Easily the best keto sugar cookies you will ever make. This recipe produces sturdy but tender cookies, perfect for decorating with sugar-free royal icing. They’re fun to make for any holiday or occasion!
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck, right? And if it looks like a sugar cookie and tastes like a sugar cookies, it’s a sugar cookie, right? Or not.
Perhaps I shouldn’t actually call these keto sugar cookies, since they don’t have a single grain of sugar in them. False advertising and all that.
But sometimes keto recipes deserve a little poetic license. I’ve got Keto Banana Bread with no bananas, and Keto Oatmeal with no oats. They just look and taste like the real deal and that’s all that matters. So why not sugar free sugar cookies too?
And during the holidays, who doesn’t love playing around with fun cookie cutters and pretty colors of royal icing? We look forward to it every year, when we crank the holiday music and make a horrific mess in the kitchen. It’s a family tradition!
A must make cookie recipe
These keto sugar cookies have stood the test of time. I first published this recipe in October 2012, and I decided to give them a little update. I changed very little about the cookie itself but created a perfect sugar free royal icing to pair with it. So that you can decorate to your heart’s content!
What makes them so great? Well for one thing, they don’t spread or rise, and they hold their shape perfectly during baking. And if you’re careful and keep your eye on them, you can make sure that they don’t brown too much, so that they stay a pale golden brown like a traditional sugar cookie.
Once cooled, they are both sturdy and tender. You bite into one thinking it’s going to be too crisp, but it has just the right amount of give under your teeth. And yet they still hold up to all the decorating you care to throw at them.
The only changes I made to the cookie dough itself was to swap out the oat flour for coconut flour, and leave out the xanthan gum altogether. Everything else stayed the same, including the chilling time and baking time.
Reader Testimonials
Testimonial “I’d never attempted keto cut-out sugar cookies before and was afraid they might fall apart when rolling/cutting, but nope – these behaved amazingly well. Oh and absolutely delicious!” — Stephanie
“I’ve been craving a good keto sugar cookie but the recipes I’ve tried have come up short – until yours. These are so good! They’re buttery and perfectly sweet all on their own, and they were easy to make. Thank you so much for another fantastic recipe!” — Sara
“This is a wonderful recipe, thanks for sharing! This also makes a great base for a fruit pizza. I have my second batch in the oven right now. ????”– Amanda
Ingredients you need
Cookie Ingredients
- Almond flour: For keto sugar cookies with really good texture, make sure you use a finely ground almond flour like Bob’s Red Mill. You can use sunflower seed flour as a nut-free alternative, but your cookies will be more gray in color.
- Coconut flour: A little coconut flour helps make the dough less fragile and easier to work with. You can also use a little oat fiber.
- Swerve Sweetener: You really need an erythritol based sweetener such as Swerve for crisp cookies. Allulose and BochaSweet simply won’t work here. Learn more about keto sweeteners and how they affect your baked goods.
- Butter: If you use salted butter, you can omit the additional salt in the recipe. Be sure to use softened butter for better mixing.
- Pantry staples: Eggs, vanilla, salt.
Royal Icing Ingredients
- Powdered Sweetener: I use a mix of Swerve Confectioners and BochaSweet for this icing. You can use all powdered Swerve but it looks a little dried out when it hardens. By mixing in some BochaSweet, the icing has a nice sheen to it.
- Egg white powder: Classic royal icing takes meringue powder to help it firm up and harden, but it often contains sugar. I use powdered egg whites to the same effect. In a pinch, you could use some pasteurized egg whites and then reduce the water.
- Vanilla extract: Royal icing isn’t very flavorful, so l like to add a little vanilla to make it taste better.
- Natural food coloring: I prefer to use natural food colorings, but you can use any food colorings you like. It’s tricky to get a true red with natural dyes, so I add some beet powder to help.
Step-by-step directions
1. Prepare the cookie dough: In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sweetener together until creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, and then beat in the almond flour mixture until dough comes together.
