The holiday classic, Gingerbread Cookies, made keto-friendly! Deliciously crisp and slightly chewy. Free from gluten, grains, dairy, eggs, and sugar! Options for Low-Carb, Paleo & Vegan.
Keto Christmas Cookies
It's Christmas miracle (again!) Remember last year when I conquered sugar-free SUGAR COOKIES? And made them totes adorbs like little trees??
Then I created the shocking ONE Carb SNICKERDOODLES that you guys LOVE?
Well it's time for another holiday cookie that's miraculously low-carb! And too cute, to boot.
GINGERBREAD MEN, how I adore you. I love your spicy taste, your adorable outfits, and the joy you bring during the holidays. 🙂
I just had to recreate this CLASSIC cookie using low-carb ingredients.
Taking away flour, sugar, butter and eggs is no small feat, but I'm happy to report these cookies rival the original recipe.
Flavor and texture: delicious! Slightly crisp, slightly chewy (depending on how long you cook them - you can make them softer or crunchier!)
Easy to make. Easy to enjoy! 🙂
Disclosure: As an affiliate I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made through referral links in this post (at no additional cost to you).
What's NEW
It's nice to be back! For the past 3 months or so, I've been furiously working on my JUST-released sugar-free sweets cookbook (YAY) but I'm so excited to come back to the blog to share some fun NEW holiday recipes with you now that my book baby has been born, haha.
AND, you may notice some shiny new updates around here! I upgraded to a new recipe card with:
- A prettier format (you know I like pretty! ha)
- The ability to scale the number of servings up or down
- Direct links in the ingredients (makes it so easy to get what you need)
- Change from US customary to metric with the flip of a switch (something you guys have been asking for!)
- Better sharing capabilities - Pin to Pinterest built right in
- Easier to leave a rating just by clicking the star on the recipe card (thank you for your reviews!! Super helpful to readers)
- A bona fide nutrition facts card complete with net carbs!!
PS Should I keep this new recipe card? If these new features are helpful to YOU, would you let me know in the comments?
How to make Low-Carb Gingerbread Cookies
Making these sugar-free/low-carb/keto was a cinch thanks to Lakanto monkfruit, my favorite sugar-free sweetener!
I used a combination of Maple Flavored Syrup and Golden Monkfruit Granules to achieve just the right amount of sweetness with a hint of brown sugar and maple flavor. SO delicious.
Almond flour, oil and spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg round out the ingredient list. So simple!
What about the molasses?
If you've made traditional gingerbread before, you know that molasses is a KEY ingredient in the flavor and color. (Much to my surprise, most recipes used 1 CUP of molasses. What the!?)
I wanted to keep a bit of molasses flavor, but make these cookies low-carb & keto-friendly. So instead of using 1 CUP of molasses, I only used one teaspoon!
Doesn't that add SUGAR? Yes, it does. But only a very tiny amount spread over 30 mini gingerbread men.
These cookies have only 0.66 net carbs each using molasses. (But if you really don't want to use it, or you don't have it, simply sub more monkfruit syrup.)
Helpful Cookie-Baking Tips
Here are some helpful tips to get the BEST results with your gingerbread men:
- ALWAYS USE PAPER. Roll the dough between 2 large pieces of parchment paper to prevent sticking.
- EVEN IT. Be careful not to roll the dough unevenly -- if one part is thinner, it will burn and you'll be left with a man with burnt legs lol (speaking from experience here)
- GROUP 'EM. Bake like sizes together. For example, if you make both small and large gingerbread, bake them separately because the small ones bake faster.
- WATCH them at the end so they don't burn. Everyone's oven is a little different, so bake times may vary.
- DON'T BE ALARMED if they look a little lighter in the middle when they come out of the oven. The color evens out when they cool and the result is this gorgeous gingerbread hue!
The Best Sugar-Free Icing for Cookies
For gingerbread cookie icing, my favorite dairy-free/sugar-free combo is coconut butter sweetened with monkfruit drops.
It hardens when it cools like conventional icing. And the taste is strikingly similar to sugar-laden recipes. But this is so much healthier! 😉
Transfer the icing to a plastic sandwich baggie and snip off the tip to easily pipe on. Just keep a steady hand and even pressure, moving at a steady pace. Practice on a piece of parchment first, if you need to get the hang of it. It's really not difficult once you learn how 🙂
These crisp and chewy gingerbread men are so easy and so yummy, they definitely belong on your holiday baking list. If you make 'em, be sure to tag me on Instagram @emily.likes.food 🙂
Gingerbread Cookies (Keto, Paleo, Vegan)
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups fine almond flour
- 2 teaspoon golden monkfruit granules - or coconut sugar for non low-carb
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- pinch of pink salt
- 2 Tbs Lakanto monkfruit maple syrup - or maple syrup for non low-carb
- 2 Tbs buttery coconut oil - or other neutral oil, melted
- 1 teaspoon molasses
Frosting
- 2.5 Tbs coconut butter
- 2 Tbs cashew milk - or almond milk
- 5 drops monkfruit - to taste or 1 teaspoon powdered coconut sugar for non low-carb
- tiny pinch of salt
Instructions
To make the cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients (almond flour, spices, monkfruit, and salt)
- In a small glass measuring cup or bowl, melt coconut oil. Stir in syrup and molasses.
