Keto Grinch Christmas Cookies

Keto Grinch Christmas Cookies

“It came without ribbons, it came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags.”

Ahh, the Grinch one of those classic Christmas movies you have to re-watch every year (among others..ELF I'm looking at you).

It's this time of year when I'm normally starting to play Christmas music obnoxiously loud while baking multiple recipes in the kitchen and thinking of what gifts I'm going to get for all of my friends and family.

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Like This Recipe? I now have a Keto Christmas Desserts Recipe Ebook available for purchase that includes over 50 of my best Christmas recipes along with sauces, frostings, glazes and more!

This is the first year I actually have my own house (Just closed on it last week, YAY!) so you best believe I'm going to be decorating…

Even though I don't move in until Dec.15th, haha. I already have my plans for a cute little mini Christmas tree and some decor over the old fireplace. Maybe even some stockings.

My Mom has always gone all-out for Christmas every year.

Every Christmas morning we'd wake up to Christmas music playing, the tree all lit up, bowls full of little candies, cinnamon rolls in the oven, stockings stuffed until they were bursting and a tree packed with gifts (and very creatively I might add).

My Mom has always made us run around the house following clues to our bigger gifts where we'd have to open box after box after box just to get to them. It always made Christmas morning more entertaining.

So anyways, what I'm saying is, my Christmas was always pretty epic and I'm grateful for that. But these cookies today are inspired by one of my favourite quotes from the Grinch movie”

“Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store, maybe in-fact Christmas means a little bit more.”

This is what we all come to learn over the years. Especially with the events going on right now in 2020, more than anything I think we've all learned spending time with family and friends is invaluable and we could all use some social interaction.

“Even if we're horribly mangled, they'll be no sad faces this year”.

So without further ado, here are some delicious Grinch-inspired keto cookies I made specifically to brighten your spirit.

The dough for this Keto Grinch Cookie Recipe is actually based off of one of my original Keto Shortbread Cookie Recipes and then is altered slightly by adding an egg and a touch more xanthan gum to make these extra soft, perfectly round cookies.

This really is the only difference between shortbread cookies and sugar cookies in general!

This sugar cookie dough uses some common keto ingredients including ; almond flour, coconut flour and xanthan gum.

The Almond flour provides our base for the cookies and gives them sub substance and richness with its higher fat content while coconut flour helps the dough to be more absorbent of liquid and slightly lighter than if we were to use almond flour alone.

The xanthan gum is used to bind all of the ingredients together and provide a small amount of elasticity as gluten would in regular sugar cookie recipes. This helps the cookies to not be crumbly and to have a smoother overall texture.

Another ingredient this recipe contains that's slightly less common in keto baking (but my absolute FAVOURITE) is arrowroot starch.

Arrowroot starch is used in these Keto Christmas Grinch Cookies to provide a lightness and almost melt-in-your-mouth quality to the dough.

Cornstarch is often found in traditional melt-away shortbread cookies and is also a great substitute for arrowroot starch if you don't have it. We use a small amount in our recipe to keep the cookies low carb.

In terms of sweetener in these Keto Grinch Sugar Cookies, I used my favourite powdered monkfruit/erythritol blend from Lakanto. They recently changed the packaging on this and it now says “2x as sweet as sugar” when originally it said 1:1.

I'm not sure if they changed their blend or just re-named it because I always found it sweetener than sugar initially anyways so just be careful when adding this, maybe start with less and see if they need more.

(3/4 cup is generally a perfect amount for any sweetener though. You can use granulated monkfruit/erythritol sweetener or any other sweetener you prefer).

Ingredients In Keto Grinch Christmas Cookies

Almond Flour
Coconut Flour
Arrowroot Starch
Xanthan Gum
Powdered Monkfruit/Erythritol Sweetener
Vanilla Extract
Almond Extract
Gel Food Colouring

Tools I Used To Make Keto Grinch Sugar Cookies

Spatula
Cookie Sheets
Parchment Paper
Mixing Bowls
Hand Mixer
Low Carb Substitution Guide – This is totally optional but if you like my recipes, I now have a $5 guide available with all of the substitutions I use to create every recipe on my site. You can use this to convert old traditional recipes and create new keto recipes! You can purchase it here and/or read more if you are interested. I appreciate your support so much guys!
Nutritional Food Scale – AKA my best friend. This little buddy has been with me for over 4 years and never fails. Perfect measurements and only needs the batteries replaced maybe once a year!
Like This Recipe? I now have a Keto Christmas Desserts Recipe Ebook available for purchase that includes over 50 of my best Christmas recipes along with sauces, frostings, glazes and more!

Tips For Making Keto Grinch Christmas Cookies

I recommend using gel food colouring rather than liquid for this recipe as it's more potent and won't water down your cookies! If you don't have green, you can use some yellow with just a hint of blue until your reach your desired colour.
For the royal icing, toothpicks can be useful! I use them to help spread the icing in the center of the hearts.
If you don't have xanthan gum, you can still make these cookies. Just know that they may be a tad bit more crumbly. You can add 1/8th tsp ground psyllium husks as a substitute.
If you don't have arrowroot starch, you can substitute cornstarch OR if you don't have either, just an extra tablespoon of almond flour.
These cookies will come out very soft but will firm up slightly as the cool so just be sure to let them cool enough before transferring them to a plate or wire rack afterwards.

