Chewy, lightly crisp and customizable to your taste buds! These gluten free and keto chocolate chip cookies are utterly amazing at just 1.5g net carbs a pop (i.e. the ideal low carb dessert!).
Note: the recipe was first published on December 2nd, 2017 and has since been updated with more deets ‘n tricks.
Gluten Free & Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies
Bakery Style: Crisp & Chewy!
I must start off by saying that these keto chocolate chip cookies are top 5 of my favorite desserts… of all time! And if you consider the amount of baking that goes into a food blog, that’s saying a lot.
The taste is ridiculously good and the texture legit ‘cookie style‘! I’m talking soft centers and lightly crisp edges, with just the right amount of chew.
And at 1.5g net carbs, let’s just say I’m fairly in love with the macros!
Plus, you can also whip up a batch, freeze the shaped dough for up to 3 months, and bake straight from the freezer on a rainy day. 🌧
How To Make Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies
But what exactly do I mean by the perfect keto cookies? After all, cookies vary a lot. Some are crunchy all over, others are cake-y, melt-in-your-mouth, crumbly, chewy, round, flat, spreadable… i.e. you’ve got options!
And let’s be honest, it seems that even though deceptively simple… it’s kinda hard to get keto cookies right (particularly the crisp ones!).
Standard cookie rules are aggravated in sugar free cookies due to the vast difference in ingredients from brand to brand.
So throughout the post you’ll find a few rules to help you get the cookies you want. Be it crispier, chewier, cakier… you name it!
But let’s get started with some hard-fast tips that apply to all cookies, be them keto or not!
- Cream the butter until light and fluffy. This is a big thing in cookies guys (i.e. the golden rule!) , and there’s no workaround! For best texture you want to cream your butter and the sweetener with your mixer for roughly 10 minutes, scrapping the bowl 2-3 times to ensure no uneven streaks remain.
- Dairy free? Not gonna like, this is a tricky one (particularly for the crisp cookies!). Shortening (i.e. lard!) is probably the closest sub to butter out there… but you’ll have to cut the amount of butter by 20% as it’s a pure fat. Also do keep in mind that you don’t get that butter taste (which is why even recipes with lard still throw in some butter).
- Cakier vs Crispier. You can play around with the texture without altering the recipe itself. For instance, if you want them crispier be sure to pre-flatten your cookies quite a bit prior to baking, use parchment paper and even have the cookie dough more at room temp than ultra chilled.
- And for cakier cookies you’ll want to do the opposite (ultra chilled, no pre-flattening). Note: convection ovens also lead to cakier cookies overall and sweeteners also play an important role (see section below!).
Whatever you decide. just don’t forget a light sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top, it’ll cut through the chocolate and sweetness beautifully.
Oh, and did I mention you can whip up a double chocolate version of these guys too?!
The Flours
I like a mixture of super fine almond flour (love Anthony’s) and coconut flour (again Anthony’s best taste and texture by a mile!) and (a very small touch) of konjac powder (i.e. glucomannan) for best crumb and bite. Add a touch of xanthan gum, and we’re golden.
What is konjac powder (i.e. glucomannan)? Short answer, it’s a great substitute to cornstarch for both thickening up sauces and gravy. And it also lends a nice chew and crunch to keto cookies, which you simply don’t get from either almond or coconut flour.
p.s konjac is stuff your miracle noodles (shirataki) are made out of!
Can I sub out the konjac? Yes, you can do arrowroot (closest) or even just more coconut flour. The taste was just as good with all three.
The Sweetener
Perhaps surprisingly, getting the sweetener right for these keto chocolate chip cookies is even more important than the flours. And this recipe works best with erythritol sweeteners, without a doubt.
Not only are they roughly 1-to-1 in sweetness to sugar (and the volume is important here), but they lend a very similar crunch and chew. No other sweetener did that.
My current favorite for these keto chocolate chip cookies? Lakanto’s golden (tastes and smells sooo good!).
So for crisp cookies use an erythritol sweetener for sure, as it’s the only one that will crisp up properly. And for even extra crispness you can place your tray in the upper part of your oven and increase the temperature by 10 degrees (the extra heat will spread them faster = crispier cookies!). Do note that erythritol can take up to a couple hours to crisp up completely.