- Pour wet mixture over dry and mix well into a dough. Let dough rest for 2 minutes. If your dough is too dry, add a tiny splash of water. Too sticky? Add a dash of almond flour. Taste and adjust if needed (more sweetener or spices)
- Place dough on the parchment-lined tray and cover with another large piece of parchment. With a rolling pin, roll dough thinly. Cut into mini or regular size gingerbread men (or any shape you like!)
- Remove and re-roll excess dough and cut out shapes until dough is used up. (Wipe cutters in between if it sticks)
- Place cookies on the baking sheet. Bake for 8-9 minutes for small size, or add 1-2 extra minutes for larger size cookies (*group and bake sizes separately so the small sizes don't burn). See notes.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting:
- Melt coconut butter by placing jar/packet in a bowl of warm water until liquified (this may take about 10 minutes. Never microwave)
- In a small bowl, mix together melted coconut butter and remaining ingredients. Taste and adjust for sweetness.
- Transfer frosting to a zip-top bag, snip off the top and pipe on gingerbread faces, buttons and outlines, if you like. ENJOY 🙂
Notes
- The thinner you roll your dough, the faster the cookies will cook.
- If you want thicker, chewy cookies, don't roll them as thick (this makes about 15-20 small cookies)
- If you want crunchy cookies, roll them thin and bake them an extra minute or so.
- If you want softer cookies, replace the oil in the recipe with water and reduce the baking time by one minute or so.
Approximate Macros for Icing based on 30 servings
- Calories 8
- Fat 0.8 g
- Total Carb 0.3 g
- Fiber 0.2 g
- Sugar Alcohol 0 g
- Net Carbs 0.09 g
- Protein 0.1 g
Beki Sciacca
Hi, I would love to try these! One question, I don't have buttery coconut oil. Can I replace that with butter? Or plain coconut oil plus a little extra salt? Thank you!
Emily
Yes, butter should work fine. You can use any melted oil you like. Refined coconut oil is a great sub (so there's no coconut flavor coming through) and you can even add a splash of butter extract. Let me know if you try them 🙂
Jessica
I just made this recipe with my boys after reading "The Gingerbread Man" story. We made one giant gingerbread man and he turned out great! The boys had a hard time letting the dough get to the oven...our man kept losing limbs before he was cooked. Haha!
Emily
Haha that’s awesome!!
I agree the dough is hard to resist 😉
Deb
Can I use coconut oil
Deb
I meant coconut flour.
Emily
Unfortunately, coconut flour won't work. It's extremely dry and would not taste good. I'm sorry. But I'm glad you asked before trying and ruining the whole batch 🙂
Deb
Thank you. Me too. Lol.
Karin Rylander
Why do you prefer monkfruit over stevia?
Emily
I made the switch to monkfruit a little over a year ago simply from tasting it for the first time. The flavor profile is closer to regular sugar and it doesn't have the aftertaste that stevia can have. I also like that monkfruit comes in more forms, such as maple flavored syrup, granulated sweetener and golden (brown sugar), as well as the drops and pure extract -- so that opens up more possibilities with baking and creating recipes 🙂 I do still use stevia myself sometimes, like in homemade ice cream, these caramels, sweet tea and iced coffee. But once you try monkfruit, you fall in love! It's so good!
Karin Rylander
Thanks 🙂
Jill
Can I use a 1:1 ratio flour substitute for the almond flour? I can’t have almonds and I want to try your recipes so bad but sadly I can’t. I don’t want to have to buy another nut/seed flour if I don’t have to. Thank You!
Emily
It 1:1 GF flour may work here with a little tweaking, like perhaps a bit more oil? Almonds have a higher fat content than grain-based flours, so I would add extra fat to compensate. But I can’t say for sure since I’ve never tried it.
I’d love to hear how it goes if you make it with another flour.
NJ Taylor
When will your recipe card have the metric choice?
Will it be in metric weights?
Emily
Oh I thought it had been added, but it appears not! I'll see if I can get it fixed asap. I've been in the hospital so I'm a bit behind.
Lis
Hi, I just made these cookies. My ones are very crumbly. What can I add to make them less crumbly so I can easily hold them without them braking in my hands?
Emily
Rolling them thicker should help.