Want to indulge in a little bit of Christmas spirit without completely derailing your diet or healing? Look no further than these Frosted Keto Christmas Cookies to hit the spot without making you hit a wall. They are perfect for an afternoon snack, a Christmas party, or any other special occasion!
Why this recipe is amazing:
Why this recipe is amazing:- This recipe is super simple, and is such a fun activity to do as a family. Seriously; crank up those Christmas tunes and really enjoy the process!
- It’s perfect for the kids because then they get to eat Christmas cookies and not feel left out, but they don’t have to know that they are healthy.
- The flavor of these cookies is incredible, and they are always a hit at parties. I’ve never had any leftovers to bring home.
- They keep in a sealed container for 1-2 weeks (if you can resist them that long…)
- Baking Christmas cookies is a huge tradition in my family. These baking days are one of my favorite holiday traditions that I get to carry on to my children; and it’s even better that I am showing them that you can indulge while still caring for your body.
FAQ’s:
FAQ’s:How do you prevent the dough from sticking to everything?
I use silicone baking mats to prevent the dough from sticking to the pan after baking. My metal cookie cutters don’t stick to the dough, but plastic often will. You can prevent this by lightly greasing your cookie cutters with butter or flour before cutting. To prevent sticking to the counters, make sure the counters are dusted well with flour! And keeping the dough chilled cuts back on sticking as well.
I don’t like erythritol; can I use a regular sweetener?
Yes! I’ve made these cookies with erythritol, xylitol, and with white sugar. If you don’t need to go low carb but still want to be healthier, coconut palm sugar and maple syrup are good substitutes. If you use a liquid sweetener, you’ll need to add more flour to compensate and make sure the dough is thick enough!
What did you use to dye the frosting?
Because my oldest is highly allergic to red food dye, we avoid all dyes in our home. We did get natural dyes for these cookies though, and the boys loved them! I don’t regularly use the dye, the cookies are just as delicious with white frosting!
How long will they stay fresh?
I recommend eating them within 2 weeks. Be sure they are stored in a sealed container. However, we’ve never really had them last a full 2 weeks, so…
The Process:
- Cream together granulated erythritol and butter.
- Beat in vanilla, eggs, baking powder, salt, and flour.
- Chill for 20-30 minutes, then roll out to 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick.
- Use cookie cutters to cut your shapes and carefully transfer to the pan with a spatula.
- Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.
- Let them cool for a few minutes before attempting to remove them from the baking sheet.
- For the frosting, combine 6 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup coconut milk, almond extract, and powdered erythritol (or your sweetener of choice).
- Add dye and frost cookies once they’re cooled.
Notes from the cook:
- Don’t have confectioner’s erythritol on hand? I’ll show you how to make your own!
- I used erythritol in this recipe. I’m not a huge fan of artificial sweeteners, but this one I make room for on occasion; provided it’s non-GMO. None of them are good for your health, but this one is leaps and bounds better than sucralose or aspartame.
- You do notice the erythritol in the frosting, and it’s only because the frosting feels cold when you eat it. It’s a super odd side effect of the erythritol, but it doesn’t affect flavor at all, and I enjoyed it. However if you don’t like that cold feeling, then you can mix erythritol with xylitol or another sweetener and it shouldn’t do that any more.
- If you don’t have to be completely sugar free, then you can substitute the erythritol for coconut palm sugar, organic cane sugar, or pure maple syrup.
- I use silicone baking mats to prevent sticking. My metal cookie cutters don’t stick to the dough, but plastic often will. You can prevent this by lightly greasing your cookie cutters with butter or flour before cutting.
- These keto Christmas cookies are gluten free, low carb, sugar free, and if you want them to be vegan you can replace the eggs with applesauce or flax, and the butter with vegan shortening. I plan on making these vegan in the future, but if you get around to it before I do, let me know how they turn out!
You may also enjoy these healthy desserts:
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BREAKFAST PUMPKIN COOKIES
Frosted Keto Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup granulated erythritol or your sweetener of choice
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 cups almond flour for low carb or gluten free all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup milk of choice *Add this last- your flour and altitude may not require milk. If your dough is too crumbly, add a little bit of milk!
- ***FROSTING INGREDIENTS***
- 6 tbsp butter for frosting
- 4 cups powdered erythritol for frosting can use powdered sugar if you don't need low carb
- 1/4 cup coconut milk or milk of choice for frosting
- 1 tsp almond extract for frosting
Instructions
- Cream together granulated erythritol and butter.
- Beat in vanilla, eggs, baking powder, salt, and flour.
