Soft keto chocolate cookies with a delicious chocolate peppermint coating. Sugar-free and grain-free and perfect for the holidays. Kids love this egg-free keto cookie!
So I think this is going to be my last cookie recipe before the holidays. Well, maybe. I mean, probably. Sort of. I don’t know, it’s hard to say. I can neither confirm nor deny. Who knows how things will go? It’s just one of those things you really can’t predict.
Because my problem every year is that I have 18 billion ideas for low carb cookies and not nearly enough time to execute them all. And of all the ones I do actually find time to test out, I end up with not enough time in my calendar to actually post them all.
And every year I find that the closer we get to Christmas, the more people weary of keto Christmas cookies and want other things instead. Savoury things. Dinner things. Breakfast things. But enough with the damn cookies already, lady!
I love holiday baking!
I have several other cookie or cookie-like recipes in the hopper and I just don’t know how to get them all out to you before you’re sick of them.
Last year, I had a couple of really great recipes that got overlooked because I tried to post them too close to the big day. But on the other hand, I love holiday cookies so much, I love creating them and sharing recipes for them.
So to be very frank, while my mind tells me that this should be the last cookie recipe of the season, my heart tells me MORE MORE MORE! More cookies! Don’t ever give up on the cookies!
Classic battle between head and heart. Which one will win? Well, no matter what, I still vow to bring you the best recipes I can, whether or not they are cookies or dinner, cake or appetizers, sweet or savoury, there’s always something good going on around here.
How to make Keto Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Whether or not these delicious Chocolate Peppermint Stars are the last of the cookies, you know they’ve got to be good. The dough is egg-free and quite easy to make. Here are my best tips for getting it right:
- Good almond flour. As with any keto cookie recipe, finely ground almond flour is essential. Coarser nut meals will make the cookies more fragile and more gritty.
- Cream cheese. There are no eggs in these, so cream cheese helps bind the dough and hold it together. Make sure it’s properly softened before trying to mix it in.
- Erythritol sweetener. If you want a crisp cookie, you need an erythritol based sweetener. Both allulose and BochaSweet will result in soft cookies that won’t firm up properly.
- Cool completely. Don’t try to move the cookies off the pan while they are still warm. They need to cool completely to firm up properly.
- Freeze 1 hour. This step helps tremendously when dipping the cookies, as the chocolate sets much faster. It makes the whole process much less messy!
- Cocoa butter. I highly recommend cocoa butter to help melt the chocolate for dipping. It always helps the chocolate melt more smoothly, and it thins it out a bit, making it easier to dip.
Oh and if you get tired of cutting them out? You can just roll the remaining dough into truffles that don’t even need to be baked. Just freeze and then dip! I’m betting a few of you will just turn the whole lot into truffles…
Chocolate Peppermint Stars
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 2 cups almond flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup Swerve Sweetener
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup butter melted
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 4 ounces cream cheese cut into small chunks
Chocolate Coating and Decorations:
- 7 ounces sugar-free dark chocolate chopped
- 1 ounce cocoa butter
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- Holiday Sprinkles (optional)
- Crushed sugar-free peppermints (optional)
- 1 to 2 ounces Sugar-Free White Chocolate (optional)
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F and line two baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, cocoa powder, sweetener, and salt. Stir in the butter and peppermint extract. Sprinkle the cream cheese over the surface. Use a pastry cutter or two sharp knives to cut the cream cheese in until the dough looks unified and comes together easily.
- Turn the dough out onto a large sheet of parchment or waxed paper and pat into a rough circle. Top with another piece of parchment or waxed paper. Roll the dough out to about ¼ inch thick. Use a 3-inch star-shaped cookie cutter to cut as many stars as you can. Lift the cookies out carefully, using a knife or offset spatula to loosen, if necessary. Re-roll the dough and cut more cookies until the scraps are too small to roll out. (Any scraps can be rolled into truffles that don’t even need baking!)
- Bake 15 minutes, switching the position of the trays in the oven halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. Remove and let cool completely. Then place the cookies in the freezer for at least 1 hour (helps make the coating process easier).
Chocolate Coating:
- In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, combine the chocolate and the cocoa butter. Stir until melted and smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract.
- One at a time, drop the cookies into the chocolate and flip over with a fork to coat both sides. Remove and set on a pan lined with waxed paper. Sprinkle with a few holiday sprinkles, or crushed peppermints, if using. Repeat with remaining cookies and place in the fridge for 20 minutes or so to set the chocolate.
- To drizzle cookies with a little white chocolate, break up the white chocolate into a microwave safe bowl and add the coconut oil. Heat on high in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until smooth. Place in a ziplock bag with the very corner snipped of and decorate as desired.
Notes
Total fat: 11.17g
Calories from fat: 100
Cholesterol: 11mg
Carbohydrate: 6.54g
Total dietary fiber: 4.35g
Protein: 3.06g
Erythritol: 7g
Many thanks to Bob’s Red Mill for partnering with me to bring you this post!
