These Keto Ginger Molasses Cookies are a dream come true for cookie lovers. Thick, chewy, and with the perfect balance of sweet and spice, they always hit the spot. And they have only 2.3g net carbs per serving!
If you love gingery sweets, then these Keto Ginger Cookies are going to blow your mind. They blew my mind when I created them, and clearly others felt the same way. They continue to be a fan favorite, year after year.
They are everything you want in a ginger cookie. Soft and chewy, with a nice gingery kick and a hint of molasses. And when I say a hint, I really mean just a hint.
I put these on my platter of Keto Christmas Cookies every year and they are often the first to disappear!
Why you will love this recipe
This recipe was the first in which I added gelatin for a chewier consistency. And I was surprised and impressed at the difference it made. I use the same trick in other recipes, like keto brownies.
Keep in mind that these are not meant to be crisp like Keto Gingerbread Cookies. Gelatin works best in recipes that have a soft texture. It helps mimic the characteristics of a classic ginger molasses cookie.
One thing I love about this cookie recipe is how easy it is to make. I can whip up a big batch that serves 20 people in less than 40 minutes. They also store really well so you can make them ahead and freeze until needed.
Reader Testimonials
“Yay!! Ginger snaps/molasses cookies are my absolute favorite and I miss them being on Keto. These are amazing and hit all the notes perfectly!!” — SandyB
“I made a batch of these today for ROAD TRIP SNACKS. I’ve gotta say these are the BEST low carb/keto cookies I have EVER made, and I’ve made many. These are the closest to REAL cookies in taste and texture and I really, really thank you!” — Andrea
“I’m surprised as heck, but these cookies work! I’m so used to almond flour producing a product that crumbles very easily and these have a real chewiness.: — Becky
Ingredients you need
- Almond flour: As always, finely ground almond flour will make the best cookies, without a grainy texture.
- Grassfed gelatin: The addition of gelatin is key to a chewy consistency, so I don’t recommend skipping it. You can use Knox gelatin, and about 2 envelopes is sufficient for this recipe. You can also try replacing the gelatin with ½ cup of collagen peptides.
- Spices: Ginger cookies always include ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and either nutmeg or cloves. You can increase the ginger as much as you like. Some people like to double it in this recipe!
- Almond butter: I use almond butter in this recipe to increase the moisture and create a good thick cookie dough. You can use other nut butters, but peanut butter has a strong flavor and may overpower the spices.
- Swerve Brown: A brown sugar replacement adds more flavor to the cookies than granular white sweetener. I recommend Swerve Brown.
- Molasses: I add 2 teaspoons of real molasses to my cookies, for added color and flavor. You can omit this if you feel strongly about it, but it only adds about 0.5g of carbs per serving.
- Pantry staples: Eggs, butter, baking soda, vanilla extract.
Step by Step Directions
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, gelatin, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and cloves.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, almond butter and sweetener until smooth. Beat in the eggs, molasses, and vanilla extract until well combined. Add the almond flour mixture and continue to beat until the dough comes together.
3. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place a few inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and gently press down a bit (to encourage them to spread). Return to the oven and bake another 7 minutes or so, until just barely golden brown. They will still be very soft. Remove and let cool completely on the pan.
Expert tips
Don’t press the cookies down from the start, when the dough is completely raw. This tends to make the edges crack. Allow the cookies to bake for 5 minutes first, to warm up the dough. Pressing down at this point helps them spread properly without making irregular, cracked edges.
Sweetener options: For best results, I recommend erythritol-based sweeteners. BochaSweet and allulose tend to make cookies more puffy and soft, rather than chewy. Allulose also browns very quickly during baking, which may make the cookies too dark.
Gelatin substitutes: You can omit the gelatin altogether, although the cookies will be less chewy. You can also add some collagen peptides, but you will need about half a cup to get the same chewiness. I am not sure that any vegetarian substitutes, like agar agar, will have the same effect. But you’re certainly welcome to experiment!
Frequently Asked Questions
These keto ginger cookies have 4.2g of carbs and 1.9g of fiber. That comes to 2.3g net carbs per serving of 2 cookies. And yes, that includes the molasses!
Adding gelatin goes along way to making keto cookies chewier. It is hygroscopic, meaning that it attracts and holds onto moisture during baking. This characteristic helps offset the lack of gluten and sugar in keto baked goods so that they don’t dry out as much.
Store the cookies in a covered container on the counter for up to 5 days, or in the fridge for up to 10 days. You can also freeze the cookies for up to 2 months. The raw dough freezes nicely as well. Thaw completely before rolling into balls and baking as directed.