- Chill for 20-30 minutes, then roll out to 1/8" to 1/4" thick. (Use baking mat, parchment paper, or extra flour to prevent sticking. I personally roll it between 2 sheets of parchment paper and then leave it there for cutting. It doesn't stick!)
- Use cookie cutters to cut your shapes and carefully transfer to pan. I use silicone baking mats to prevent sticking.
- Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes before attempting to remove them from the baking sheet.
- For the frosting, combine 6 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup coconut milk, almond extract, and powdered erythritol.
- Add dye and frost cookies once they're cooled.
Notes
- I used erythritol in this recipe. I'm not a huge fan of artificial sweeteners, but this one I make room for on occasion; provided it's non-GMO. None of them are good for your health, but this one is leaps and bounds better than sucralose or aspartame.
- You do notice the erythritol in the frosting, and it's only because the frosting feels cold when you eat it. It's a super odd side effect of the erythritol, but it doesn't affect flavor at all, and I enjoyed it. However if you don't like that cold feeling, then you can mix erythritol with xylitol or another sweetener and it shouldn't do that any more.
- If you don't have to be completely sugar free, then you can substitute the erythritol for coconut palm sugar, organic cane sugar, or pure maple syrup.
- Because my oldest is highly allergic to red food dye, we avoid all dyes in our home. We did get natural dyes for these cookies though, and the boys loved them!
- These keto Christmas cookies are gluten free, low carb, sugar free, and if you want them to be vegan you can replace the eggs with applesauce or flax, and the butter with vegan shortening. I plan on making these vegan in the future, but if you get around to it before I do, let me know how they turn out!
Nutrition
*Note- nutrition facts are for net carbs (total carbohydrates minus sugar alcohols and fiber). If you count total carbs instead of net carbs, then the carb count will be higher.
What are your favorite keto Christmas cookies to make?
Update Notes
This post was originally published in December 2017. It was updated November 2019 with new photos.
Any way to print the recipe w/o adding the extension?
What browser are you on? When I click Print, it just opens in a print tab without trying to add an extension. I’m not sure why it’s not working for you. Maybe try a different browser?
you don’t say how to roll these and cut them out..i just scooped them and flattened before baking.
Yes, I would like to know because I could not get the shapes to hold to transfer to the baking sheet. Too soft.
They are unable to be rolled out and mine looked NOTHING like the pictures. No idea how you did this.
I’m so sorry yours didn’t turn out, I’ve never had a problem with rolling them. I have always rolled mine on parchment paper, which allows for the cookie dough to not stick and transfer easily to a spatula for baking. I will add that option to the instructions in case anybody else runs across an issue like you did!
Through some trial and error, I kept everything really cool (ice packs on my counter before every rollout) and had great success. I found that you must completely cool before moving. They are crumbly and fragile until completely cooled.
I always roll them out on parchment paper without any problems! And yes- they must cool completely before trying to pick them up. ☺️
I could not get them to hold their shape. Any suggestions?!?!? Frustrated.
I’m sorry, Erin- I’m not sure what the problem would be. I’ve made these several times without issues. Did you possibly include the frosting ingredients in the cookie dough by accident?
These must be some of the most delicious and Christmas cookies I’ve seen! Will definitely be giving this recipe a go!
Thank you Chris! I hope you enjoy them! 🙂
Hurray for gluten free cookie recipes. I don’t usually bake with erythritol. Have you tried making these with sugar? I’d like to try that.
Yes! They are delicious with sugar, I have made them that way as well 🙂
It really is crazy what sugar can make us do. Thanks for posting this. It looks like it will be my new go-to shortbread cookie recipe.
So true! We try to avoid sugar as much as possible. Hope you enjoy!
These cookies are so cute, I’m sure it would be a super fun recipe to make with kids!
My kids love helping out!
These look SO festive and yummy. Can’t wait to try them – and love that they are Keto friendly!
They definitely help add some festive fun to this season!
These cookies are so cute! Perfect for Christmas!
Thank you! They’re delicious ????
I made these and they turned out really good. Had to keep the dough cool and add more almond flour to keep them from crumbling. Unfortunately, the nutritional facts are pretty off and eating these put me out of Ketosis. Just the cookies alone without the frosting have 6.6 grams of carbs (if you make 24 cookies) if you use a Tablespoon of frosting it adds another 10 grams of carbs per cookie. So one cookie with a Tablespoon of frosting looks more like this: 117g Calories, 17g carbs, 10g fat, 4g protein. Again good cookies, just sad about the carbs and ate more than I would have if I’d known.
