Guilt-Free Oreos (Keto, Paleo, Vegan)

Real-deal homemade Oreos! Made with healthy ingredients! Deliciously crisp cookies with thick vanilla cream. UNBELIEVABLY sugar-free, gluten/grain-free, & dairy-free! 1.5 carbs each! (Keto, Paleo, Vegan) 

Miss Oreos?

Get ready for the ultimate recipe makeover.  Oreos, unJUNKED!

These homemade “Oreos” taste like the real deal: crisp, buttery chocolate cookies filled with smooth vanilla cream.

My whole family, including my two sugar-loving kids (who aren’t keto or Paleo) said they actually like these BETTER than real Oreos! 

YES, they really do taste like actual Oreo cookies! But they’re so much better FOR you. I still can’t believe they’re gluten/dairy/sugar/egg/and junk-free!

You’ll be surprised how simple and easy it is to make your own healthy – but just like the real deal – Oreos! (I nicknamed them KETOREOS because they’re keto, haha. Do you like it?)

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). 

Healthy Ingredient Swaps!

These copycat “Oreos” are made with wholesome ingredients you can feel good about!

7 Main Ingredients

Ingredient #1. Instead of bleached, white flour, almond flour! The ideal low-carb grain-replacer. It’s neutral flavor makes it perfect for baked goods.

Ingredient #2. Instead of refined, white sugar, monk fruit! My absolute favorite low-carb sweetener! It measures 1:1 with and tastes almost exactly like “real” sugar!

• Don’t forget, you can save 20-25% on monk fruit using my discount codes! See below for details 🙂

MORE HEALTHY STUFF

Ingredient #3. Avocado oil for an unrefined, healthy oil with a neutral taste. I buy mine from Aldi 🙂

Ingredient #4. Flax as a nutrient-rich egg replacer. Ground flaxseed plus water helps bind the dough together. If you’re not egg-free, a real egg should work, too.

Ingredient #5. Coconut flour to help these have a crisp texture. I tried leaving it out, but they were a little to oily.

For REAL Oreo Flavor

Ingredient #6. Dark Cocoa for classic, smooth chocolate flavor.

This cocoa is dutch-processed making it less bitter and a deeper color than raw cacao powder.

This ingredient is KEY to the “Oreo” taste.

If you use raw cacao or regular cocoa, your cookies will not taste or look right. You have been warned, lol.

An Easy Recipe. Really.

These copycat Oreo cookies are easy to make. Seriously. This recipe is simple and easy enough for kids to join in on the baking fun!

It’s a straightforward method of mixing the dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another, and then combining them.

Make a ball of dough and roll it between two pieces of parchment paper so it doesn’t stick.

Cut circles, gather the scraps and repeat.

*If you don’t have a circle cookie cutter, no worries! Get creative and find something else that’s a small circle, like a lid or cup. I used a plastic champagne glass and it was PERFECT.

ps. There’s no need to chill the dough like in conventional recipes (since there’s no butter to worry about melting). It works perfectly as-is! And that’s a major time-saver. 

For a more authentic Oreo look:

1. Roll the dough super thin. Mine came out a little on the thick side. I’ll roll them thinner next time.
2. Also, the bottoms of the cookies are blacker and more shiny than the top. Use that bottom as the outsides of the cookie 🙂
3. If you’re feelin’ fancy, stamp your cookie dough. These cookie stamps I found on Amazon are super cute!

THE CREAM CENTER

The final main ingredient to recreate the classic “Oreo” taste is…

Ingredient #7. Palm shortening for the best tasting dairy-free cream filling!

It’s solid at room temp and softens beautifully to make mouth-watering bakery style frosting (like on my cutout sugar cookies). SO GOOD.

*Be sure to use a sustainable brand. I use this one. I buy it from Target in the baking aisle.

THE CREAM IS ZERO NET CARBS, Y’ALL. And I could just eat it with a spoon it’s so good!

What else can I use?

I know I’ll get questions on a sub for palm oil/shortening. And the answer is: I haven’t found a perfect sub. There are some options, but they’re not ideal.

• Solid, refined coconut oil is a possibility, but it will have a more oily taste.
• If you can have dairy, softened butter will work ok.
• Coconut cream would be too light (it’s more like whipped cream). But you can try it if you want! Maybe thicken with tapioca starch?
• Cashew cream is a possibility, but the flavor will be different than “real” Oreo cream.

How to Make Cream Filling

I used my stand mixer to soften the palm shortening. It literally only takes 10 seconds! If you don’t have a stand mixer, a hand mixer should work, too.

Add in powdered monkfruit*, vanilla and a dash of salt and it’s ready in less than 5 minutes.

*See the notes for how to make your own homemade powdered sweetener. Super EASY and also takes 10 seconds. 

For Mess-Free Frosting

A little trick is to place the frosting in a baggie (a sandwich size works here) so it doesn’t get everywhere when you’re trying to frost the cookies.

It makes a perfect, clean frosted center. Just pipe a dollop into the center and squish it down with the other cookie on top. The squishing is FUN, haha.

How to Make & Use a Pastry Bag:

1. Grab a small (like really small) bowl and place a ziplock bag inside and open it as much as you can.
2. Fold over the sides of the baggie and use a spatula to scoop in all the frosting.
3. Squeeze the frosting into the bottom corner of the bag and squeeze out the air on top. Make sure it’s sealed tightly. Twist the bag so the frosting doesn’t creep up.
4. Snip off the corner of the bag (about 3/4″ opening)
5. Squeeze the bag to pipe on the frosting. I used a big dollop, about a heaping Tbs on each Oreo.

Your frosting/cream will stay fresh in this bag for a LONG time because palm shortening is shelf stable.

You can even refrigerate it or freeze it for even longer storage. Just bring back to room temp to use it again.

For FIRM (no-squish) Filling

If you keep these cookies refrigerated, the filling stays firm and doesn’t squeeze out when you take a bite.

All you have to do is set them out for maybe 20-30 minutes before you’re ready to eat them.

The cream will stay firm, the cookies will be super crisp and fresh (and not too hard).

Technically, these cookies are safe to leave at room temp, but for optimal taste experience, I would keep them in the fridge (especially during the hot summer months.)

Keto Cookies & Cream Ice Cream?!

Wanna take this recipe NEXT LEVEL? Turn it into ice cream! YASSS.

Use my 4-ingredient Dairy-Free Keto Ice Cream recipe and blend in 1 or 2 Oreos directly into the base.

Then crush up 1 or 2 more Oreos and add them at the end of churning or after you transfer it to a container to freeze.

I CAN NOT WAIT TO TRY THAT.

If you make these Oreos, be sure to tag me on Instagram @emily.likes.food #prettypies so I can see!