These chewy keto almond flour cookies are packed with fresh cherries and chocolate chunks. So tender and sweet, they have only 3.7g net carbs per serving.
Okay, don’t freak out. I repeat: do NOT freak out.
Yes, these cookies have real cherries in them. Yes, they are still low carb and keto friendly. And they are some of the best cookies I think I’ve ever made. Mind you, I say that about a lot of my keto cookies recipes!
But these are really, really good and I mean that with great sincerity. We love the chewy texture, the melty chocolate chunks, and the burst of fresh cherries. My husband ate three of them in one go and I had to tell him to keep his greedy paws to himself!
Why you need to try this recipe
I had some beautiful homegrown cherries from our neighbor and I simply couldn’t resist the temptation to bake with them. And you are going to be very glad that I succumbed to the aforementioned temptation!
I thought a lot about what I might want to make. Admittedly, cherries have a lot of carbs so I needed to keep them to a minimum while maximizing their flavor. I already have a recipe for Keto Black Forest Cake. Adding them to keto chocolate chip cookies seemed like a very good idea.
I was a little worried about the moisture they would add to the dough, but they worked out better than I even dared to hope. Moist but chewy, soft but sweet. And I found that I only needed half a cup of chopped cherries. More than that, and the dough became to hard to handle.
These are big, thick, beautiful cookies, where a single cookie satisfies the sweet tooth. That was part of my vision when I set out to make them, and they came out perfectly. And they have only 6.5g of carbs and 2.8g of fiber, so they fit well into any low carb or keto diet.
Ingredients you need
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- Almond flour: Many brands of almond flour say that they are fine grind, but some really aren’t. So if you find your baked goods coarse or gritty, it’s likely your flour. My go-to is Bob’s Red Mill.
- Brown sugar sub: A sweetener like Swerve Brown gives the cookies more depth of flavor. See the Expert tips for more sweetener options.
- Collagen: Collagen protein powder (aka collagen peptides) helps give the cookies a chewier consistency. If you must, you can skip the collagen and add another ¼ cup of almond flour.
- Coconut flour: The fresh cherries adds moisture so I recommend a little coconut flour to help the consistency and structure.
- Baking soda: Baking soda encourages browning and helps the cookies spread.
- Cherry extract: A little bit of cherry extract enhances the overall flavor. But if you don’t have it, just use the vanilla instead.
- Keto chocolate: I used Lily’s extra dark because that’s what I had on hand. But you can use ChocZero or other brands as well. Use the bars or squares and chop them with a large knife.
- Fresh cherries: Pit and chop the cherries rather finely, before measuring out half a cup.
- Pantry Staples: Vanilla, butter, eggs, salt.
Step by step directions
Prepare the cookie dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, collagen, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the egg, butter, and extracts until the dough comes together.
Add the cherries and chocolate: Stir in two thirds of the chopped chocolate and all of the chopped cherries, taking care not to crush the cherries too much.
Form the cookies: Form the dough into 15 balls and place on the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 2 inches of space between each.
Bake the cookies: Bake 15 to 18 minutes, switching the position of the pans halfway through baking. The cookies should be puffed and golden, but still very soft. While the cookies are still soft, press the remaining chocolate pieces into the tops.
Expert Tips
You want to chop the cherries quite finely so you get good distribution throughout the cookie dough. Once you have removed the pits, cut each cherry in half and cut each half into four to 6 small pieces.
Unlike many of my other keto cookie recipes, you shouldn’t need to press these down to help them spread. The collagen in the dough and the moisture from the cherries causes them to spread on their own. If you aren’t using collagen, you may want to press them down to about three-quarters inch thick before baking.
Let these keto cherry cookies cool completely on the pan. They are very tender and soft when you remove them from the oven and won’t hold together properly until cool.
Frequently Asked Questions
On the whole, cherries are not considered keto friendly. One cup of pitted cherries has 19g of carbs, and much of that is from natural sugar. However, adding some chopped cherries to a recipe that serves 15, like these cookies, is acceptable for most keto diets.
These keto cookies have 6.5g of carbs and 2.8g of fiber. That means each cookie has 3.7g net carbs.
Store the cookies in a covered container on the counter for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 7 days. Because of the added moisture from the fresh cherries, you don’t want them on the counter for too long. You can also freeze them for up to 2 months.
More low carb cookie recipes
Keto Snickerdoodle Cookies
These pillowy soft keto snickerdoodles have the perfect chewy texture and a delicious cinnamon flavor. I worked hard to perfect a low carb snickerdoodle recipe that lives up to the iconic American treat.
Keto Lemon Cookies
These Keto Lemon Cookies are soft and tender sugar cookies topped with a creamy sugar free lemon frosting. They have all the tangy sweetness you crave with only 3g carbs per serving!
Keto Brownie Cookies
These Cosmic Brownie Cookies are flourless, sugar free, and totally keto-friendly! Fudgy and soft, they may just be the best keto chocolate cookies I have ever made.
Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups almond flour
- ¾ cup Swerve Brown, lightly packed
- ¼ cup collagen protein powder
- 2 tablespoon coconut flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 1 tsp cherry extract
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 ounces sugar free dark chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cherries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line two large baking sheet with a silicone liners or parchment paper. Set the oven racks at the second highest and second lowest positions in the oven.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, collagen, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the egg, butter, and extracts until the dough comes together.
- Gently stir in two thirds of the chopped chocolate and all of the chopped cherries. Take care not to crush the cherries too much.
- Form the dough into 15 balls and place on the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 2 inches of space between each.
- Bake 15 to 18 minutes, switching the position of the pans halfway through baking. The cookies should be puffed and golden, but still very soft. While the cookies are still soft, press the remaining chocolate pieces into the tops.
- Let cool completely on the pans.
Notes
Nutrition
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Cherries, even black cherries are only 20-22 on the glycemic index.. I don’t follow net carbs, that method can be deceiving. So these cookies don’t scare me a bit, can’t wait to try them!
Hi Carolyn,
I made these today, even though I didn’t have the cherry extract. I will use it next time for more flavor.
For those who have less of a sweet tooth, I discovered (accidentally!) that using unsweetened chocolate works just fine. 😄
Delicious cookies that I will make again. Thank you very much!
Tasty!
can I sub in frozen cherries for fresh?
I learned tbe hard way today. I made my first batch too small and only had the baking for 15 minutes. They burned and it was sad. The next batch I made bigger but I reduced the time to 10minutes. These look much better. I’m still waiting on them to cool.
These look yummy!
Can you use protein powder (isolate) in place of collagen?
Thank you
The dough was too wet for cookies, followed recipe, I had to add an additional 1/2 cup of flour to recipe and they seem still a little wet to me, I put them in the refrigerator to set up, as I do with most of my cookies to contain spread. I doubled the recipe so I doubled the ingredients, not sure if that has anything to do with issue. After baking, the cookies came out nice, I really didn’t taste cherry flavor, I would add additional 1 teaspoon of extract. The overall were tasty, I want to taste cherry so I will try additional extract next time.
I made these today. They were very good but fell apart easily. 😕
These are the BEST chocolate chip cookies Ever! And the cherries are an inspired addition. I’ve already made them twice. My first batch spread like crazy too, but for the second batch I tapped the cup on the counter as I was measuring the almond flour, which added more flour to the cup. The balls of cookie dough still don’t look like your pictures, but they hold together well enough. I’m using a medium sized cookie scoop and keep getting 18 cookies, which is fine with me. Also, I’m using sugar free chocolate chips just because I finally found some locally. My cookies are very tender and fall apart easily, but who cares. Thank you for an incredible recipe.
good
Made these today. Great flavour and the family likes them- yay! Only issue is the ssssppprrreeeaaaddddddd holy smokes they all ended up as one big cookie and I had to cut them apart. But they’re a nice sweet treat for sure!
If they spread that much, you didn’t have quite enough flour. Did you weigh it, by chance?
I made these today and they are amazing!
I baked these today – absolutely delicious!
Is there any way i could substitute the butter for coconut oil?
Sure!
Hi Carolyn, just wanted to say a big thank you for all the good work you put into your blog (and funny too), you opened up a whole new world of baking for me, and now I do not feel I am missing out on anything because of my Keto life.
I am so glad!
These look so good and I would really like to make them but I’ve read through the recipe twice, including the expert notes, and I didn’t see anything about what other sweetener we could use besides Swerve. I’m one of those people who, unfortunately, cannot use erythritol. Is there another option that would work?
Oops, I think I left that out! You can try allulose based sweeteners but they will make the cookies brown super quickly, so In this case I recommend BochaSweet.
Thanks again for all the amazing recipes. You make our lives so much more enjoyable. Is collagen protein powder different from straight collagen powder?
No, they are the same. 🙂
These look spectacular! Adding cherries to the shopping list, for sure.
I haven’t baked cookies in years, but I love it that you’ve come up with this recipe, and I have saved it for just in case. Years ago, I came across a non-keto recipe for these cookies, and since I wasn’t eating cookies, I turned it into an overnight oats recipe (not keto I know, but also not full of sugar). I may just have to make these…
Carolyn, Your recipes are my go-to! I’m often very pressed for time. Would these work as bars? (Yesterday, I made a batch of your chocolate chip blondies, and modified your “oatmeal” butterscotch bars (I didn’t have butterscotch chips, so I used Lily’s chocolate carmel salt chips) and both recipes are so quick, easy and delicious!)
Yes, I think these would be great as bars.
Hi Carolyn I don’t have the brand collagen you used, I have Orgain keto collagen protein powder, (vanilla) on hand. is that a good enough sub. to use. , it’s the only keto one my grocery store sells.
It will be fine but leave out any additional vanilla. I think it may be a bit strongly vanilla but should still be good.
Looks delicious!
Do you have the weight of the cherries for that half cup measurement?
About 110g of pitted cherries. I measured out 3/4 cup when they were whole, and by the time I’d chopped them up it was 1/2 cup.