Theresa says
the dough doesn’t hold enough together to cut clean shapes that don’t break trying to lift them, even chilled. any suggestions?
Carolyn says
Hi Theresa… tell me more. What almond flour and/or sweetener are you using?
Lisa says
Where do you find cocoa butter? I used your link & it went to Amazon but no cocoa butter. Thank you! I love seeing your emails & videos! Thank you!
Carolyn says
Sorry… when Amazon changes links, my posts get a bit messed up. Here’s one I like! https://amzn.to/3ggfyMS
Debbie says
Where do you find unsweetened white chocolate?
Carolyn says
Not unsweetened…. sugar-free. Sweetened with sugar substitutes like erythritol. ChocZero is a great brand.
Hillary says
Thanks! Will definitely try that. They tasted delicious though and got rave reviews on them.
Hillary says
I made these with the same ingredients you suggest and the dough came out very, very moist and difficult to work with. I had freeze the dough for a while before cutting out my shapes because it was so sticky. Even then, the shapes were crumbly and difficult to manage . I really want to like them – but what should I do differently?
Carolyn says
So it could be the brand of cocoa powder as some are more absorbent. Try adding another tbsp of cocoa and perhaps a bit more almond flour.
Denise says
Would it be possible to use melted cocoa butter as a white drizzle with some added Swerve maybe?
Carolyn says
Yes but be forewarned, it melts into liquid and really has no in-between state so it’s hard to “drizzle”.
Christy says
Where did you find sugar free white chocolate for drizzling? Thank you!!
Carolyn says
It was a xylitol sweetened one from KZ Clean Eating but they don’t seem to make it anymore
Coryelle Higdon says
Has anyone tried using peppermint essential oil?
Sarah Rosow says
I’ve got the cookies made (yum!) and am trying to figure out what chocolate to use for the coating. I’ll probably just go buy some more Lily’s bars but I’m wondering if I could make do with a combo of what I’ve got: one Lily’s dark chocolate bar (2.8 oz) one 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate bar, and some lily’s chips. I’m thinking of combining the two bars and adding a little sweetener. Think that would work? Or, has anyone tried melting lily’s chips with success? Thanks!
Carolyn says
The chips don’t melt as willingly so I’d add a little coconut oil in there to help them along…
Kori says
I want to try these! Do you have some sugar fee peppermints you can recommend? Or sprinkles?
Carolyn says
No such thing as sugar free sprinkle but these xylitol mints would work. http://amzn.to/2klpT10
Patricia Clayborn says
Please do not use any xylitol based products if you own a dog! (Look up ‘xylitol poisoning in dogs’ for the reasons why.)
Pamela says
I miss new to keto lifestyle – where can I purchase Swerve? and sugar- free chocolates?
Carolyn says
There should links in the recipe to help!
Lori Kling says
I did not have any luck with these cookies. I am not sure if I may have done something wrong, like forgot an ingredient or if I just did not care for them. To be honest everyone that tried them didn’t care for them. Are they supposed to not be very sweet? I will try them again to make sure that it was not a baking error on my part!
I do appreciate all of the recipes that you post, everyone of them, aside from this one has been amazing.
Carolyn says
Did you use any kind of different sweetener? Or what kind of chocolate did you use for the coating?
Lori Kling says
I used Lilly’s chocolate. I did not use swerve sweetener because I ran out, I can’t remember the brand but it was erythritol. There was just something off. I was so excited for these. I will try them again but will use swerve next time.
Carolyn says
Erythritol plain is not as sweet as Swerve. It’s about 70% as sweet. That might be it, I can’t say for sure.
Patricia Clayborn says
Also, erythritol has a “cooling” effect that is offputting to some people. You can mitigate that sensation by adding in a small amount of an alternate sweetener such as stevia, sucralose, or monk fruit. 😀
Rebekah R says
Could I use organic whole wheat flour in place of almond flour? And the sweetener could I substitute honey? I’m thinking of last minute experiments before Christmas lol
Carolyn says
I do not use regular flour nor honey so I cannot guide you in this.
Jean | DelightfulRepast.com says
Carolyn, these are gorgeous! And I love the classic combination of peppermint and chocolate. I use my star cutter more than any other, I think.
Marv says
Just finished my third batch, these things are GREAT Carolyn! I’m making Lily rich though…
(Seriously, we’d be lost without your hard work. Thank you!)
–Marv
Carolyn says
Thanks, Marv. I’ve already made Lily rich many times over! 😉
Shannah Ortiz says
I also need a link for sugar free white chocolate!!
Diane Wesson says
I’ve been looking all over. Where do you get the sugar free white chocolate? I’d love to dip these in White Chocolate peppermint.
Erin @ Texanerin Baking says
I love me some Bob’s Red Mill!