2. Roll out: Turn the dough out onto a work surface with a silicone baking mat or a large piece of parchment paper, lightly dusted with coconut flour. Pat into a rough circle and then top with a large piece of parchment paper. Roll out to about ⅓-inch thickness.
3. Cut out: Using cookie cutters of your choice, cut out cookies and lift carefully with a small, offset spatula or knife. Place the cookies on baking sheets lined with silicone liners or parchment paper and freeze for 30 minutes.
4. Bake: Once chilled, bake the cookies at 325F for 12 to 14 minutes, or until they are just starting to brown around the edges, switching and rotating the pans halfway through baking. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on pan. The cookies will still be quite soft when removed from the oven but will firm up as they cool.
Working with sugar free royal icing
If you want to decorate sugar cookies properly, you really need royal icing. It’s thin enough to make beautiful patterns, but it also hardens as it dries. I had to experiment quite a bit to get a keto royal icing that worked well. You can use this same icing on my Keto Gingerbread Cookies.
Why use two sweeteners?
I use both powdered Swerve and powdered BochaSweet for this recipe. Swerve hardens and dry better than BochaSweet, but can become a little dull as it sits. BochaSweet on its own makes the icing too goopy and soft, but gives it a nice sheen when combined with Swerve. The combination of these two sweeteners allows me to take advantage of their desired properties and offset the undesired ones.
You could also use powdered xylitol in place of the BochaSweet. I am not sure if allulose will work, as it tends to make things so soft that they never firm up properly.
To make
Whisk together the sweeteners and the egg white powder in a large bowl. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking in between, until the desired consistency is achieved. Whisk in the vanilla extract.
It’s important to get just the right consistency. You want the icing to be slightly drippy but not runny. This allows you to make outlines of shapes, and then “flood” them in by zig-zagging lines of icing within the outlines. Then use a toothpick to run all the lines together into a smooth coating.
Coloring the icing
Once you’ve got your icing to the right consistency, divide it up into separate bowls and color as desired.
These days, there are an increasing number of all-natural food dye options. Most of them are vegetable or plant-based, and they tend to produce pastel colors rather than true, deep reds and greens.
But I recently found this beet powder coloring which makes a much stronger red color. It tends to thicken the icing a bit so you need to add more water to get the right consistency.
Expert tips
To get that perfect pale golden sugar cookie color, use a silicone baking mat. It protect the cookies from the heat better than parchment paper.
Let the cookies cool completely before decorating them. If they are still warm, the icing will melt and run off the cookies! Also let them cool completely before attempting to freeze them.
Allow the royal icing to harden completely overnight. Simply lay all the decorated cookies out on cookie sheets and set in a cool, dry location. Once the icing is hard, you can layer the cookies on top of one another without risk of smearing the decorations.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can indeed! I actually have some undecorated cookies in my freezer right now. You can freeze them with or without the royal icing. I like to make a big batch weeks in advance, and then decorate them closer to the holidays.
This keto sugar cookie recipe has 4.8g of carbs and 2.4g of fiber per serving. That comes to 2.4g net carbs per serving of 3 to 4 small cookies. The exact amount depends on the size of your cookies.
It all comes down to what sweeteners you use. Erythritol is the only sugar substitute that produces crisp cookies. Any amount of xylitol, allulose, or BochaSweet will prevent the cookies from crisping up properly. For more information, read my Guide to Keto Sweeteners.
Keto Sugar Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 2 1/4 cups almond flour
- 2 tbsp coconut flour, (can also use oat fiber)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 6 tbsp butter, softened
- ½ cup Swerve Sweetener, granular
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Royal Icing:
- 1/2 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1/2 cup powdered BochaSweet, (or powdered xylitol)
- 1 tbsp egg white powder
- 2 to 4 tbsp Water, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Natural food coloring
Instructions
Cookies:
- Prepare a work surface with a silicone baking mat or a large piece of parchment paper, and dust lightly with coconut flour. Line two large baking sheets silicone liners or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sweetener together until creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, and then beat in the almond flour mixture until dough comes together.
