Sweetly spiced, crispy keto speculoos cookies are a must-bake low carb treat. Made famous by the Biscoff brand, these Dutch spice cookies get a sugar-free, gluten-free makeover.
You may never have heard of speculoos, but chances are good you’ve heard of Biscoff brand. Well, consider these crispy spice cookies the keto version of Biscoff. But so much better.
How do I describe these delicious keto cookies? They are like thin shortbread with plenty of cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. And they are not to be missed!
They look rather unassuming, as cookies go. But one bite of these buttery crisp shortbread, and you understand instantly why they’re so popular in Europe.
All that warm spice exploding in your mouth transports you straight to the famed Christmas markets.
(This post was originally published in June, 2012.)
What are speculoos cookies?
Speculoos are spiced shortcrust cookies traditionally baked around St. Nicholas’ Day (December 6th) in Belgium and the Netherlands. Speculoos is the Belgian term and Speculaas is the Dutch term for these cookies.
They are usually quite thin and crispy, and perfectly seasoned with a combination of spices. And they often come stamped or in pretty shapes like the traditional Dutch Windmill Cookies.
Lotus Bakeries created the brand name Biscoff for the American market. And they gained huge popularity through their partnership with Delta Airlines.
These keto speculoos are just as tasty, with all the same delicious spiciness. And they’re easy to make too. They may just become your new favorite keto Christmas cookies!
Ingredients for keto speculoos
Similar to shortbread, these cookies are totally egg-free. You will need:
- Butter
- Sweetener (must be erythritol based!)
- Vanilla
- Spices including cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and nutmeg or mace
- Almond flour (see FAQ for nut-free suggestions)
- Baking soda
- Salt
Using the right sweetener
The outcome of your keto speculoos depends heavily on the sweetener you use. I featured these cookies in a recent YouTube video, showing the difference sweeteners make.
People often assume that all keto sweeteners work the same way, and make substitutions based on what they prefer. And when their cookies come out soft and not crisp, they think the recipe is to blame.
The ONLY sweeteners that will produce a crisp cookie are erythritol based, like Swerve or Lakanto. Any amount of allulose and/or BochaSweet, and your cookies will be soft and cake-y.
Traditional speculoos cookies take brown sugar, but I found that Swerve Brown made them a little less crisp than Swerve Granular. And allulose made them totally soft and floppy!
Watch my video to see how the different sweeteners change the keto speculaas cookies.
The Ultimate Guide to Keto Sweeteners breaks down the properties of various sweeteners in great detail. I recommend reading it!
More tips for making keto speculoos cookies
- Use properly softened butter. Make sure it’s soft but not melted and beat the sweetener in until it’s nicely creamed. Then beat in the vanilla and the spices.
- Use finely ground almond flour. Speculoos cookies should be thin and crisp, and the dough needs to be quite cohesive to roll out properly. Coarsely-ground nut meal makes cookies more gritty and crumbly.
- Baking soda vs. baking powder. These cookies aren’t meant to rise so don’t add any baking powder. But a bit of baking soda helps them brown nicely in the oven without making them rise.
- Cut them as desired. There are so many possible ways to cut speculoos cookies, from circles and hearts to stars and rectangles. I cut some of mine free-hand with a fluted pastry wheel, but this rectangular cookie cutter would work well too.
- Let them cool completely. As always with keto cookies, they won’t be truly crisp until they are completely cool.
Frequently Asked Questions
Coconut flour is not a good substitute for these cookies. But you can try using sunflower seed flour. You will need to add a tablespoon of acid, like lemon juice or vinegar, to offset the green reaction that occurs between sunflower seeds and baking soda.
I haven’t tried but I imagine that softened coconut oil or palm shortening would work well. If you can tolerate ghee, that’s another great option.
Please refer to the section “Using the right sweetener” to understand how sweetener substitutions will affect your keto speculoos cookies.