And for soft and cakey cookies, adding some xylitol to the mix (think 3 parts erythritol: 2 parts xylitol) can really help a bunch. Other than that just don’t pre-flatten the cookie dough as much, you can bake on parchment or a baking mat, and be sure to place your rack in the middle oven. And, for extra extra cakey-ness you can even decrease the amount of butter by 10-20g.
Note: convection ovens also lead to cakier cookies overall!
Just keep in mind that cookies made with xylitol or allulose will stay soft and cakey (and need to be placed in the freezer once cool to speed up the setting process!).
How sweet?! In case you haven’t noticed, keto palates in regards to sweetness are all over the place (I feel mine fluctuates constantly still!). So I’m giving you guys a range of 110-140g (7-9TBS) of sweetener… which is already less than the average 200g in your usual cookies!
I also like to add a (optional!) teaspoon of blackstrap molasses for that extra brown sugar kick. 1 teaspoon (7g) adds 5g net carbs to the entire batch (just 0.3g net a cookie!). But carbs aside, blackstrap molasses is a nutritional powerhouse rich in vital vitamins and minerals, such as iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6, and selenium. But feel free to leave it out, just expect paler cookies!
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
The Keto Chocolate Chips (or Chunks!)
Call me weird, but I don’t like chocolate chips in my chocolate chip cookies. What I like, is an actual chocolate bar broken up into bits. You see, chocolate chips were designed to not melt completely, and I’m all about those chocolate bits melting throughout the cookies. And the darker the chocolate, the more it will melt through!
So I suggest simply breaking up a chocolate bar into bits. Don’t chop it up with a knife, or you’ll end up with powder and flakes which will make your cookies cloudy.
But in the end, just use whatever your taste buds desire (and Lily’s does make awesome sugar free chocolate chips too!).
Looking for more keto cookies?! Don’t miss out on our legit snickerdoodles, (actually crisp!) oreos, and incredible toasted-almond shortbread (or double chocolate!).
(1.5g net carb!) Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oh, and if baking with cups rather than grams is your thing, just click on US Cups for an instant conversion.
Ingredients
- 120 g almond flour
- 16 g coconut flour
- 1 tablespoon konjac powder (i.e. glucomannan) arrowroot powder or more coconut flour*
- 1/2-1 teaspoon kosher salt **use the larger amount for a 'salted' version!
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 150 g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 110-144 g golden erythritol to taste (I use 7 TBS)
- 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses totally optional!***
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 85-120 g Lily's Sweets dark chocolate bar or chocolate chips!
- 70 g pecans roughly chopped
- flaky sea salt to garnish
Instructions
- Please see video for reference, tips and tricks! It's for the double chocolate version, but same difference (just has added cocoa and adjusted ratios!).
- Add almond flour, coconut flour, konjac powder (or arrowroot/more coconut flour), salt, baking soda and xanthan gum to a medium bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined and set aside.
- Cream butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until softened, 1-2 minutes. Add in sweetener and molasses (optional), and continue to cream until light and fluffy (about 8 minutes).
- Add in vanilla extract and egg, mixing until just incorporated. The mixture will appear slightly 'broken' (i.e. not thoroughly smooth). With your mixer on low, add in half of your flour mixture- mixing until just incorporated. Mix in the rest.
- Fold in chocolate and pecan bits. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper (if you use a silpat baking mat they won't spread much, if at all).
- Divide cookie dough into 18 rounds for 3 1/2-inch cookies (or 12 for jumbo style!), and flatten them slightly. The cookies will spread somewhat during baking, but you still need to pre-shape them (i.e. the more you pre-flatten them the more they'll spread = crispier cookies, so if you like them cakier just don't flatten them too much!).
- Place cookie dough on the prepared baking tray. Bake for 9-10 minutes for smaller cookies and 12-13 minutes for the jumbo, turning the tray around 180° half way through.
- Garnish with flaky sea salt and allow the cookies to cool completely on the trays (sugar alcohols can take a few hours to crisp up, so don't despair!). Store in an airtight container for three to four days and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Note that the shaped dough can be frozen for up to 3 months, and they can be baked straight from the freezer (adding 2-3 minutes more to the baking time).