More ginger recipes you will enjoy
- Keto Gingerbread Pound Cake
- Easy Gingerbread Waffles
- Sugar Free Gingerbread Latte
- Mini Keto Gingerbread Cheesecakes
- Keto Gingerbread Biscotti
Keto Ginger Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour
- 2 tablespoon grassfed gelatin
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ cup almond butter
- 1 cup Swerve Brown
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoon molasses (optional)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F and line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, gelatin, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and cloves.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter, almond butter and sweetener until smooth. Beat in the eggs, molasses, and vanilla extract until well combined. Add the almond flour mixture and continue to beat until the dough comes together.
- Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place a few inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. You should get about 40 cookies.
- Bake 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and gently press down a bit (to encourage them to spread). Return to the oven and bake another 7 minutes or so, until just barely golden brown. They will still be very soft.
- Remove and let cool completely on the pan.
Lynne says
Just made these today. I am a ginger freak so I increased the ginger to 2 1/2 tbl next time I will go 3. I used 3 packets of knox, didnt have the other. I used Lakanto Gold. Amazing outcome! My son was on the fence, the cooling of the Lakanto put him off a bit. Im used to it lol, more for me! I used a carrot peeler and scraped some bakers chocolate on top of 6 to see how it would taste. Thanks, the gelatin was a game changer!
Carolyn says
Sounds fabulous!
Ellen says
I bought some powdered Swerve on sale. Can I substitute that for the granular Swerve?
Carolyn says
That should probably work.
Bret P says
These cookies are a perfect mix of chewy and the right amount of sweetness. I’m loving the keto diet and was not much into sweets even prior to starting this diet, but these cookies I’ll make again. Only thing I switched up was going 1/2 c granular white Swerve and 1/2 c brown sugar-substitute Swerve (instead of the 1 cup white granular). The use of the beef gelatin is excellent! I’m going to try to use gelatin in other recipes for cookies I try out! Thanks!
Carolyn says
So glad you like them!
Denise Nagelschmidt says
Help! I love these cookies but one day after I made them the middle turned green, but not like mold looks more like spinach. Any thoughts?
Carolyn says
Did you use sunflower seed flour? It reacts with baking powder unless you put in a tbsp of acid to offset the reaction. It’s not bad for you at all, though.
Marie Ferrante says
This recipe is a GAME CHANGER! I cut it in half and got 25 cookies. I used molasses instead of yacon and one packet of Knox because I did not wanna wait! Thank you for this recipe!
Kim K says
I made these yesterday. I love the flavor (and bonus, they are “too spicy” for my sweet toothed kid). One question — mine are soft and delicious, but aren’t quite “chewy”. I didn’t have the yacon but left it out bc it was “optional” and my gut doesn’t always love oligos. Would that have mattered? I also used 2T of Knox gelatin bc Amazon delayed my order with grassfed (I see above that maybe I should have used less bc Knox gels more, though then I’d think they’d be too chewy rather than too soft.) Wondering if that’s it. I’d definitely make again, just wondering if changing the gelatin will change the chew, or if I need yacon/molasses.
Carolyn says
I don’t think it’s the Yacon making it not chewy. Did you happen to use a different sweetener?
Barbara T says
Mine came out soft too as Kim’s did. I used homemade almond butter, Knox gelatine and 3/4 cup granular erythritol and for our taste they are plent sweet enough although I read on the package that erythritol is only 70% as sweet as regular sugar and I believe that the swerve you specify a cup of is equivalent to sugar. I baked them for the 5 and then 7 minutes but after cooling them and seeing how soft some of them were I put them back into the oven for another 15 minutes. That way the bottom of most of them is firm but the overall effect is not chewy. I put them in the freezer and we eat them happily directly from there! The flavor is good although next time I will add more ginger and perhaps a little salt. Is there anything I did that might result in soft rather than chewy cookies. Thanks so much Caroline for answering virtually all the questions you get. It makes a huge difference.
Gail says
OMG!! Christmas just arrived via these cookies!! So good!! I amped up the ginger a bit and added crystallized ginger, too. Our home smells like the holidays!! Thank you so much for developing Christmas in a cookie!! Happy holidays!!
Carolyn says
Enjoy!
Caren L says
I also amped up the ginger. In fact, I doubled the all the spices, added a bit of salt and 1 ounce of finely chopped crystallized ginger. The flavor is INTENSE. But that’s how we like our ginger cookies . . .
I found freezing the dough changes the texture a bit. Preferred the unfrozen version.
These really are great for quelling that sweet tooth. Only takes one to completely satisfy us and send us into cookie bliss.
