KETO CANDY CANE SHORTBREAD COOKIES

I feel like these keto candy cane shortbread cookies don't need much explanation. If you've ever seen a tray of Christmas cookies..at least in my family, these are usually ALWAY in the mix.

I love the look and taste of these cute cookies. These are honestly probably the BEST keto shortbread cookies I've made to date (and let me tell you, I've made a lot). They are a little more tedious to put together but they are so worth the effort! (Although, if you are feeling lazy, these also make a great shortbread base to standard cookies as well!)

Keto Candy Cane Shortbread Cookies

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature(125g)
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp splenda (or another sweetener that measures like sugar)
• 1 rounded tbsp truvia (or another 2 tbsp of sweetener that measures like sugar)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract OR Peppermint Extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp(47g) almond flour
• 1/4 cup + 3 tbsp(40g) coconut flour
• 1/8th tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/8 – 1/4 tsp red food colouring
• 1/2 tsp coconut flour (reserve for red portion of dough)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, beat together your butter, vanilla, almond extract and sweetener until light and fluffy.
2. Add the egg and beat until combined.
3. Next add in your food dry ingredients and stir until combined.
4. Separate the dough into 2 even halves and place in separate bowls. (I made mine into balls and weighed them because I like to be exact, haha).
5. Mix your food colouring along with your reserved 1/2 tsp coconut flour into one half of the dough until you reach your desired colour.
6. Wrap both balls of dough and place them in the fridge for at least an hour.
7. In the meantime, line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Pre-heat your oven to 375*F.
9. Remove the dough from the fridge and on your parchment lined baking sheets, begin rolling pieces into thin strips a little longer then the length you'd like your candy cane cookies to be (I got 12 strips from each the red and white dough totalling 12 cookies in the end…this equalled out to about 1 tbsp of dough per strip).
10. Once you've rolled a piece of red and one piece of white dough into strips, pinch the ends of the dough together and then twist one piece of dough around the other until you reach the end, then pinch the dough again and bend over the top of the twisted dough like a candy cane. (If you find the dough falling apart or tearing at all,  just pinch it back together or press it into the other strip of dough. Alternatively you can also place it back in the fridge for longer to make it slightly easier to work with).
11. Repeat this process until all of your dough is gone.
12. Bake the cookies at 375* for 8-10min or until just lightly browned on the edges.
13. Let them cool completely on the tray before transferring them to a container lined with parchment.
14. Serve the day of baking OR FREEZE until you plan to serve them next.

*Pro-Tip: If you use a gel food colouring like I did.. that likes to get on EVERYTHING. Try rolling all of your white dough first and THEN the red so that you don't transfer the colour as I did in my first few.

Nutrition Facts: 127 calories | 12g of fat | 1g of NET carbs | 2.3g of protein | 2g of fibre