Tender pecan crescent cookies made with almond flour. These easy and delicious low carb cookies are a must make for the holiday season. They also make great snowball cookies too! And at 4g total carbs per serving, you can afford to indulge.
These low carb pecan crescent cookies are full of deep and emotional nostalgia for me. Pecan crescents were my father’s favorite Christmas cookie, and as many of you know, he died a few years ago right around Christmas. I miss him terribly but I am lucky I got so much time with him in the end.
I originally created this recipe in 2012, long before his diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He and his wife often used to spend Christmas with us when we lived in Boston, before he got too ill to travel. One holiday, I was inspired to attempt a low carb version of his beloved pecan crescents.
And I was absolutely delighted by how they turned out, and how pleased he was to indulge in my healthier version. They have the same soft and yet slightly crumbly texture of the original, and the same delicious pecan flavor coming through, without an ounce of sugar or gluten. The old man gave them two thumbs up.
It truly is astonishing what you can accomplish with a stick of butter, a bag of almond flour, and a willingness to experiment.
I decided that in his honour, I needed to update this old post and give them some pretty new photos.
How To Make Pecan Crescent Cookies
Pecan crescents are akin to shortbread and they have that unique sandy texture of a typical shortbread cookie. To shape them, you simply roll them into balls and then form them into crescents. Or you could simply leave them as balls and turn them into pecan snowballs.
Be sure to use finely chopped, toasted pecans. If the pecan chunks are too large, it’s harder to roll and shape the cookies properly.
Our traditional family recipe took brown sugar. At the time I first created these, I subbed in granulated Swerve and some molasses, but now that Swerve has a brown sugar substitute, it’s perfect for these cookies. If you can’t find Swerve Brown, try regular Swerve and 2 teaspoons of Yacon or molasses.
We used to decorate our cookies with some canned vanilla frosting that we thinned out with a little milk. Ugh, can you believe that? Now I simply whisk together a little vanilla glaze with powdered sweetener and heavy cream, and it’s just as good.
Sadly, there really aren’t any great sugar-free sprinkles out there. I just use a few holiday sprinkles on the frosted cookies to give them a festive flair.
You could also simply roll them in powdered sweetener. I did that to half of the pecan crescent cookies this time and they were lovely that way. If you want to make snowballs with these cookies, you simply roll them in powdered sweetener after they’ve cooled.
This recipe makes a lot of cookies so it’s perfect for holiday parties or gift-giving. The great thing is that the cookies freeze well both baked and unbaked. For unbaked, simply wrap the dough up tightly in plastic and freeze. Thaw before shaping and rolling into crescents.
If you want freeze the baked cookies, let them cool properly first. Freeze before frosting or rolling in powdered sweetener. They can last in the fridge for up to two months.
So there you go, Dad. I am sending a healthy keto version of your beloved Pecan Crescent Cookies into the world so that people can enjoy them. Miss you!
Keto Pecan Crescent Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- 2 tablespoon coconut flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter softened
- ⅔ cup Swerve Brown (or regular Swerve and 2 teaspoons Yacon syrup)
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Vanilla Glaze:
- ⅔ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener or powdered erythritol
- 6 to 8 tablespoon heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cookies:
- Preheat oven to 325F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, chopped pecans, coconut flour baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat butter with Swerve until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
- Beat in almond flour mixture until dough comes together. Form dough into ¾ inch balls, then roll between palms and shape into crescents.
- Lay on prepared baking sheets and bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until just lightly golden brown. They will not be firm to the touch, but will firm up as they cool. Cool on the pan.
For the glaze:
- Whisk powdered Swerve with ¼ cup cream and vanilla extract until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon more cream at a time until a thin but spreadable consistency is achieved.
- Spread on cooled cookies and decorate as desired.
- Or simply roll the cookies in powdered sweetener.