- Turn the dough out onto the prepared work surface. Pat into a rough circle and then top with a large piece of parchment paper. Roll out to about 1/3-inch thickness.
- Using cookie cutters of choice, cut out cookies and lift carefully with a small, offset spatula or knife. Place on the prepared baking sheets and freeze for 30 minutes. Gather up the scraps and re-roll your dough, to cut out as many cookies as possible.
- Preheat the oven to 325F.
- Bake the cookies 12 to 14 minutes, or until they are just starting to brown around the edges, switching and rotating the pans halfway through baking. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on pan. The cookies will still be quite soft when removed from the oven but will firm up as they cool.
Royal Icing:
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sweeteners and the egg white powder. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking in between, until desired consistency is achieved. It should drizzle off the end of the whisk in ribbons, but shouldn't be too thin. Whisk in the vanilla extract.
- Divide into sepate bowls and add food coloring in small amounts until the desired color is achieved.
- Place icing in small ziploc bags or piping bags with the very corner snipped off to pipe outlines. Let the outlines dry at least 10 to 20 minutes before filling in.
- To fill in the outlines, pipe frosting into the outline in a back and forth motion. It does not have to be perfect and there may be gaps. Then simply use a toothpick to fill the icing into the gaps.
- Let the flooded icing dry completely before adding any additional icing decoration. (Or do what I did for one cookie, add little dots of another color and swirl them in with a toothpick. So many fun options!).
Video
Notes
Storage information:
Store the cookies in a covered container on the counter for up to 7 days, or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. They can also be frozen, before or after decorating, for several months.Nutrition
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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This is a wonderful recipe, thanks for sharing! This also makes a great base for a fruit pizza. I have my second batch in the oven right now. 🙂
Hi Wondering what is the best natural food colouring brand is – that you trust?
The cookies taste great on their own but want to try with the icing for the kids.
Thanks,
Saskia
I’ve been using these colour powders lately. I am pretty sure they have an orange too. They are VERY vibrant! http://amzn.to/2wB0jWa
would THM baking blend work?
It would be a bit drier so be prepared to add more liquid or oil.
I made a lazy version of it (no xantham gum etc…just almond powder, butter, swerve, vanilla, egg) and it turned out just as I expected 🙂 super sweet sugar cookies. I’m now motivated to buy some cookie cutter and coloring. I shared the recipe in Japanese on my site: http://cupcaketoons.com/devancouver/swerve-sweetener-%E3%81%A7%E4%BD%8E%E7%B3%96%E8%B3%AA%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A5%E3%82%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF%E3%83%83%E3%82%AD%E3%83%BC%EF%BC%88%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B7%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0%E4%BB%98%E3%81%8D/ (the URL is a bit weird because they are in Japanese characters…)
Thank you Carolyn~~~
Sounds like your lazy version worked out well!
Hey Carolyn!! I need a good vanilla wafer recipe for low carb banana puddin. How would these cookies work for that do you think, texture wise?
These worked well for us and have inspired me to look for new cookie cutters. Ever since my husband changed to low carb lifestyle, cookies have been harder to do. These worked – even though I did not use the recommended almond flour – we do our own in a grinder/mill. Keeping the dough well chilled was key. Also, I almost had the graininess that you mentioned in your icing recipe (and I was careful to have butter softened) and the thing that seemed to change from grainy was my final addition of Swerve, which I had premeasured and been putting in gradually as I made it. Actually, just having some good icing ideas that don’t need confectioners sugar has been a huge step forward for our family as well.. Of course, we did use green icing with St. Patricks Day just around the corner!.
Thanks for that tip!
Carolyn, these are sooooo good! My 20 yr old grandson even liked them! These are definitely going to be made for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.!
Thanks!
