These crispy Keto Shortbread Sticks are festive, fun, and delicious. Studded with cranberries and a hint of orange zest, they make a perfect addition to your holiday cookie tray!
In case you hadn’t noticed, I love Keto Christmas Cookies. I love everything about them, from baking to eating to giving them away to friends and family. They bring me such joy in so many ways.
Shortbread has always been one of my favorites. That tender-crisp texture belies the simplicity of the ingredients. And to my delight, it turns out that keto shortbread cookies are almost as easy to make as the conventional kind.
For a festive twist, why not add some sugar-free dried cranberries and a little orange zest? And maybe dip them in chocolate while you’re at it?
Perfect for your holiday cookie trays!
If you’re looking for something to round out your cookie trays, these Keto Shortbread Sticks are just the thing. They’re pretty and festive, and the cranberry orange flavor tastes like Christmas.
And they have that ideal shortbread texture that is both crisp and tender at the same time. They hold up nicely at room temperature for at least a week, and they freeze well too. Which means you can make them ahead of time and get them out when you need.
Each serving of 2 cookies has only 3.7g net carbs. Now that’s my kind of holiday cookie!
Ingredient Notes
- Butter: Let it sit out on the counter to soften properly before mixing.
- Sweetener: As with all crisp cookies, you can only use erythritol based sweeteners.
- Orange zest: Adding some grated orange zest gives wonderful flavor without the carbs.
- Flavor extracts: I use a little orange extract to kick the orange flavor up a bit. I also add vanilla extract, for the classic shortbread flavor.
- Almond flour: I really can’t recommend anything other than almond flour for these keto shortbread cookies. Other nut and seed flours are too coarse and can make the cookies crumbly. And coconut flour really doesn’t have the right texture and they end up tough, rather than tender.
- Xanthan gum: A little xanthan gum helps add strength to the dough so that it’s not as fragile. You don’t have to use it but I do recommend it.
- Salt: Shortbread should always have a little salt to bring out the sweetness.
- Dried cranberries: You can make your own from my recipe, or you can purchase some unsweetened dried cranberries online.
- Sugar free chocolate: You can use dark, milk, or white chocolate for these cookies. Whatever you like best!
- Cocoa butter: I add this to help the chocolate melt more smoothly. You can also use coconut oil.
Step by step directions
1. Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, beat the butter and sweetener together until well combined and smooth, about 1 minute. Add the orange zest and extracts and beat until well combined. Add the almond flour, xanthan gum, and salt and beat until the dough comes together. Stir in the chopped dried cranberries.
2. Roll out the dough: Transfer the dough to a cookie sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper, and press into a square. Cover with another piece of parchment and roll out to an even 9×9 inch square (you will need to keep removing the top parchment and reshaping it as you go). Use a sharp knife to cut the square into quarters, then cut each quarter into 6 sticks. Do not separate at this point.
3. Bake the shortbread: Bake at 300ºF for about 25 minutes, until the edges are becoming golden. Then remove and turn off the oven. Recut the shortbread along the cut lines and gently separate them.
4. Bake a second time: Return the cookies to the warm oven and use a wooden spoon to prop the door open slightly. Let the shortbread sit inside for another 10 to 20 minutes, until just firm to the touch. Remove and let cool completely on the pan.
5. Melt the chocolate: In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stir the chocolate and cocoa butter together until melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from over the pan.
6. Dip the cookies: Dip one end of each shortbread stick into the chocolate and set on a waxed paper lined tray. Refrigerate 15 minutes to set. You can also drizzle the ends with any remaining melted chocolate.
Tips for success
I recommend chopping the dried cranberries up pretty finely, as they have a tendency to tear the dough when you try to cut through them. I just chop them on a cutting board with a big sharp knife.
Rolling the dough out into an even 9 inch square takes a little patience! You have to keep straightening the edges. I did this with a bench knife, which is an infinitely useful baking tool. It helps cut straight up and down, as well. Get one if you don’t already own one!
It did occur to me after I made my shortbread sticks that I could also have lined a 9×9 pan and pressed the dough into that, then lifted the parchment out and baked them. You could try that method, just make sure to even out the dough in the pan and smooth it as best you can.
This method of baking twice is a trick I use frequently for keto crackers and cookies. Placing the separated shortbread back into the still-warm oven helps it crisp up nicely without browning too much.