How To Store Keto Grinch Sugar Cookies

Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days OR freeze for a future snack by layering in an airtight container between pieces of wax paper.

Keto Grinch Christmas Cookies Recipe

Serves: 20 cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies

3/4 cup salted butter softened, 180g
3/4 cup powdered monkfruit/erythritol sweetener 144g
1 egg, room temperature
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp peppermint extract or almond extract (optional)
1 1/2 cups almond flour 168g
1/2 cup coconut flour 56g
1 tbsp arrowroot starch 8g (or cornstarch is OK if you don't have it)
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt (1/4 tsp if using unsalted butter)
green gel food colouring (or yellow & a touch of blue gel food colouring)

Icing:

3 tbsp powdered monkfruit/erythritol sweetener
1/4 tsp meringue powder
2 tsp – 1 1/2 tbsp water as needed
red gel food colouring

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350*F.
In a large bowl, beat together your butter and sweetener until light and fluffy. Add your egg and extracts and beat once more until combined.
Add the green food colouring a tiny amount at a time and beat it into the batter until you like the colour.
In another bowl, whisk together all of your dry ingredients including; almond flour, coconut flour, arrowroot starch, xanthan gum and salt.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and stir well until the dough becomes thick and everything is incorporated together.
Grease a cookie sheet then begin rolling balls of dough and placing them on the baking sheet, spaced evenly apart.
Flatten each cookie slightly (see photo) then bake for 9-11min. The cookies will be soft when they first come out but the bottoms should be lightly browned. They will continue to firm up as they cool. Once the cookies have fully cooled, you can transfer them to another tray or plate and make the frosting.
For the frosting, just mix the first 3 frosting ingredients in a small bowl until thick (it should be thick enough to pipe so make sure not to add too much water) then add the red gel food colouring as well.
Place the frosting in a small ziplock bag and cut off a very small corner (or put it in a piping bag with a fine tip) and pipe small hearts on the cookies. You can fill them in or just pipe the outside of the hearts.
Let the frosting harden on the cookies before serving. Enjoy your Keto Grinch Christmas Cookies!

Nutrition for 1/20th of recipe(1 cookie): 129 calories | 12.3g fat | 1.2 NET carbs | 2.5g protein | 1.9g fiber

Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days OR freeze for a future snack by layering in an airtight container between pieces of wax paper.

Like This Recipe? I now have a Keto Christmas Desserts Recipe Ebook available for purchase that includes over 50 of my best Christmas recipes along with sauces, frostings, glazes and more!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Keto Grinch Christmas Cookies

Prep Time25

Cook Time10

Total Time35

Keyword: Keto Christmas, keto christmas cookies, keto grinch cookies, keto holiday

Servings: sugar cookies

Calories: 129kcal

Ingredients

Cookies

3/4 cup salted butter softened 180g
3/4 cup powdered monkfruit/erythritol sweetener 144g
1 egg room temperature
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp peppermint extract or almond extract (optional)
1 1/2 cups almond flour 168g
1/2 cup coconut flour 56g
1 tbsp arrowroot starch 8g or cornstarch is OK if you don't have it
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt 1/4 tsp if using unsalted butter
green gel food colouring or yellow & a touch of blue gel food colouring

Icing

3 tbsp powdered monkfruit/erythritol sweetener
1/4 tsp meringue powder
2 tsp - 1 1/2 tbsp water as needed
red gel food colouring

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350*F.
In a large bowl, beat together your butter and sweetener until light and fluffy. Add your egg and extracts and beat once more until combined.
Add the green food colouring a tiny amount at a time and beat it into the batter until you like the colour.
In another bowl, whisk together all of your dry ingredients including; almond flour, coconut flour, arrowroot starch, xanthan gum and salt.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and stir well until the dough becomes thick and everything is incorporated together.
Grease a cookie sheet then begin rolling balls of dough and placing them on the baking sheet, spaced evenly apart.
Flatten each cookie slightly (see photo) then bake for 9-11min. The cookies will be soft when they first come out but the bottoms should be lightly browned. They will continue to firm up as they cool. Once the cookies have fully cooled, you can transfer them to another tray or plate and make the frosting.
For the frosting, just mix the first 3 frosting ingredients in a small bowl until thick (it should be thick enough to pipe so make sure not to add too much water) then add the red gel food colouring as well.
Place the frosting in a small ziplock bag and cut off a very small corner (or put it in a piping bag with a fine tip) and pipe small hearts on the cookies. You can fill them in or just pipe the outside of the hearts.
Let the frosting harden on the cookies before serving. Enjoy your Keto Grinch Christmas Cookies!

Notes

Tips

I recommend using gel food colouring rather than liquid for this recipe as it's more potent and won't water down your cookies! If you don't have green, you can use some yellow with just a hint of blue until your reach your desired colour.
For the royal icing, toothpicks can be useful! I use them to help spread the icing in the center of the hearts.
If you don't have xanthan gum, you can still make these cookies. Just know that they may be a tad bit more crumbly. You can add 1/8th tsp ground psyllium husks as a substitute.
If you don't have arrowroot starch, you can substitute cornstarch OR if you don't have either, just an extra tablespoon of almond flour.
These cookies will come out very soft but will firm up slightly as the cool so just be sure to let them cool enough before transferring them to a plate or wire rack afterwards.