Hi Carolyn, I would love to make these cookies for my daughter. Could you tell me what sugar/no sugar toppings you used to accent the cookies. I didn’t know if they have sugar-free ones or ones you use that you would suggest. Thanks so much!
I can’t find any sugar-free versions so I just try to keep them to a minimum.
Thx Carolyn!!
Do we have to use that thickener,, what about bakining powder?
You can forego the xanthan gum but you may find that your cookies are more crumbly. This recipe does not require any leavening agent.
Been looking for good cookie recipes that my “sugar free” family can enjoy. So glad to have found your site!!! What a treasure trove of ideas, can hardly wait to try them all. Made these today with my kids, and …almost… decided it would be a “one and done” recipe since the dough was so fussy (as the dough warms to room temperature, even during just the time it takes to cut a few out, it gets creamy and impossible to manage, especially by the kids). Then … we tasted the first batch. Oh, my goodness, they are AWESOME! Dead-on sugar cookie flavor & texture!!! So buttery and delicious, they don’t even need the frosting. Managed the “fussiness” by using the freezer … a lot. Froze the rolled out dough as recommended; then re-froze the cut dough before removing the individual cookies (made it possible to simply peel them off the parchment without damaging them); then *re*-froze the pan of cutouts before placing it in the oven. Worked like a charm, and the results are so worth it! We will be making these again tomorrow, this time coloring part of the dough to make them a little fancier for Christmas. Kids can’t wait! 🙂 (Using a traditional 3″ cutter set and rolling the dough to about 1/4″, this easily made about 30 cookies. What a low-carb coup!!!) Thank you for this awesome site. I’ll be coming back … a lot!
The dough is tricky, it’s just the nature of the beast with low carb and gluten-free. But SO glad you liked them enough to work at it!
I have gluten free corn flour, cashew flour, & coconut flour. which one should I use? I could’t find gluten free oat flour. I am going to make these and the magic bars in a the morning! Thanks Heidi
Are you just trying to replace the oat flour? Then use coconut flour but only use half the amount.
Cute..,but taste like shoe leather??
Are you asking if they do or saying that they do? We certainly didn’t find it to be so and you can see from the comments that no one else did either.
Mine was not a question mine was why did mine taste like leather… A friend and I got together very excitedly to make a batch each of these cookies and follow the ingredients to a T and went to taste them at my next eating opportunity and was very disappointed they have no taste and the rather chewy. I am used to sugar cookies having kind of a crispiness and these deathly do not… I made a similar cookie with other things added to it and no xanthan gum and that seems to be the only difference… Any suggestions? They taste so blah but I don’t even want to bother frosting them.
Sorry, I don’t know what to say. They have been well received by my friends and family. I’d suggest you use the recipe you like better.
Carolyn we just made them the kids and I and they loved them! I have to work on my frosting had to order the powder swerve online :/ i used granualted Swerve but def a great cookie! Can i add cocoa to make chocolate sugar cookies?
Yes, but cut back a bit on the almond flour too so that your dough isn’t too dry.
How much would you suggest on cutting back? I am so happy I flund your site and recipes! Thank you so much!!!
Is the xanthum gum necessary? I don’t have any and it’s expensive……:(
I think in these cookies, you could get away without it. they will be a touch more fragile.
Do you think oat fiber would be a good sub in place of the oat flour? I bought a bag to make your french toast and was looking for other recipes to use it with. These and the sugar cookie bars look so good. I just wasn’t sure if it could sub in place of the oat flour. Thank you so much! I can’t wait to make these!
Sure, I think you could use it here easily.
TWO QUESTIONS:
Can you use regular food coloring?
Also do you thing this would work as a crust.
You always seem to know the answer.
You are like St Anthony to me . He helps me find also of thing lol.
Sure, you can use regular food colouring but I am not sure how much. Add a little at a time until you get the right colour. As for crust, I suppose it depends on what crust you plan to use it for. It would make great crust for bars of some sort.
Thanks
yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!