It is important to understand that most “monk fruit sweeteners” are really erythritol with a little monk fruit to make them sweeter. True monk fruit is a highly concentrated extract that is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar. It’s a bit of a marketing gimmick, to be honest.
Read the ingredient list on your sweetener package. If the only ingredients are erythritol and monk fruit, then yes, you can use this. If it has even a little allulose in it, your cookies won’t crisp up properly.
Carolyn recommends:
- Silicone liners are the best way to protect the bottom of you cookies from getting too dark
- This small Ateco offset spatula is my favorite kitchen tool! Perfect for spreading frosting and wiggling under cut-out cookies.
- Don’t skip the cardamom! It helps give speculoos cookies their classic flavor.
Keto Speculoos Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter softened
- ⅔ cup Swerve Sweetener
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 ½ cups almond flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F and line two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sweetener together until creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and the spices.
- Add the almond flour, baking soda, and salt and beat until the dough comes together. Divide the dough into to even discs.
- Dust a work surface lightly with almond flour. Place one disc on the work surface and cover with parchment paper. Roll out to ⅛ to ¼ inch thick as evenly as possible.
- Cut the cookies into desired shapes with cookie cutters or a pastry wheel. Wiggle an offset spatula carefully under the cookies to loosen them from the work surface. Place on the prepared baking sheets. Gather the scraps and re-roll to get as many cookies as possible. Repeat with the second disc of dough.
- Bake 10 to 15 minutes, or until they are golden brown (how long depends on how thinly you rolled the dough). Remove from the oven and let cool completely on the pans. They will still be soft to the touch but will crisp up as they cool.
- If they don't crisp up completely, place back in a warm (200°F) oven for another 10 to 15 minutes.
Kim Joyce says
Could I use THM baking blend in place of the almond flour?
Carolyn says
I’m sorry, I don’t use it so I cannot advise. But I do know it’s a lot more dry and it could make your cookies very crumbly.
Tamisha says
Best cookie recipe ever!!! Remind me of spiced Moravian cookies. Is there a way to make them vanilla or lemon flavored?
Carolyn says
I am sure there is! Obviously don’t do the spices and use just extract. For lemon, try adding some grated lemon zest too.
Clare Forshaw says
Do you have any ideas on how to stop the dough from sticking to a cookie press? They are absolutely gorgeous, but I can only get one or two – even after freezing the rounds – before they stick like the Dickens!!!
p.s. Delicious!!!
Carolyn says
What kind of cookie press? Like a stamp? Try brushing it with oil lightly.
Melanie says
Ok. I officially give up trying to make keto almond flour cookies. I was so excited for these and I studied this recipe like I was going to be tested on it. I followed every instruction and tip, and yet these came out so bland and tasteless. They taste like slightly sweetened almonds but that’s it. I have a ton of baking experience and I’ve had success with Carolyn’s cakes, muffins, and other desserts, but I have yet to find a a low carb cookie recipe that works. I’m going to try decorating them with some icing to see if that helps. It’s just such a bummer because the cost of the ingredients is always more than regular flour and sugar cookies.
Carolyn says
Okay so it sounds to me like it’s not the recipe but something going on with your tastebuds and the sweeteners or almond flour or something. These are far from bland so I just don’t quite know how to address it for you, but you’re not tasting things the same way other people do. Do keep in mind that we all experience sweeteners differently… I have to think that’s the main culprit here.
Audra says
I just made these and they are amazing! I may have a hard time restraining myself from eating them! I used gingerbread men cookie cutters and they are so cute! My house smells delicious too.
Carolyn says
Wonderful!
Joyce says
My fluted round cookie cutters arrived yesterday so made these beautifully spiced cookies this morning. They rolled out thin and baked up slightly crisp! Perfect to eat with tea or coffee. Going to try truffles next. Just got some hazelnuts from T. Joes and waiting on hazelnut extract from Amazon. Also need to pick up some Hazelnut oil from the grocery store. So many good recipes to try, thank you for doing the hard work. Makes my holiday baking guilt free!
