You can use either. I have.
mariam says
your video shows you adding optional arrowroot powder to the icing, but it is not in your classic recipe (which I’ve made for several years now! How much arrowroot powder did you use in the icing?
Hester says
Hi what is the molasses used in the recipe do? Do you think I could leave out. Just wondering as the carbs and sugars are high in it
Thanks!
Carolyn says
Colour and flavour… and it only adds about half a gram of carbs to each serving.