Video
Notes
Nutrition
and some food (for thought) 👁️
a newsletter about functional food to nourish, create and evolve.
(p.s. we don’t talk about fight club 🪄 )
xo! Paola
These, hands down, are the best keto cc cookies ever!!! I’ve tried planets of them and the consistency is always grainy, too crispy, not chewy, etc etc! But these! Oh my! I always READ EVERYTHING – including all comments before starting a recipe ON HERE because it’s alwahs full of ADVICE and has your question most likely already answered…
If you follow the recipe to a “T” , you should get very similar results. Mine aren’t as marbled with chocolate and since I used Lilly’s baking chocolate bar they didn’t melt all the way (I think you have to use even darker chocolate for that), they still came out amazing! I used both molasses and Lakanto golden.
The only MINOR annoyance is that I think My taste buds have become more sensitive to the cooking effect so I’ll try what one reader suggested- using inulin. BUT a quick 5 second nuke in the microwave gets rid of the cooling sensation for me anyway…
THANK YOU for such a great recipe and always taking time to explain things as well!!
Wonderful! I used arrowroot flour and a 7-tbsp erythritol/xylitol powdered mix, because I’m pretty sensitive to the cooling effect, plus 1 tsp Truvia. Costco almond flour and everything else was Bulk Barn. The cookies remind me of a whole wheat version I made years ago. I used to cook & bake a LOT, so this review isn’t from a newbie in the kitchen. I’ve been keto for 2 years since being diagnosed as type 2 and this is the best cookie recipe yet! I had begun to wonder if any of these people even remembered what regular cookies are like!
A few clarifications for seasoned bakers: it is not cakey unless undercooked and eating immediately (she says multiple times to WAIT), it doesn’t taste like coconut (16 people at work said they could taste no coconut, including 2 people that hate it), and press them out well! My 12 cookies were 3″ even before baking and 5″ after to give you an idea. This stops the centres from being too thick and not baking. I also ended up turning my oven down to 325 for an extra 5min to bake the centres more but that could be my oven.
Thanks Paola! This one has gone into my ‘keeper’ recipe book!
I’ve come to the conclusion that I just don’t like coconut. Even in this small amount, I am tasting the coconut flour and it’s ruining an otherwise great cookie for me.
Has anyone come up with an alternative to the 16g of coconut flour? Thanks!
These cookies were the best. I did not have Xanthan gum nor blackstrap molasses and did not include pecans due to my son-laws allergy. Excellent just excellent. I raised the temperature by 10 degrees because I prefer my cookies crisper and left them on the counter to completely cool. My fiancee and I each had one and I had to hid the rest. Thank you for a most detailed recipe and looking to try many more.
I have made these cookies twice according to the recipe except leaving out the xanthan gum and replacing it with grass-fed gelatin (2 tsp). They look just like Paola’s photos and taste great. I always use weights (grams) when I bake and am wondering if those who got poor results did not weigh ingredients. I use Lakanto Golden as my sweetener and Honeyville or Wellbee’s blanched almond flour plus 1 Tbsp arrowroot.
For the chocolate, I used a mixture of Lilly’s dark chocolate chips and chopped 50% cocoa Choc Zero bars. I scoop them out after several hours in the fridge and flatten them slightly before baking. I top with Maldon sea salt flakes prior to baking.
I was thinking of subbing with the gelatin as well. Looking for that crispy but chewy center texture. What differences did you notice with the substitution?
Thanks!
Milena
My cookies turned out crispy at the edges and chewy in the middle. I also used an extra tablespoon of coconut flour instead of konjac powder.
Thanks so much!
Forgot to add that creaming the butter and erythritol (I use Lakanto Golden) for 10 minutes in an electric mixer seems excessive. I only cream them until they are well incorporated and fluffy, no more than 2-3 minutes.
10 mins makes a diff trust me 😉
I followed this recipe to the letter three times (just in case I messed up) but they never turn out anything like the picture. The first time it was way too cakey and salty. The 2nd time I cut back on the salt and molasses and left out the egg – came out crispy and tasted better but still nothing like the picture. 3 time left out some salt and put the egg back in – came out way to cakey again!
Not sure what I’m doing wrong here – using all the ingredients as listed – no substitutions but leaving out the egg seems to make it crispy.