Hi Brianna! I’m glad you liked the cookies. The nutrition facts that I calculated were net carbs, meaning sugar alcohols and fiber from the almond flour are not included (my nutrition label is limited). If you count total carbs then yes, the count would be higher. I will add a note in the bottom to clarify in case anybody else has the same question as you. Thanks for reaching out!
I am new to the Keto Way and try to find sweets for my husband. Did not see almond extract in the instructions but figured it had to go in with the other ingredients. I am going to bake these cookies tomorrow. Thank you for giving me a recipe that ruledme.com does not have.
Thanks for pointing that out, Anita! I must have overlooked that… I added it to the frosting ingredients. I hope you enjoy these cookies, Merry Christmas!
Hi Stefani, I want to note that it’s inaccurate to call erythritol an artificial sweetener. It is a naturally-occurring product of fermentation, and can be found normally in fruits and vegetables. It really shouldn’t be roped into the same category as man-made sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose. No, erythritol is not sugar, but that doesn’t automatically make it artificial. Yes it is processed, but again, that is not equivalent to being artificial. Additionally, there is no evidence that erythritol consumption causes bodily harm. It’s certainly no more harmful than honey/maple syrup/coconut sugar and other forms of real sugar that paleo followers consume. Thanks for the recipe. =)
Hi Erica, thanks for the comment! While I agree with you that erythritol is naturally occurring, I don’t consider it a natural sweetener. It cannot be found as-is in nature, and requires processing to make it ready for human consumption the way we use it do sweeten desserts. Therefore, I don’t think it should be consumed frequently, since it’s not something that you can just find and eat in the wild. I don’t group it with the chemical sweeteners, but I consider it more of a gray area between man-made and natural.
You’re right- there is no evidence that it causes harm, but it’s also fairly new to the human diet and these studies take time (if it were to be dangerous, we wouldn’t likely know for a couple of decades). So while I’m not saying it’s harmful, and I’m not saying not to use it, I am also not convinced that it’s absolutely safe for unlimited consumption… I just think we should exercise caution with anything new and anything processed. This is my personal opinion, and yours can absolutely differ. I respect that, and I thank you for visiting 🙂 Hope you enjoy the cookies!
Ive made these cookies twice now and have comcompletely given up on cutting shapes. I just use a cookie scoop and flatten them. Also, I think I have a sweet tooth, but that icing recipe has to be off! I made it according to the measurements listed, only to end up adding an additional cup of butter to make it edible. Over all, that batch of icing will likely cover three or four batches of cookies! Please know, I love icing, so I’m not stingy! I tried to duplicate a “Cheryl’s” cookie, and I thought this was a good exchange!
Hi Angie, I’m sorry you’ve had a problem cutting them! What type of cookie cutters are you using, and is the dough just sticking to them? Perhaps try greasing them next time if that’s the issue. I’ve made them several times this season already and don’t have a problem with my metal cookie cutters, other than the occasional sticky one. I’m not sure what went wrong with the frosting, I always make it the same, but depending on how the kids frost, I sometimes have leftovers. Glad you liked them overall though!
They cut easy enough, but it’s too much of a hassle either removing the scraps or transferring the cookies. I think the batch size was simply because I ended up adding an additional cup of butter to make it tolerably sweet. Ultimately, next time I’ll use maybe 3/4 cup of erythritol to 1/2 butter to start…all of this is entirely inconsequential as we still enjoyed them immensely!
Thanks for clarifying! I’m glad you still enjoyed them ☺️
Thanks for the good post
These look so good! Are they very crumbly?
Not as long as you let them cool before trying to handle them! They’re very sturdy. My 5 & 7 year olds didn’t break any ☺️
Thanks for sharing! How far ahead of time can I make them?
They’ll last a week easily as long as they’re in a sealed container. They will start getting slightly stale as you go past that. ☺️
I’m going to give them a try this week with my grand boys! Thanks for the support to kick the sugar habit
Hope you enjoy them! They are delicious!
Just attempted to make these and it seems my dough is very wet and sticky. I didn’t even put in the milk. I let the dough sit in the fridge for 30 min. Any suggestions?
What type of flour did you use? Almond? Gluten free? I would add a little extra flour to soak up the stickiness and then go from there.
Have you ever tried making these with coconut flour or pecan flour? I am all out of almond flour so I was going to substitute. Maybe a combination of the 2? Thoughts or concerns with doing this? I’m anxious to try these cookies! Thanks for the recipe!!!!
I have not tried that- I would definitely blend the flours though, don’t use just coconut. Maybe 3/4 pecan to 1/4 coconut? Cassava is also an option. Let me know how it turns out!
Though keep in mind- coconut flour will no longer be keto!