Low Carb Christmas Cookies
Low carb Christmas cookies don't have to be plain: these almond flour thumbprints hold a spoonful of ruby chia raspberry jam and come in at just 1 g net carb each.
Every December I tuck a tin of low carb Christmas cookies somewhere in the kitchen, and these are the ones I fill it with first. They’re soft almond flour thumbprints, each with a small dent pressed in the middle and a spoonful of bright raspberry jam set inside, made with no sugar at all. They look like the cookies on every holiday plate, and that’s exactly the point.
Christmas has a way of putting sweets within arm’s reach of everyone. There’s a plate by the door, a tin on the counter, a box someone carries in with a ribbon on it. If you’re watching your carbs, or your blood sugar, that can feel like being left out of a party you’re hosting. I’d rather you had a cookie of your own to pick up.
So I made one that holds its own on the same platter. A thumbprint cookie is a good place to start, because the jam in the middle does half the work. A red center on a pale golden cookie says Christmas before anyone has taken a bite.
What a thumbprint cookie is, and why it works for the holidays
A thumbprint cookie is about as simple as a cookie gets: you roll a ball of dough, press your thumb into the top, and fill the dent with something sweet, usually jam. That’s the whole idea. It’s a cookie-tin classic, and it’s one of the first things a child can help with, because there’s nothing to cut out or frost. A thumb and a spoon are the only tools.
That simplicity is what makes it a good cookie for a busy month. You can make the dough ahead, roll the balls while someone talks to you from the next room, and have a full tray in the oven in less time than it takes to frost a single sugar cookie. And the red against the pale cookie does the decorating for you.
How these became low carb Christmas cookies
Classic thumbprints lean on wheat flour, granulated sugar and a jam that is mostly sugar. We changed all three. The dough is blanched almond flour, butter and one egg, sweetened lightly with powdered erythritol. It bakes up tender in the middle with golden edges, a little like shortbread, and the almond flour gives it a quiet nutty flavor.
The jam is the part I’m proudest of. Instead of store-bought jam, you simmer a cup of frozen raspberries for a few minutes, mash them, and stir in chia seeds and a little lemon juice. The chia swells as it sits and turns the berries into a thick, spoonable jam in about ten minutes, with no pectin and no sugar. The seeds also add fiber, which helps the carb count.
Each cookie has 115 calories, 3 g of protein, 11 g of fat and 1 g of net carbs. The total carbohydrate on the card is 5 g, because it counts the erythritol, and I want everyone who reads the label to see the real total. For net carbs, we subtract the 2 g of fiber and the 2 g of erythritol from that 5 g.
Two things make the difference between a cookie that holds together and a pile of crumbs. First, chill the dough for 30 minutes so the butter firms up and the balls keep their shape. Second, let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet before you touch them. Almond flour cookies are fragile when they’re warm and firm up as they cool, so be patient.
Please don’t taste the dough while you’re rolling. It has a raw egg in it, and the FDA’s advice is clear that you shouldn’t eat or taste raw dough or batter. The cookies are fully baked once the edges are golden, so save your tasting for the finished ones.
Swaps that work well:
- Use sugar-free store-bought raspberry jam if you don’t have time to make the chia jam.
- Swap powdered allulose for the powdered erythritol, one for one; the cookies brown a little faster, so check them early.
- Try frozen blackberries or strawberries in the jam instead of raspberries.
- Roll the dough balls in finely chopped pecans before pressing the dent.
Making ahead, storing and freezing
The dough keeps in the fridge for up to 2 days, so you can mix it one evening and bake the next. Once baked and cooled, store the cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, since the jam is fresh and the dough has egg and butter. It also helps to start with eggs bought and kept cold; the FDA’s egg guidance says to keep eggs refrigerated and cook foods containing eggs thoroughly. Bring the cookies out about 15 minutes before serving so the butter softens.
To freeze, layer the cooled cookies between sheets of parchment in a container. They’re at their best within 2 to 3 months. Thaw them in the fridge overnight or on the counter for an hour.
If you have a cookie platter to fill, the keto cream cheese cookies are a soft, tender companion that bakes in the same oven.
Questions people ask
Are these low carb Christmas cookie recipes really sugar free?
Yes. The dough is sweetened with powdered erythritol and the jam gets its sweetness from the raspberries, with no sugar, honey or maple syrup anywhere in the recipe.
Can I make sugar free Christmas cookies with almond flour only?
That’s what these are: blanched almond flour, butter, an egg and a sweetener. Use finely ground blanched almond flour, not almond meal, or the dough will be coarse.
Why did my almond flour Christmas cookies fall apart?
Almost always because they were moved while warm. Let them cool completely on the pan, and press the dent gently so the edges don’t crack.
Pour a hot cup of tea, set the tin on the table, and wait for the person who “isn’t hungry” to take a second cookie.
Keto Desserts
Keto Desserts
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