Notes
Cheryl Neal says
It’s so hard to pick a favorite, I love so many of them. I guess my favorite today will be chocolate filled Italian cookies. Not sure if there is another name, it’s the name on the recipe when I received it from a little Italian lady from the northside of the city where I live.
robin says
I follow Pampered checf on Pinterest and like it on Facebook!!
robin says
I love soft sugar cookies!!!!
Anjana Siva says
I Like All Day I Dream About Food on Facebook.
Anjana Siva says
I Like The Pampered Chef on Facebook.
Anjana Siva says
Thanks for the giveaway. Favorite cookies is shortbread cookie dipped in chocolate.
tammy says
Before I found out I had celiac disease…my favorite was my grama’s cutout cookies…we would bake and decorate them…I can almost still smell and imagine how wonderful they tasted. Thanks for the memories!!
Martie says
My favorite Christmas cookie is the Egg Nog cookie! It’s so good.
Rani Merens says
In my pre-low-carb days, my SIL gave me this recipe that became a Christmas-only standard: slice-and-bale a roll of sugar-cookie-dough into 36 cookies; stir amaretto liqueur into raspberry jam and spread a thin layer on the bottom of 18 cookies and press the another cookie bottom against the jam to make a sandwich. Melt some chocolate chips and add in a smidge of paraffin. Dip the 18 sandwiches halfway into the chocolate. I haven’t tried to replicate a LC version. I’m Liking on FB. Haven’t done Pinterest but this is an incentive to sign up and try it! P.S. I *ADORE* Pampered Chef! Best veg-peelers in the world… I actually tie one onto bridal-shower gifts! I have so many PC products in my kitchen!
Maryellen says
I follow Pampered Chef on Facebook.
Maryellen says
I follow your on Facebook
Maryellen says
I love the basic Spritz recipe that came with my cookie gun. It’s fun and easy to decorate, I have a Pampered Chef cookie scoop, and love it! I would love more of their items. They really do a good job with the products. Recipe sounds great! Thanks.
Patricia Meadows says
My favorite cookie is Pecan Balls. Just liked your FBP Follow Pampered Chef on Pin interest and FB.
Linda says
Our favorite Christmas cookies are fruitcake cookies, believe it or not! They are so rich and colorful, made with candied fruit of all flavors and colors.
Karen says
my fave cookie is anything I can safely eat now! lol…..I liked you and PC on FB and followed you both
Diane P says
My favorite Christmas cookies are Russian Teacakes (also sometimes called Wedding Cookies). These seem to be fairly similar with the exception of being iced instead of rolled in powdered sugar. Being fairly recently diagnosed as diabetic, I really appreciate this low carb recipe!
david carson says
My favorite holiday cookie has always been chocolate crinkles. My Mom has made them as far back as I can remember. I can’t imagine celebrating the holiday without them. Guess I should learn to bake so I can make HER a batch.
Rina says
My favorite Christmas cookie is Vanillekipfel (Austrian Vanilla Crescents). Growing up, my Austrian grandmother sent us a huge box of her homemade vanillekipfel every Christmas. We always were so excited when the brown paper wrapped box from grossmama arrived. The smell was heavenly and the taste even better! These cookies are traditionally made with a cup or two of almond and/or hazelnut flours so they were very easy for me to adapt to using only nut flours. This year I am going to use Swerve for the sweetner instead of coconut sugar so my blood sugar won’t spike! Dusted with some powdered erythritol they will look just like our family’s traditional vanillekipfel.
Your pecan crescent cookies look very scrumptious, I can hardly wait to make them.
david carson says
My favorite holiday cookie has always been chocolate crinkles. My Mom has made them as far back as I can remember. I can’t imagine celebrating the holiday without them. Guess I should learn to bake so I can make HER a batch. 🙂
Ellen Schmidt says
My favorite Christmas cookie is the Mexican Wedding Cake. It’s a cookie my mom used to make at Christmas time, so I have always thought of it as a Christmas cookie. I wonder if the Pecan cookie here would taste anything like them?