Keto ginger snaps are one of my favourite sweet treats when it's cold outside. They are crispy and buttery with a gorgeous spicy kick. Even better, they are ready in less than 30 minutes. During the Christmas season you can use the recipe to make gingerbread men!
Sugar free ginger snaps are a must make during the cold season! I bake several batches each year, as soon as the weather turns.
My recipe is:
- Super crispy - with that perfect snap
- Easy - suitable for beginners
- Quick - ready in 23 minutes
- Gluten-free - not a grain in sight
- Keto-friendly - only 0.7g net carbs per cookie
- Stores well and is suitable for freezing
Did you know that the name refers to the snapping sound the cookie makes when broken in half or bitten into? Ginger snaps are a derivation of gingerbread and they've been around for hundreds of years. Basically, it's gingerbread that's been rolled out extra thin and left in the oven a little longer to brown.
Ingredients
- Almond flour. This is what we use instead of wheat flour. I'm using ground almonds, which is the same as regular almond flour in the US. If you have super-fine almond flour, reduce the amount by 1-2 tablespoons.
- Granulated erythritol. It is possible to use regular (white) granulated erythritol in this recipe. However, I like the flavour of a brown sugar alternative here, such as Lakanto Golden or Sukrin Gold. You'll get that lovely molasses or treacle taste with it that is characteristic of gingerbread. In the UK and Europe you can use NKD Living erythritol gold. It's a very reasonably priced product (#Amazon affiliate links).
- Spices. Ground ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
- Butter. Must be softened.
- Egg white. Beaten to stiff peaks.
Instructions
(This section contains step by step instructions and photos that show how to make this recipe. Find the recipe card with ingredient amounts and nutritional information at the bottom of the post.)
1.) Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl - almond flour, a golden erythritol and the spices.
2.) Add the softened butter and blend with an electric mixer until the dough resembles crumbles.
3.) Beat the egg white to stiff peaks in a separate bowl. Add to the dough and blend until just combined.
4.) Form 2 dough balls...
5.) ...and roll out the dough thinly between two sheets of baking paper.
6.) Chill the dough either in the freezer for 10 or in the fridge for 20 minutes. This is a trick I learned when I made my keto cinnamon stars.
7.) Get stamping! Then gather together the leftover dough and roll out again until all dough is used up. Unlike wheat cookie dough, almond flour cookie dough does not become tough or dry if you repeatedly roll it out.
8.) Using a knife or a small spatula, pick up your keto ginger snaps and place them on a lined baking sheet.
9.) Bake until browned all over. The oven time will depend on how thick you've rolled out the cookies.
Top tip
If the dough becomes too soft while you are working with it, simply put it back in the fridge or freezer to cool. This helps solidify the butter and you'll be able to stamp out cookie shapes without problems.
FAQ
Erythritol based sweeteners are the best sugar substitute for keto cookie baking. Erythritol sets hard and produces crunchy, crispy cookies. I don't recommend using xylitol or allulose.
The tiny air bubbles in the stiff egg white give the cookies a lighter, crisper texture.
Make a keto mayonnaise.
For a sugar free icing, mix ¼ cup of powdered sweetener with a splash of water. Brush over or simply dip cookies into the icing mix bowl. Then, dry them on a cookie rack.
Variations
Dough thickness. I like my sugar free ginger snaps snappy - that's why I'd recommend to roll the dough out quite thin. For a chewier cookie, roll out the dough thicker. You can even roll it into a log and cut cookie rounds with a knife, like I did with my keto sugar cookies.
Baking time. The length of time you bake your cookies also has an impact on crispiness. The longer they stay in the oven, the crunchier they'll be. Leave them in until they're nicely browned all over! If necessary, rotate the tray during baking. Ovens tend to be hotter at the back.
Spices. For me, it's the spices that truly make this cookie shine. In my first batch I only used ginger. However, I prefer them with the extra kick that the nutmeg and the cloves lend. If you wish, you could even add cinnamon and cardamom to the mix. I'd go for 1 ½ teaspoon and ¼ teaspoon respectively.
Blackstrap molasses. Molasses is a traditional ingredient in ginger snaps. You can add 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses to the dough to get a more intense gingerbread flavor. Divided between 30 cookies, the increase in carbs is negligible.
Christmas cookies. Use a star shaped cookie cutter or another festive shape. Then, get decorating!
Dairy-free. Simply use coconut oil instead of the butter. This would affect the taste, but not the texture of the cookies.
If you're a cookie monster just like me, don't miss this detailed guide to sugar free cookie baking! I've written down EVERYTHING I've learned about how to make delicious low carb cookies - we're talking flours, sweeteners, flavours.
Related recipes
Made a batch of keto ginger snaps? Give the recipe a star rating below!
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Recipe
Keto Ginger Snaps
from Sugar Free LondonerNote: The servings slider only changes the first amount in each line and not any subsequent amounts. Please make your own calculations where necessary. ***As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Ingredients
- 2 cups / 200g almond flour
- ⅓ cup / 60g Lakanto Golden or granulated erythritol
- 2 ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅓ cup / 80g butter softened
- 1 egg white beaten
Instructions
- Combine the dry ingredients - almond flour, Lakanto golden (or another "brown sugar" erythritol) and the spices.