Carolyn says
So glad you like them!
Barbara Ruka says
These remind me of Springerle cookies. But Springerle is lighter in color. Anyone know of a recipe for them? My new obbession! Want to make a keto version sooo bad!
Heather Carnahan says
I read the recipe and didn’t see my answer. Do you think these can be frozen after baking?
Carolyn says
Yes, absolutely.
Annie says
Could you press sliced almonds to the underside of the cookie before baking or possibly add them to the dough? We always had windmill cookies with sliced almonds when we were kids. So excited to try these for St. Nicholas Day! Thank you!
Carolyn says
Yes, you can add them, although I would put them on the top, rather than the underside.
jackie M says
oh thank you thank you so much for creating this recipe! I loved these cookies as kid and used to make them every Christmas. Gave up making them when I went keto…but I kept the windmill cookie cutter my mom gave me…now I can dig it out and use it again. I love our recipes!!
Brenda Watt says
The most difficult part of making this cookie is the waiting for it to cool down and crisp. These cookies are delicious!
Susan says
I have pretty much sworn off of cookies for years now, but I may have to make these. When I was a child, we had a local bakery that made these cookies, which they stamped. We always got a bundle of them in the toe of our Christmas stockings, and they are the one really good memory I have of Christmas from childhood. I always loved the flavor of them, and they are one of my two all-time favorite cookies (the other is triple ginger cookies). Thank you for posting this. Even if I don’t bake them, I’m keeping the recipe for just-in-case.
Carolyn says
I wanted to try stamping them but didn’t have the right stamps. I have some on the way now!
Bonnie says
Susan ~ can you email me your triple ginger cookie recipe?
b.catlin@yahoo.com — put triple ginger cookie in the subject line 🙂
Thomay says
These were just lovely!
Tasted like gingerbread cookies (not: I omitted the cardamom as I didn’t have it)
Jean says
Delicious and great cookie without all the carbs.
Christine says
Did you ever make a cookie butter recipe?
Debbie says
I can’t wait to make these i love the spices used. Question do you think i could form it into a log and chill and slice off the dough rounds and bake them that way? I’m not one to use cookie cutters
Debbie
Carolyn says
I have done that with similar doughs so I think that should work.
Sarah Hallford says
Hi Carolyn,
Have you ever tried subbing lard in for the butter to make a crisper cookie? Before I went low carb, I used that with wheat based recipes and typically had great results.
I made these today and they were delicious but I would have liked them crisper as well.
Sarah
Carolyn says
Haven’t tried it in this recipe, although I am experimenting with my chocolate chip cookies…more to come!
Beth says
Is there a different flour I could try with the same outcome? I’m allergic to nuts.
Carolyn says
Sunflower seed flour, but you need to add a bit of acidity so they don’t turn green (it’s a reaction between the sunflower seeds and the baking powder). Try adding a tbsp of lemon juice.
Patty says
These are a good idea. But I would add more spices.
These are one of my favorite cookies but I tasted mostly flour
I think maybe a little more of everything would go a long way. My comparison is to the biscotti cookies on Delta airlines. And there is nothing wrong with my taste. It is actually quite keen.
Susan Pelter says
Finally made these and they are fantastic! Since I live in Florida and it is hard to keep the dough chilled, I cut out the first batch and rolled the second half of the dough into balls, which I then covered with a sheet of parchment paper and smashed with the bottom of a glass. The smashed ones are actually thinner and prettier than the others; they have a sort of scalloped look around the edges. In any case, these will definitely go into the regular cookie-baking rotation around here! Thanks, Carolyn!
Margaret says
I’ve never heard of Biscoff cookies before in the UK, but I have had speculoos in Belgium where they come from and they are quite dark, like the darker one in your final picture. I cannot imagine it as a spread – probably a step too far for me.