Did you love the crispy chocolate-filled Milano Cookies in your old, high carb days? They were a really special treat in my house and we didn’t get them often, but I remember them fondly. So you know I had to make a low carb copycat version!
Successfully recreating an old favorite makes me very, very happy. Low sugar treats like Keto Magic Cookie Bars and Keto Pecan Pie make me dance around my kitchen with joy. And my middle child loved these Keto Milano Cookies so much, she danced around with me!
When I was a child, Pepperidge Farm cookies weren’t available in Canada. So we only got the Milanos when we were on vacation in Florida. My parents loved them so much, they would stash them on the highest shelf in the condo kitchen, and only doll them out a little at a time.
With that kind of special, limited access, it’s no wonder I have such fond memories. And no wonder I wanted to come up with a healthy keto milano cookie recipe of my own.
Reader’s Thoughts
“Would it be cheesy to nominate you for sainthood? Because these cookies are freaking AMAZING!” — Courtney O.
Why You Will Love These Cookies
- Light and crisp: These buttery keto cookies have the same crisp texture as the original Milanos.
- Chocolate filling: A keto sandwich cookie with a rich chocolate filling that never disappoints.
- Minimal ingredients: You need only 6 simple ingredients to make this recipe, most of which you probably have in your pantry already!
- Straightforward approach: These cookies are easy to make and don’t take any special equipment.
- Customizable: Feel free to use milk chocolate for the filling, or add some mint extract for Mint Milanos.
- Gluten-free and low carb: Made with almond flour, these cookies are gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, and keto-friendly.
Ingredient Notes
- Butter: Both the cookies and the filling take butter. You can use salted or unsalted, it doesn’t make a difference to the outcome.
- Sweetener: You will need an erythritol-based sweetener for these crispy cookies. Please see the Tips for Success for more information.
- Almond flour: This is an almond flour based recipe and it won’t work with coconut flour.
- Dark chocolate: You can use your favorite brand of keto dark or milk chocolate. I prefer these cookies with dark chocolate.
- Kitchen staples: Egg, vanilla extract, and salt.
How to Make Keto Milano Cookies
- Prepare the cookie dough: Beat the butter with the sweetener until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, and vanilla extract, then add the almond flour and salt.
- Pipe the dough: Cut a 1-inch diameter hole in a piping bag. Pipe 2-inch long logs onto baking sheets lined with silicone mats.
- Bake the cookies: Bake until the edges are golden brown, and turn the oven off and continue to bake for another 10 to 15 minutes to crisp up.
- Make the filling: Melt the chocolate and butter together in a microwave safe bowl or in a double boiler on the stovetop.
- Assemble the cookies: Spread the bottom of one cookie with chocolate filling then top with another cookie. Place on a cooling rack until firm.
Tips for Success
Room temperature ingredients: The butter should be softened enough so that you can press a finger into it. The egg should be room temperature. This keeps the butter from clumping up and leaving holes in the cookies.
Silicone baking mats will protect the bottoms of your cookies better than parchment, and allow you let them crisp up longer in the oven. I have three in various sizes and I use them constantly.
Turning off the oven and allowing the cookies to remain inside helps them crisp up without getting overdone. I use this same technique with other cookies like Keto Shortbread. But you still need to keep a close eye on them, especially if your oven holds its heat.
Don’t have a piping bag? A big ziplock bag will work nicely too. Just don’t make the hole any larger than 1-inch in diameter, or the cookies will be too wide.
Choose the right sweetener: Using the correct sweetener is vital to the outcome of this recipe. Only erythritol-based sweeteners, with no allulose or xylitol, will produce a crisp cookie.
Keto Milano Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granular sweetener, erythritol recommended
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
Chocolate Filling
- 2 ounces sugar-free dark chocoate, chopped
- 1 tbsp butter
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF and line two baking sheets with silicone mats. You can use parchment instead but keep a close eye on your cookies as the bottoms may brown quickly.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter with the sweetener until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.
- Add the almond flour and salt and beat until the mixture is uniform, scraping down the sides of the bowl and the beaters as necessary.
- Cut a 1 inch diameter hole in a piping bag and fill with the dough. Pipe 2 inch long logs onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie.
- Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Turn the oven off and let the cookies sit inside, keeping a close eye on them, for another 10 to 15 minutes to help them crisp up.
- Let cool completely before filling.
Chocolate Filling
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the chocolate and the butter. Melt on high in 30 second increments, stirring in between. Alternatively, you melt double-boiler style on the stove.
- Spread the bottom of one cookie with about 1 teaspoon of the chocolate filling. Top with another cookie. Place on a tray and refrigerate 10 minutes to set the filling.