Thanks for the recipe.
BTW – I am returning to keto after approx 7 years. I remember you from Low Carb Friends. You were a rock star then and apparently are still a rock star! Glad to come back to familiar faces.
Sherry says
My husband has now told me 4x how much he likes molasses cookies (okay, I get the hint), so this morning I made a batch of these as part of my Christmas cookie gift-giving (for my neighbors). I subbed store brand unflavored gelatin (conveniently packaged in 1 TBSP portions), blackstrap molasses for Yacon syrup, and Lakanto monkfruit sweetener for Swerve.
These are to die for! I can’t wait for my husband to get home from work and see what he has to say. I hope he loves them because they were super easy to make (except for the almond butter I’d never made before but it was just a LONG process). I’m sure the neighbors will love them because they love getting cookies. I’ll save a few for my husband????
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it!
Dee Gee Johnson says
These are FANTABULOUS! They are perfect in my opinion. I’d give it 10 stars if I could 😉
Carolyn says
Thank you so much!
Erica B says
Hi, Carolyn. In your opinion, could this recipe accommodate a full 2 or 3 tablespoons of molasses in lieu of the 2 tsp yacon syrup? I’m willing to tolerate a gram or two of sugar per cookie in exchange for a nice, pronounced molasses flavor, but don’t want to mess up the texture.
Carolyn says
That’s a lot of extra carbs, but yes I think it could. If you find your dough too sticky, try a few teaspoons of coconut flour.
Erica B says
Yes, 3 T of blackstrap molasses is about 42 nc. But spread over 40 cookies, that’s really not too bad, especially for a once-in-a-while holiday recipe. Thanks for your response!
Deb says
Can I substitute monkfruit sweetner for the Swerve? Thank you!
Carolyn says
Do you mean a monk fruit sweetener that is blended with erythritol? Then yes.
Liz says
Great cookies, thank you!
Vicki Nelson says
For the Chewy Ginger Cookies, could I use the Swerve brown sugar instead of the regular granular, and leave out the molasses or Yacon syrup?
Robin says
Has anyone tried xanthan gum for the gelatin? I’m vegetarian. If so, how much to sub? Thanks!
Carolyn says
Xanthan gum won’t have the same affect but it should be tasty anyway!
Robin says
Thank you!
Sara says
I used 1 tbsp Xanthan gum. turned out really good.
Sydney says
Absolutely incredible!! The most amazing chewy texture and the flavor is sensational!
Carolyn says
Yay, glad you like them!
Melissa says
These cookies are AWESOME! Their texture is incredible. I subbed molasses for yacon syrup and knox for the other gelatin as I couldn’t find any (except on Amazon and I didn’t want to have to wait to ship it) (For reference, I used just under 5 tsps of knox (a little less than 2 packets) and they still came out great. I got 50 1in. balls out of my batch instead of 40 for some reason – but no complaints!
These are easily the best low-carb cookie that I’ve had – thanks Carolyn! I’m so glad I found them, and just in time for the Holidays! Finally a low-carb sweet that isn’t an overly sweet, eggy, mess. I look forward to trying many more of your recipes!
Carolyn says
So glad you like them!
Emily says
I’m having trouble finding grass fed gelatin locally. Can I substitute collagen protein powder?
Carolyn says
It needs to be gelatin to the the chewy consistency. But you can skip it and they can still be pretty good. Don’t do protein powder, it will make them very cakey.
Cindy Platko says
I have been following your blog since I started Keto 2 years ago. We have loved the cheesecakes and especially the peanut butter cups, but had found that our personal taste did not care for the texture low carb cookies and cakes. This recipe has restored our faith in low carb cookies. These have a wonderfully chewy texture. Love them. Going to try the keto chewy brownies next. Thanks for all of your hard work and sharing your talent.
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it, Cindy!
Tammy Bean says
I am making a Sauerbraten recipe and it calls for ginger snap cookies which are typically hard/crunchy cookies. I love your recipes and when I found this one it left me wondering if I could use these cookies as a substitute for ginger snaps. If I leave out the gelatin would that make them more “crunchy”? Thoughts?
Carolyn says
They wouldn’t get crunchy, this recipe isn’t going to get crunchy unless you bake for a really long time at a low temperature. Try my graham crackers and add a bunch of ginger to them… I think that would work better!
Gillian says
I’m very new to Keto, and it’s a learning curve–but exciting. What’s the reason for using grass-fed gelatin instead of regular gelatin packets from the grocery store like Knox unflavored?
Carolyn says
Because it’s much healthier.