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
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) butter, softened
- 2/3 cup (121.33 g) Swerve Sweetener
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp (1.5 tsp) ground cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp (0.75 tsp) ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) ground nutmeg
- 2 1/2 cups (280 g) almond flour
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) baking soda
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) 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 1/8 to 1/4 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.
Notes
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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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!
Yes, you can add them, although I would put them on the top, rather than the underside.
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!!
The most difficult part of making this cookie is the waiting for it to cool down and crisp. These cookies are delicious!
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.
I wanted to try stamping them but didn’t have the right stamps. I have some on the way now!
Susan ~ can you email me your triple ginger cookie recipe?
b.catlin@yahoo.com — put triple ginger cookie in the subject line 🙂
These were just lovely!
Tasted like gingerbread cookies (not: I omitted the cardamom as I didn’t have it)
Delicious and great cookie without all the carbs.
Did you ever make a cookie butter recipe?
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
I have done that with similar doughs so I think that should work.
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
Haven’t tried it in this recipe, although I am experimenting with my chocolate chip cookies…more to come!
Is there a different flour I could try with the same outcome? I’m allergic to nuts.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Love the texture and the flavour of this cookie. It’s awesome!!
I have a question though in regards to the nice looking heart shape in your picture.
I’ve tried three batches now and the first cookie I cut out and put on the tray is fine,
but any after it’s already to soft.
Is that in your case also? Thanks!
Linda
No, that didn’t really happen to me. Perhaps you could put them back in the freezer after they are cut?
Have I told you. Lately that I love you?!?
We are celiac spectrum, and these are one of those things that I have, and will make myself sick with.
I can resist buying the big package of them, or the butter, but “1 little packet won’t hurt. Too bad. It’ll be worth it.” When I fly.
Making these this week.
This post made me laugh…speculoos (or speculaas as it is called in Dutch) is a staple food here and the speculoos spread has been around for decades…always funny how in the US foreign foods seem to make a sudden appearance as ‘new’ when they have been around for ages!
Too bad I can’t get the brown sugar replacement. I did adapt one of your choc chip cookie recipes to make speculaas but it does miss the brown sugar…any ideas for replacements?
Try adding a few teaspoons or a tbsp of molasses with more sweetener to get the brown sugar affect. And yes, Speculoos are all sorts of new on this side of the Atlantic 😉
Molasses? As in sugar syrup? That is the only kind I can get here that is gluten free…that would not really be low-carb here and is actually on the ‘red’ list of foods…
Feel free to skip it but please understand how very little molasses is in the recipe. It simply gives it a brown sugar taste and appearance, and only adds about .5 g of carbs per serving.
Try * dieetwebshop.nl * for brown sugar replacement.
BTW Caroline, they’re suppósed to be dark in colour! … at least the Dutch ones are.
Can a molasses be used to replace brown sugar substitute, or will that mess with the texture? Any idea how much molasses would come close to 1/4 cup? Add more Swerve to sub? I’ve used a teaspoon in other LC recipes & it has relatively few carbs spread out in many servings. Thanks!
I think it would work and I’d aim for about 2 tsp with the same amount of Swerve.