- Add the soft butter and blend with an electric mixer until the mix resembles crumbles.
- Beat the egg white until stiff and blend into the dough until just combined.
- Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and cool in the freezer for 10 minutes or in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit.
- Lift off the top parchment and cut out shapes using cookie cutters.
- Using a knife or a spatula, transfer cookies onto a lined baking tray.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges are browned. Let cool completely before handling.
Notes
Nutrition
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Addie
I only have "finely sifted" almond flour; I suspect that I should reduce the amount in the recipe,
but by how much?
Katrin Nürnberger
Try using 2-3 tablespoons less and then judge if the dough is easy to work with. It always depends on the almond flour you're using - all brands are different and some call themselves "super-fine", but really are not.
Sue
Thank you for this recipe! Can coconut palm sugar and/or date syrup be used as the sweetener? If so, how much? One comment says that the recipe can be made without any sweetener. How would that taste?
Katrin Nürnberger
You can use any sweetener that is a 1:1 sugar replacement. I guess if you don't use any sweetness it would taste like a cracker with ginger.
Naomi
I’m from New Zealand where ginger crunch is a classic fave. I’ve found the keto version of the topping (butter, cream, lots of ground ginger, and a suitable sweetener) but I haven’t found a good base yet. I’m wondering if this recipe might work. If I press the dough into a baking dish maybe an inch thick, do you have any idea how long it might take to cook?
Katrin Nürnberger
Is it supposed to be crunchy and totally dry? 1 inch is quite thick - much thicker than these cookies. If you're looking for something that's 100% crunchy, I would consider adding ground flaxseed. And used the temperature and baking time of my keto granola.
Naomi
Awesome, thank you Katrin! Personal tastes vary a bit but in general yes the base should be fairly firm and dry, and ideally somewhat crunchy, to contrast with the rich, silky smooth topping. The granola looks delicious by the way, I might have to try that too!
Susan Bellin
I kind of wasn't paying attention and messed these up. Didn't realize I was supposed to beat the egg white separately and tossed it right in with everything else. I went ahead and beat a second egg white and added that in as well. Since the dough was kind of loose to roll at that point, I made small scoops and smashed them flat with the bottom of a glass. Worked like a charm - these were fantastic (especially served with homemade pumpkin ice cream with candied hazelnuts - what a combo!) and I couldn't believe that they stayed crispy for 3 days until we ate them all.
Katrin Nürnberger
Glad you liked the cookies and everything went well! The ice cream sounds amazing.
Susan
Love them. My experience making them the first time: my egg was not room temperature and did not make any sort of "peaks" when I tried to whip it (for about half an hour). I gave up eventually and just used the runny egg whites. It wasnʻt a problem.
Second, you can actually roll the dough too thin. I did. It was next to impossible to scoop the little gingerbread men off the wax paper, so I returned them to the fridge frequently, after about 2 minutes of warming them up to room temperature. It took a lot of patience and I eventually got the job done. After making two full cookie sheetsʻ worth of tiny very thin gingerbread men and having lots of dough left, I rolled out the rest of the dough fairly thick, used a different cookie cutter, a large heart, and got about six of those. They were fantastic. The little gingerbread men are good too, but I lack the patience to make more of those.
Katrin Nürnberger
Thanks for sharing your experience! Glad you like the cookies 🙂
Mary Ann
Can I use all purpose flour for these cookies?
Katrin Nürnberger
I have not tried this, because I avoid wheat flour as it's high carb. But I think it would probably work, if you measure in weight and not cups.
Carol dees
Can this cookie be rolled into a log, refridgerated for a while and sliced into disks?
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes I think that would work. You won't be able to get them as thin, which means the baking time will increase.
Joy Winston
Can you use allulose for the sweetener
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes you can, but I think it will have less of a snap because allulose bakes up softer than erythritol.
Dallas Madsen
These are the perfect crisp biscuit for me. So adaptable regards flavour too. Might try choc chips next time 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing.
Nia Smith
Really want to try your dessert recipes- they all look so good! I have gone completely sugar free including no sweetners as well. Do you think I could still make your recipes without sweetener? Would it taste “sweeter” with vanilla extract? Thank you!
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, the sweetener is not essential for cookies. You may need a little more almond flour to get the same wet/dry ratio. Adding vanilla is a good idea. Cinnamon also gives a warm taste, as does cardamom.
Jeannine
These are really good. I added 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cardamom and 1/4 tsp allspice. I used 1 1/2 tablespoon freshly chopped ginger instead of the ground ginger. I used Splenda and found them to be a bit too sweet. Next time I will use 1/4 cup of Splenda instead of the 1/3 cup. I got 36 cookies. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Rita
I am still not a fan of monk fruit sweetener so can I use the same amount of regular sugar ?
