Low-Carb Decorated Gingerbread Cookies

It’s nearly Christmas! In my early days of keto I really struggled with cooking at Christmas. I love to cook and prepare food for my family, or for gifts, and it felt like an impossible task to adapt my favourite recipes to low carb.

Now that I’ve been at it for a while, I know better. Keto Christmas treats are as good, if not better, than those carb-laden ones of old.

These gingerbread cookies are perfectly soft and spiced and so easily decorated. You can cut out the traditional gingerbread men or any shapes you fancy. You can decorate them with your children and they make wonderful gifts. Enjoy!

Tips and Substitutions:

• Sukrin Gold can be switched out for a different low-carb sweetener such as Erythritol, Swerve or Allulose, but really it does help with that beautiful golden colour and rich flavour.
• Yacon syrup (5.6 g net carbs per 2 tsp) can be substituted with blackstrap molasses (8.5 g net carbs per 2 tsp), or omitted, but it really does help with that golden colour and rich flavour.
• If you want to make these cookies 100% dairy-free, replace butter with an equivalent amount of sustainably sourced palm shortening.

Step-by-step

1. Prepare all ingredients. In low-carb baking it's always best to use a kitchen scale for best results.

   

2. Mix all of the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter and add it, along with the eggs, vanilla and yacon syrup to the mixing bowl.

   

3. Beat on low until a soft dough forms. Tip out onto a sheet of cling-wrap and shape into a thick disc. Refrigerate for two hours or overnight.

   

4. Preheat the oven to 170 °C/ 340 °F (fan assisted), or 190 °C/ 375 °F (conventional). Remove dough from fridge and divide into three or four sections.

5. Working on one piece of dough at a time and storing the remainder in the fridge, roll out between two sheets of silicone mat or parchment paper until about ¹/₂ cm (¹/₄ inch) thick. Cut cookies out using your choice of designs. Repeat with remaining dough. Depending on the size, you'll make 30 to 40 cookies. If the dough starts to feel a bit soft and difficult to handle, just pop it back in the fridge for five minutes or so.

6. Bake for between 8 and 12 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. Set on to cooling racks until cool.

   

7. To make the icing, sift the powdered sweetener into a mixing bowl and add the egg white and lemon juice. Mix on low until combined the beat until smooth.

   

8. To test your consistency, do an eight-second test; trace a pattern in the top of the icing with a knife and then count down the seconds until it disappears back into the surface. Eight seconds will give you perfect piping consistency. If you need it thinner, add a very small amount of water at a time.
   Tip: To get the frosted look, I used a shallow plate of xylitol crystals and put the fresh piped cookies face down in the crystals.

   

9. Set aside to harden at room temperature.

   

10. Store in a covered container, for up to a week, or freeze for up to 6 months.

    

Recipe

Low-Carb Decorated Gingerbread Cookies

★★★★★4.6 (53 ratings)

No holiday table will be complete without these gingerbread cookies decorated with sugar-free royal icing! ...

Hands on

30m

Overall

3h

Servings

40

1.8 g

Net carbs

3.4 g

Protein

5.5 g

Fat

70

kcal

1 serving2 servings3 servings4 servings5 servings6 servings7 servings8 servings9 servings10 servings11 servings12 servings20 servings40 servings80 servings120 servings160 servings

US + metricMetricUS

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Ingredients makes 30-40 cookies

• Gingerbread:
• 3 cups almond flour (300 g/ 10.6 oz)
• ¹/₂ cup + 2 tbsp whey or egg white protein powder (60 g/ 2.1 oz)
• ¹/₂ cup Sukrin Gold or Erythritol (80 g/ 2.8 oz)
• 3 tbsp ginger powder
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• ¹/₂ tsp sea salt
• 3 large eggs
• ¹/₂ stick unsalted butter (57 g/ 2 oz)
• 1 tsp sugar-free vanilla extract or ¹/₄ tsp vanilla bean powder
• 2 tsp yacon syrup (10 ml)
• Royal icing:
• 1 large egg white
• 1 ¹/₂ cups Swerve confectioners or powdered Erythritol (240 g/ 8.5 oz)
• ¹/₄ tsp fresh lemon juice

Instructions

1. Prepare all ingredients. In low-carb baking it's always best to use a kitchen scale for best results.

2. Mix all of the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter and add it, along with the eggs, vanilla and yacon syrup to the mixing bowl.

3. Beat on low until a soft dough forms. Tip out onto a sheet of cling-wrap and shape into a thick disc. Refrigerate for two hours or overnight.

4. Preheat the oven to 170 °C/ 340 °F (fan assisted), or 190 °C/ 375 °F (conventional). Remove dough from fridge and divide into three or four sections.

5. Working on one piece of dough at a time and storing the remainder in the fridge, roll out between two sheets of silicone mat or parchment paper until about ¹/₂ cm (¹/₄ inch) thick. Cut cookies out using your choice of designs. Repeat with remaining dough. Depending on the size, you'll make 30 to 40 cookies. If the dough starts to feel a bit soft and difficult to handle, just pop it back in the fridge for five minutes or so.

6. Bake for between 8 and 12 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. Set on to cooling racks until cool.

7. To make the icing, sift the powdered sweetener into a mixing bowl and add the egg white and lemon juice. Mix on low until combined the beat until smooth.

8. To test your consistency, do an eight-second test; trace a pattern in the top of the icing with a knife and then count down the seconds until it disappears back into the surface. Eight seconds will give you perfect piping consistency. If you need it thinner, add a very small amount of water at a time.
   Tip: To get the frosted look, I used a shallow plate of xylitol crystals and put the fresh piped cookies face down in the crystals.

9. Set aside to harden at room temperature.

10. Store in a covered container, for up to a week, or freeze for up to 6 months.

Nutrition per cookie

Carbs 10%Protein 20%Fat 70% of calories

Net carbs

1.8 g

Total carbs

10.4 g

Fiber

1.1 g

Sugars

0.8 g

Protein

3.4 g

Fat

5.5 g

Saturated fat

1.2 g

Calories

70 kcal

Sodium

44 mg · 1.93% RDA

Magnesium

23 mg · 5.75% RDA

Potassium

88 mg · 4.41% EMR

Nutrition by ingredient

Per cookie	Net carbs	Protein	Fat	kcal
Almond flour (blanched ground almonds, almond meal)	0.7 g	1.6 g	3.9 g	44
Whey protein powder (protein isolate, Jay Robb)	0 g	1.2 g	0 g	5
Sukrin Gold, brown sugar substitute	0.2 g	0 g	0 g	0
Ginger (ground, dried), spices	0.3 g	0 g	0 g	2
Cinnamon, spices	0.1 g	0 g	0 g	1
Nutmeg, spices	0 g	0 g	0 g	0
Salt, sea salt	0 g	0 g	0 g	0
Egg, whole, fresh, raw (free-range or organic eggs)	0 g	0.5 g	0.4 g	5
Butter, unsalted, grass-fed	0 g	0 g	1.1 g	10
Vanilla extract, sugar-free, alcohol-based	0 g	0 g	0 g	0
Yacon syrup, natural sweetener	0.1 g	0 g	0 g	1
Egg white, fresh	0 g	0.1 g	0 g	0
Swerve, natural sweetener (Erythritol and chicory inulin based)	0.3 g	0 g	0 g	1
Lemon juice, fresh	0 g	0 g	0 g	0
Total	1.8 g	3.4 g	5.5 g	70

Serving size cookie

• Gluten free
• Nightshade free
• Pork free
• Avocado free
• Coconut free
• Fish free
• Shellfish free
• Beef free
• Pescatarian
• Vegetarian