The most important question Karim- what sweetener are you using (can happen with some erythritol sweeteners such as swerve)? Also pls don’t take this the wrong way, but it sounds like the 2nd and 3rd time you didn’t quite make the recipe but just tried your own thing 😉
How much (or little) are you flattening them out? Maybe it’s not quite enough. For me, they come out exactly like a homemade Toll House recipe (soft and chewy), but that’s exactly how I prefer them! I only flatten just a little. I don’t salt at the end nor do I use molasses.
These are amazing, I was really struggling with needing a carb snack, well!!!
I have to say mine over spilled slightly and the edges burnt, but I feel this is more trial and error on the size I make them before they go in, but TASTE wow ! Very well done !
Can Brown Swerve be Used instead of Lakanto? Thank You!!
Awesome… mixed it all in kitchen aid mixer. Worked great.. (easier to do butter that way). Anyway was cooking and something didn’t look right…. oh.. crud forgot to flatten.. pulled out and flattened with wooden spoon.. put back and they turned out AWESOME. Love your recipes!! Keep up good work
Seriously Great Cookies!!!!💕💕💕
Worth the work (14 ingredients)!!!
Best homemade keto cookies so far,
after 6 mos on keto. I am amazed that
I have lost 37 lbs so far, while eating dessert, in moderation, every day.
I have a major sweet tooth, so Thank You
Thank You, Thank You!!!!
These cookies are delicious! I used a 100% cacao bar for the chocolate. I’ve learned recently that I don’t tolerate dairy well. Is it possible to sub the butter for coconut oil, butter-flavored coconut oil, shortening, or some other oil/fat?
Seriously amazing cookies. I usually don’t have very much luck with low carb cookies being the way that I want them to be, so I just make regular cookies. But these worked out so great! Over the past holiday I tried a lot of low carb cookies and the biggest thing I learned: Don’t use xylitol! They never crisp up, no matter how long they sit. It needs to be erythritol. I used a 90% chocolate bar for these and chopped it up. Most people would probably like them sweeter, but I used the minimum amount and it turned out great! Definitely a keeper. Thanks for another great recipe 🙂
I was wondering if you have ever experimented with grass-fed gelatin in place of xanthan gum? I am going to try these with gelatin. From my research, I see that it should be a 2-1 ratio, ie, 2 tsp gelatin to 1 tsp xanthan gum. Will report back with results.
Hi Alex! Gelatin won’t replace xantham gum (which replaces gluten), but it can potentially make them chewier (depends on who you ask 😉 !) xo
I have been doing Keto for almost a year now and LOVE all you recipes!! You keep me going!! 🙂 My husband has decided to join me but he is allergic to almonds and most other nuts! I want to make him all your yummy cookies and garlic knots & cheese biscuits (he loves bread). How can I do these with coconut flour?
I’m so disappointed and hoping someone can help… I made these last night & followed the recipe exactly. I used Lakanto sugar. But the cookies didn’t turn out anything like the picture — they’re cakey — almost shortbready. Any ideas?
I followed the recipe exactly except that I didn’t have konjac powder so I added more coconut flour. Mine turned out really crumbly, sort of like a short bread cookie. I’m not sure what I did wrong.
Possibly baked too long Dora
I baked them for 10 min and they were barely golden brown at the bottom. Could it be because I used splenda?
Oh yeah def!
These. Are. Perfect.
I am food prepping for when the baby is due. Can I make a big batch of dough and put it in the deep freezer? If yes, how long can it stay in the deep freezer?
Congrats on the baby Vanellope! Generally cookies keep well frozen for roughly 3 months xo!
Hi! Loved this recipe and it tastes amazing. However, my cookies never got the crispy. I used sukrin gold and classic lakanto because that was all I had. Not sure why they never crisped up.
I have made these cookies SEVERAL times now, and they are just perfect! I don’t know what you know about homemade Toll House cookies, but these are a PERFECT replacement!