Sweetener options
You really need an erythritol based sweetener with no allulose or xylitol for these to have the right texture. You can cut back on the granular sweetener a little, but I wouldn’t do less than 1/3 cup or you will have trouble getting them to crisp up. You can add additional sweetness with stevia or monk fruit extract.
Frequently asked questions
Conventional shortbread is made with butter, flour, and sugar so it’s not a low carb option. But this recipe uses almond flour and keto-friendly sweeteners, and is a great recipe for those on keto or low carb diets.
These keto shortbread cookies freeze extremely well, so go ahead and make them weeks or even months in advance! Simply store them in an airtight container and freezer for up to 3 months.
This keto cranberry orange shortbread recipe has 7.2g of carbs and 3.5g of fiber per serving. That comes to 3.7g net carbs per two cookies.
More crispy keto cookie recipes
Keto Cranberry Orange Shortbread Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoon (85.21 g) butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (95 g) granular erythritol sweetener, see Tips for Success
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- ½ tsp orange extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups (252 g) almond flour
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum, optional
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup (40.4 g) sugar-free dried cranberries, chopped
- 2 ounces (56.7 g) sugar free chocolate chips
- 1/4 ounce (7.09 g) cocoa butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300ºF and line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sweetener together until well combined and smooth, about 1 minute. Add the orange zest and extracts and beat until well combined.
- Add the almond flour, xanthan gum, and salt and beat until the dough comes together. Stir in the chopped dried cranberries.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet and press into a square. Cover with another piece of parchment and roll out to an even 9×9 inch square (you will need to keep removing the top parchment and reshaping it as you go).
- Use a sharp knife to cut the square into quarters, then cut each quarter into 6 sticks.
- Bake for about 25 minutes, until the edges are becoming golden. Then remove and turn off the oven. Recut the shortbread along the cut lines and gently separate them.
- Return the cookies to the warm oven and use a wooden spoon to prop the door open slightly. Let the shortbread sit inside for another 10 to 20 minutes, until just firm to the touch. Remove and let cool completely on the pan.
- In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stir the chocolate and cocoa butter together until melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from over the pan.
- Dip one end of each shortbread stick into the chocolate and set on a waxed paper lined tray. Refrigerate 15 minutes to set.
Notes
Nutrition
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These are fantastic!!
At first, I thought the dough was too dry and maybe I forgot a liquid, but with continued mixing the dough came together. I might have dipped them in more chocolate than you and needed 4 oz zero sugar chocolate chips and 1/2 oz cacao butter chips,. but you can never have too much chocolate. I also melted 4 oz white chocolate with 1/2 oz cacao butter and added about 1/4 tsp orange oil to it because I wanted more orange flavor. I drizzled the leftover white chocolate on the dark chocolate for flavor and decoration. These turned out wonderful. I will definitely be sharing them with friends. Thank you.
I am so happy to see this recipe! We’re away from home for the winter so I don’t have my cookbooks with me. I was craving your orange cranberry cookies and wonder if this is basically the same recipe. Can I roll and slice these since i also don’t have a rolling pin? Thanks for all you do! Your recipes are my go to for almost everything.
You could try rolling and slicing, that should work okay. Not sure what other recipe we are talking about, to be honest! 🙂
What can I use instead of cocoa butter? These sound amazing.
You can use a little coconut oil but the chocolate coating will be more melty at room temperature.
In your link to the new So Nourished granular sweetener, they also list Gold Monkfruit Blend, which does not contain allulose but does contain Tagatose, listed as a bulk sweetener that may cause stomach irritation. Have you tried this Gold Monkfruit Blend? I have been using Swerve Brown, which now contains Allulose and i would like to switch because of the quick browning characteristic of Allulose. The description does not mention whether tagalose browns extra-quickly.
Sorry, I haven’t tried that. I have used Lakanto Brown. But I like my own homemade sugar sub better! https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/brown-sugar-substitute/
Thanks for this recipe, I normally make rosemary or lemon rosemary shortbread cookies for the holiday and was looking for a keto/low carb option and yours looks like I can make it work.
Maybe you can suggest an idea to the pan manufacturers to make a pan that is a 9×9 and only 1/4″ deep so we can just roll the dough in the pan (on parchment) for perfect edges and thickness. I’d buy them!
Ha! I wish I had that much influence…. 🙂
I noticed you may have an error in the above recipe…you show the same directions in steps 7 and 8…are we supposed to do those steps twice?? Thank you for clarification! 😊
Sorry about that. I deleted the duplicate step.