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, of course that would work 🙂
Desiree
could I freeze the extras of these? Or better to freeze the dough? No way to eat them all at once!
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, they freeze well 🙂
Christa
These are very good and easy to make!! The more you let them sit, the crispy they get! My only thing woukd be to leave the dough in the freezer a little longer to make it easier to cut and move around. I will definitely make these again!
Attia
Thankyou for this amazing recipe !!!
I made these for my mum and they were perfect just as biscuits are suppose to be !
=)
Lulu
Could I refrigerate the dough for a couple of days?
I made these & sprinkled with powdered monk fruit, lovely & crunchy!
Thank you
Katrin Nürnberger
yes, I think that should be no problem 🙂
Patricia Gonzalez
So delicious. I made these ginger cookies last night and made them 5g. That way we eat 3 with a cup of coffee. Love it
J Rich
Loved these, baked them for my wife who is gestational diabetic.
I left the yolk in, and they were fluffy and a little softer, which I know she prefers.
Delicious! I’ll make these again, next time I will be adding a small amount of shredded ginger and leaving out the clove.
Thank you so much! ❤️
Tracey Cunningham
Made these today, I used the superfine almond flour so they were a bit more crumbly and the dough took a while to come together. Yesterday I made the sugar cookies which were nice but I could taste the coconut flour. These are amazing. Definitely going to make some more but will use ground almonds this time!"
Lucinda
Hi Katrin
Infused Almonds and ground my own flour. Followed exact ingredients but my dough was too moist. Tried adding a bit more almond flour but didn’t help. Had to spoon it onto the baking paper. Will let you know how it turns out.
Katrin Nürnberger
Bake it for as long as you can...and do not touch until it's totally cooled. Home-ground flour tends to be much coarser than the stuff you buy, so you'll need more of it.
Apie
These are absolutely delicious and so easy to make. I didn’t even use a mixer I just used a fork.
I only made half a batch next time I will be making the full amount.
Thank you so much for this recipe
Julie wray
These are so delicious and have a kick, although I almost tripled the ginger and added 1/2 tblsp of blackstrap molasses. They are exactly what I was craving and hit the snacky spot.
Katrin Nürnberger
Wow, you really like your cookies spicy! I like it!
Eileen Mayfield
What if I use whole egg?
Katrin Nürnberger
The egg yolk will add more fat, so my guess is the cookies may end up a little softer.
KD
Love these!
heather umlah
Love your site, but trying this for the first time I'm having issues. Finding the batter very dry-added an extra ounce of butter, still not like a crumble, then an extra egg white, still too dry to roll.
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Heather, assuming that you measured all ingredients correctly, maybe you're using a super-fine almond flour? That could have an impact as it would absorb more liquid. I used ground almonds in this recipe, which is what in the US would be regular almond flour. Let me know what you think
Sue
Thank you so much for this recipe. I don’t like ginger biscuits usually, so I added more cinnamon and mixed spice and less ginger. They were great. Came out really crispy and snappy. I appreciated you taking the time to pass on what you have learned from making cookies and all the tips you have published.
I always enjoy your recipes and look forward to what you have been cooking each week. I find they are really workable and tasty.
BTW I only made half of your recipe as I am the only one who eats them in my household I didn’t want to make and therefore eat too many in one go.
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Sue, so glad your cookies came out well! I know exactly what you mean about not being able to resist eating more...good plan to only make half the recipe 🙂 When I bake cakes, I normally freeze the leftovers immediately. And once it's out of sight, I tend to forget it's there. But a cookie jar on the counter is hard to ignore!
Charla Schutte
Thanks for the info, Katrin. This could indeed be the problem. The almond flour I use has only 12g fat per 100 g...Price: €7,95.
Katrin
You'd definitely end up with a different taste... more "sandy", perhaps.
Charla Schutte
Hi! Can you see on the almond flour you use if it's de-oiled or partly de-oiled? I live in Germany and am having problems with recipe results using almond flour I buy in dm, for example. I'm a "seasoned" primal/keto baker and I'm quite sure it must be because of the type of almond flour... I will try rhe coconut flour idea you offer but almond flour does give a great texture to cookies...Thanks!
Katrin
Hi Charla, I don't think my almond flour is defatted, it contains 53 grams of fat per 100g.The de-oiled almond flour you can get here in the UK, for example by Sukrin, is crazy expensive, so I don't actually use it much.
Laura
If I wanted to add fresh grated ginger to this recipe do you think it would take away from the snap of the cookie and make it more soft? Looking for a crispy cookie but with more ginger flavor.
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, I think it's possible that it would affect the crispiness as you'd add more moisture. Maybe try an additional teaspoon of powdered ginger instead
Adele
Hi Charla… I live in Holland and often shop in Germany. I use the ground almonds (not almond flour) from the Aldi and it works perfectly. Hope this helps x
Catherine MacKay
Hi, they sound lovely. Do you think Sukrin gold syrup would work?
Katrin
Yes, I think that would add a great flavour note. I wonder what it might do to the crispiness though as you're adding more liquid to the dough. You may need more almond flour to compensate.