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.
DMarie says
I made these using 1/2C Swerve Brown & 1/2C regular Swerve and they came out great! I found I had to chill the dough slightly in order to roll into balls. So happy I now have a “good” ginger cookie recipe!
Sheila says
Possibly. I better make both to be on the safe side! LOL
Sheila says
Was this recipe originally done without the gelatin and almond butter? It seems that there used to be a cut out gingerbread cookie recipe, but for the life of me. I can’t find it. It wasn’t the spritz cookie. Could be it wasn’t one of yours, but I partially entered the ingredients into my cronometer and titled it as “Carolyn’s ginger cookies”. The problem is that I didn’t enter all the ingredients in and now I can’t find the original recipe. I just don’t remember almond butter being one of the ingredients.
Carolyn says
Are you looking for my Gingerbread men? https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/classic-gingerbread-men-low-carb-and-gluten-free/
Rosa says
Hi Carolyn,
Can you keep baked cookies in the freezer? Or is it best to just store the dough?
Carolyn says
You can but they may harden quite a bit and lose that chewy quality.
Mary says
These are really good. I added ChocZero white chocolate chips to them. Yummy! Thanks.
Victoria says
I love ginger cookies and I made these and added about 1 T fresh ginger root ground up into tiny bits in addition to the ground ginger and added some Lilly Chocolate chips to the top of them, Oh so yummy! the fresh ginger root gives it a hot kick every so often in a bite…and the chocolate chips on top gives it a yummy chocolate taste…so good! thanks
Carolyn says
Sounds wonderful.
kristi says
I am really excited to make these! Wondering if I could use Lakanto Maple Syrup in place of Swerve.
Carolyn says
I think it would throw off the liquid content, to add that much liquid sweetener.
Moe says
Just made these…yum! I didn’t find them to be very chewy…more soft, but no matter. I decided to gild the lily: I made your lemon cream cheese frosting and sandwiched the cookies, then popped in the fridge to firm up. Wow! Husband’s favorite cookies have always been ginger lemon cream sandwich cookies…these hit all the right notes, minus the sugar and flour! Fabulous! I’ve been disappointed in most keto baking recipes…yours are my go to. Thanks!
Jo says
Love this recipe! I did a half batch as written to try them out and on the second 1/2 batch I did up the spices considerably, also adding salt as my butter is unsalted. I also used brown swerve and a bit of molasses and they were fantastic.
Today I tried (based on comments above) them as chocolate chip cookies (1/2 batch again and about 3.5 oz of Lily’s semi- sweet chips). Wow! Truly the best thing I have made in awhile Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Carolyn says
Sounds so good. I need to try your changes! It’s tricky with the spices because you never know what people will like or how much. I go middle of the road for things like that, so I don’t overpower someone who doesn’t like as much spice.
Victoria says
We love these, I have to tell you I added another T of ginger and I diced up at least 2 T of fresh ginger root, and becasue my husband likes hot things, I dusted his with cayenne pepper, along with swerve confectionery sugar! Wow these have a kick! a yummy kick!
Vicky says
I made these cookies last night and they were good, but this morning when I got up the cookies have green specks all over them. Doesn’t look quite like mold but it looks gross. I’m throwing them out. Any suggestions on why that happened?
Carolyn says
DO NOT THROUGH THEM OUT! It’s not mold. Did you happen to use sunflower seed butter? it’s simply a reaction between the baking powder and the sunflower seeds.
Jennifer says
If I wanted to make these dairy free, can you suggest a butter substitute? Thanks! These sound delicious!
Carolyn says
Coconut oil doesn’t work to well in these, ghee would be better if you can tolerate ghee.
Juliette says
What about using a whole cup of butter to compensate for the lack of almond butter? I know that would jack up the recipe quite a bit.. just thinking out loud
Carolyn says
Butter and almond butter have very different consistencies. If you use all butter, you are going to have one large melted cookie all over your pan. Not recommended.
Ashley says
Can you use stevia as the sweetner
Carolyn says
No, your cookies won’t be very good with stevia, I’m afraid.
Claudia says
Oh, this sounds so good! But I have a question: You created this recipe before Swerve Brown Sugar — would a cup of that be a good replacement for the granular Swerve and Yacon syrup, do you think?
Heidi says
Thanks for the delicious recipe! I used lankanto golden and regular molasses. I also added a glaze of melted cream cheese and butter (about 2T each) mixed with swerve confectioners and a splash of vanilla extract. Almost like my favorite iced molasses cookies! Next time I will increase the spices for my personal taste- definitely making these again and again!
D says
I just made these! Delicious! I used everything as directed and they turned out so soft and chewy! Perfect!
Michael says
Thanks for the recipe! It was great. I made some too thick though. To be honest it was the first time I tried baking any sweets in my life. Half were great and half were still good but not cooked all the way through. My bad. About how many cookies should one get out of this recipe? I made 18. I’m trying to calculate in grams how many is “two cookies”.
Carolyn says
It clearly states at the top of the recipe that it’s supposed to make 40…
Michael says
I guess cookies are ‘clearly’ the only thing sweet on this site Carolyn. Tact is hard to find. Did I mention I have disabilities and reading issues. Cheers!
Carolyn says
Sorry if you were offended. Just pointing out where to find the information.
Stephanie Roberts says
AND I used Knox—two packets. Worked a charm.
Stephanie Roberts says
I used cream cheese because I can’t keep nut butters in the house (total binge food) and I didn’t want to wait to try these. Wow! Perfect! I think the last step is suuuuuper important: allow to cook completely. They’re even better the next day!!