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
Milano Cookies were made popular by Pepperidge Farm. They consist of two crisp oblong cookies with a chocolate filling. This keto version features the same crisp cookies and delicious filling, but with a fraction of the carbs!
I store mine in a covered container on the counter for up to 5 days, or in the fridge for up to 10 days. You can also freeze these cookies for up to 3 months.
This keto milano cookies recipe has 4.7g carbs and 2.2g of fiber per serving. That comes to 2.5g net carbs for 2 cookies.
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Made these this afternoon. Milanos were always my favorite. I used milk chocolate and they came out great! Next up, Tagalongs; my favorite girl scout cookie 😊
You have instructions for “Chocolate Mint Filling”, but no ingredients for it and no instructions for the regular filling…..
(Basically you give the regular filling instructions with the title for Chocolate Mint Filling)
Really good. Mine came be out a little on the flat side but they are still good. You’re not kidding about watching them when; they brisket quickly with the upper pan browning faster. Switched them around for the crossing up phase and the upper pan browned quicker. I used Kerrygold unsalted butter, Bob’s Red Mill springer almond flour, and a large egg. Used the kitchenaid hand mixer to mix.
These look so good – definitely making them. Want to ask you if these unfilled buttery cookies can be used in “Lemon Lush” crust? Im dying to make that one! Thank you!
In the instructions, you mentioned to make the mint chocolate filling, but there’s no listing of mint is an ingredient. If you want to make mint Milanos, how much mint would you add and when would you add it?
Older recipe that I updated. It’s fixed… you can add extract to taste to the chocolate filling.
This is an amazing buttery cookie. I have to say that I ate a few of them before putting chocolate because I couldn’t resist! So delicious with milk! I did not use a piping bag. I just scooped them on the silicon mat with my very small scooper. Delish! Thank you!
My cookies spread out- a lot!! My butter was at room temp and I followed the recipe, I thought. Any ideas on why that happened??
Sounds like you didn’t have quite enough flour in there.
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!! Can I replace the almond flour with Sunflower Flour? We have a nut allergy in our family and he would love these!!!
Florence
You can… they won’t look like classic Milanos, of course. And you need a little bit of acid to offset the green reaction. Try some lemon juice.
I absolutely love All your recipes
I haven’t tried anything that I didn’t like
My one question is about storage
I never see anything about that after your recipes on Pinterest
I recently made the mint Milano cookies
That I love
And I was wondering if I should of refrigerated them because of the heavy cream added to the chocolate
Thanks so much for all these amazing recipes
I look forward to your reply
They are fine on the counter for several days (4 or so). In the fridge is best if you think they will be around longer.
Thank you for answering my question so quickly
They actually lasted about that too
Well perfect!
Good recipe, taste good. There not the prettiest thing ever but taste great for being keto!
I’m so confused, I followed the recipe, the batter tasted fantastic but after 12 minutes of baking they were burned. You put 18 minutes for bake time, they would have been charcoal. Is the bake time correct or does my oven run to high, I don’t have a thermometer in it
Well, I haven’t had anyone else say that so I am going to guess it’s your oven? Have you ever tried calibrating it?
Is the butter salted or unsalted?
Unsalted is standard in baking, but it’s not going to matter that much.
Hi! Bought the new baking book, and I was so impressed that I bought 3 more of your books! Lost 30 lbs on low carb but have gained back 20 ???? and sweets were a part of the downfall. I am refocused but know that I can’t do it without sweets somehow. Enjoying chocolate mayonnaise cake this week.
Hubs loves regular Milanos, but my favorite is orange Milano. If I remember right, there’s chocolate in the middle, but then also a slick of orange frosting on either side of the chocolate. right?? Anyway, how would you recommend getting the orang part in there for an Orange Milano? Also wondering if you’ve got a recipe for toffee bars? The bar cookie, I mean.
Love your name, btw—there aren’t many of us out there! —Carolyn
Thanks, so glad you like the book. I think you could maybe do just a bit of orange buttercream, maybe with a touch of cream cheese to give it structure. I am not sure what you mean by toffee bars but I do have a pecan toffee bar, and I also have keto cracker toffee. Just use the search term “toffee” in my search box and you will find them!
You could try a little orange extract with the chocolate.I’ve never had the orange milano’s, but I would guess that it would have a similar flavor
Can I use a plastic bag cut for the filling instead of a bag?
These look amazing
Sure, any Ziploc bag will do.
Would it be cheesy to nominate you for sainthood? Because these cookies are freaking AMAZING!
I’m all for it! 😉
Yassssss! I love healthier versions of my favorite treats! Looking forward to trying these!