With the last batch, I used half pecans, half walnuts (because I didn’t have enough pecans for my liking). Well, I ended up with a bite of plain cookie and a walnut (no chocolate) and had a thought that this recipe might make an amazing banana nut cookie! I subbed the vanilla extract for 1.5 teaspoons of banana extract and used about 190g of walnuts instead of chocolate chips and pecans. I left everything else the same. So here I am… waiting for the dough to sit in the fridge for an hour. The dough, though, tasted SOOOO good!! I literally can’t wait to get some cookies in the oven!
OMGEEE that sounds epic Sara! I just discovered banana extract a few weeks ago (and I used to make banana cookies all the time pre-keto!) can’t wait to try your suggestions!! xo!
It worked! Oh my goodness — they turned out so tasty! I ran some of the cookies over to my mom earlier, and her picky self even approved! Definitely give them a try, and please let me know what you think!
You honestly got me so excited 😂
Hi, I am dying to get off work and go make these. I was wondering if the regular Lakanto sweetner will work or Sukrin gold? Those are the ones I have at home. Don’t have Lakanto golden.
THey’ll both work (just expect a lighter color on your cookies with regular Lakanto if you don’t add the touch of molasses) xo!
Hi Paola, made these cookies and everyone loved them! I do love most of your recipes. I do however am so confused about your nutritional value. When I entered the ingredients into my diet app it calculates 10g of net carbs per cookie. Can you help me understand why there is such a big difference? I have found that this happens with some other your other recipes as well. How do you calculate your nutritional value for your recipes?
Hi Paola,
Is the cookies tastes a bit tingling cool? I’m not sure if perhaps I should grind the erythritol? I used hand mixer 8 mins and it’s still has the granules texture? So I wonder if that’s the case what made it has cool after taste.
I just made this cookies a few days ago and they turned out amazing !!! These are my first keto cookies I whip up and you really can’t tell the difference with the traditional ones . I love them ! I made up the dough and kept in the fridge three days before I baked it , perfect ! Planning on trying out all your recipes 😊
I’m really looking forward to your recipes calling for lupin flour since is a cheap and very accessible flour here in my country !
Greetings from Chile !!
Hey paola my cookies turned out soft and not chewy kinda crumbly and soft with a soggy feel. I used Lakanto‘s and everything in the recipe exactly! Pre flattened them as well. Any idea what i did wrong? I am so dying for crispy cookies!!
How long have you waited for them to cool down? Sugar alcohols can take a few hours xo
i waited over a day! still the same texture…no idea what i messed up on!
Hi! After baking how long can these be stored in the fridge or freezer for?
Bump! 🙂
Tonight, I’m making a double batch of these cookies. That’s how good they are. Thanks Paola!
My pleasure!! 😉
Seriously the best cookies i’ve tried. Sooo good. I didn’t have xanthan so i just used more konjac. Love the nuts and texture and just wow.
Speaking of experimentation relative to above previous posts, the aforementioned ‘cornbread’ dressing I made included 1/4 cup of konjac in place of oat fiber (which could not be found locally for love nor money, and there was no time to order any). There was substantial liquid involved, so I went for it. I can report that it worked beautifully in the recipe and neither I nor anyone else who ate it reported any sort of intestinal disturbance whatsoever. So using it in larger quantities seems perfectly workable.
Hi there! How much xylitol would I use in place of the erythritol? Would it be the same measurements? I like my cookies soft and chewy 🙂
Same amount! Just keep in mind that your cookies will be super fragile for hours (you’ll know what I mean!) xo!
This recipe is the bomb. Even my non keto friends love it. I’ve made it three times. The first time they turned out puffy, the way I love them! I only used 7 tbsp of swerve sweeter as well. I pre balled the dough before refrigerating too. The second time, I put a little extra butter in as it’s hard to measure that exact amount of butter. Lol. I also flattened them a little more. I refrigerated the dough in the mixing bowl. This time I used 9 tbsp of swerve sweeter, but we found them too sweet. They flattened right out in the oven which is not my favorite. The third time, I added 8 tbsp of swerve sweeter, and this was just right! I also pre balled the dough prior to refrigerating. I like them on the smaller side so I did two dozen balls of dough. I baked them for 12 minutes and they turned out amazing and were the best yet! I love this recipe so much and will continue to use it. I also throw in a handful of shredded, unsweetened coconut. I know this changes the macros slightly, but I’m alright with that! The four men I was feeding really indulged in this delicious treat!