Tangy, zesty and gently sweet: Keto lemon cookies are easy to make, delightfully soft and buttery. Only 6 ingredients and ready in 20 minutes!
I'm a big fan of all things lemon. You may have come across some of the lemon recipes on my blog - there are quite a few.
There's the keto lemon mug cake which is ready in minutes. Or the incredibly creamy sugar free lemon curd, this zingy low carb lemon cheesecake, sugar free lemon sorbet and my (very popular) keto lemon bars.
But no cookies! It was time to add keto lemon cookies to my repertoire.
This very delicious, incredibly moreish cookie recipe has evolved from my raspberry thumbprint cookies. I tweaked the recipe and added PLENTY of lemon juice and zest to turn them into wonderful little bites of summer.
🌟 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Buttery cream cheese cookies with zesty lemon flavor
- Moist, soft and chewy texture
- Generously sized - makes 12 large cookies
- Easy recipe - only 6 ingredients
- Gluten-free and keto friendly - 2g net carbs per cookie
- Quick - 5 minutes prep, 15 minutes in the oven
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you'll need:
- Cream cheese - should be full fat
- Butter - unsalted and room temperature
- Powdered sweetener - I used a powdered erythritol. Erythritol monk fruit sweetener blends will also work well, as would Swerve, Bocha Sweet, xylitol or allulose.
- Egg - medium sized
- Almond flour - I used ground almonds, which is the same as regular almond flour in the US. If your almond flour is super-fine, reduce by 2 tablespoons.
- Lemon - juice and zest.
Instructions
This section contains step-by-step instructions and photos that show how to make this recipe. See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
Step 1: Cream the butter, cream cheese, lemon juice and zest with the powdered erythritol until smooth. Option to also add a pinch of salt. Use a food processor or an electric mixer.
Step 2: Add the egg and blend until well-combined. Your mix will be very liquid.
Step 3: Add the almond flour and blend until a smooth dough forms.
Step 4: The cookie dough will be quite soft at this stage. Chill it in the fridge or in the freezer to make it easy to handle.
Step 5: Form cookie dough balls and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Option to use a cookie scoop.
Flatten them with your hands to form thick discs. Then bake until they are firm on top and lightly browned at the bottom.
Step 6: Stir together the lemon juice with the powdered sweetener for the glaze. Spoon or drizzle over the cooled cookies.
Expert Tip
Don't miss out on the lemon zest. It adds a fragrant note that is simply irresistible.
Recipe FAQs
If you only have granulated sweetener, blend it in a food processor to make it powdered.
The recipe is designed for soft cookies. To make them crunchy, double the amount of butter, leave out the cream cheese and use an egg white only instead of the entire egg. Also, make sure your cookies are flatter. Bake until browned.
The recipe can be easily stretched to 20 small cookies. The oven time will reduce to about 8-10 minutes.
Yes, although you'd be missing out on the lemon zest. Also, fresh lemon tastes better and does not contain preservatives or additives.
I don't recommend it.
Variations
Other citrus fruits: Try the recipe with orange, clementine or lime.
Almond milk glaze: Instead of the lemon juice, make the sugar free glaze with almond milk.
Lemon crinkle cookies: Roll the cookies in granulated sweetener before baking.
Dairy-free: Use coconut cream instead of the cream cheese and coconut oil instead of the butter.
Nut free: I often get asked how to replace almond flour with coconut flour. I don't recommend it for these lemon keto cookies because you'd have to change other ingredients as well. I suggest you use my coconut flour cookies and add lemon juice to the recipe.
Baking powder: You can add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to make the cookies fluffier.
Storage
Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Suitable for freezing. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Related Recipes
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Recipe
Keto Lemon Cookies
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.
Ingredients
Lemon Cookies
- ¼ cup / 55g / 2 oz cream cheese full fat
- ¼ cup / 55g / 2 oz butter unsalted, softened
- 5 tablespoon powdered erythritol (6 tablespoon if you like a sweet cookie)
- 1 egg medium
- 2 cup / 200g almond flour use 2 tablespoons less for super-fine almond flour
- 4 tbsp lemon juice (circa 1 large lemon)
- zest of 1 lemon
Lemon Glaze
- ¼ cup / 30g powdered erythritol
- 1.5 tablespoon lemon juice
- lemon zest, to taste
Instructions
- Cream the butter, cream cheese, 4 tablespoon lemon juice and lemon zest together with the powdered erythritol until smooth. Use a food processor or an electric mixer.
- Add the egg and mix until well-combined. Last, add the almond flour and mix.
- The dough is fairly soft at this stage. Wrap it in cling film and place either in the fridge for 20 - 30 minutes or in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 Celsius / 356 Fahrenheit.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Form 12 cookie dough balls and place them on the tray, flattening them slightly with your hand.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned at the bottom (and ever so slightly browned on top).
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
- Stir together the lemon juice, powdered erythritol and lemon zest for the glaze and spread over the cooled cookies.
Joanne
Made these yesterday. Very easy, I love the lemon flavour. I have an abundance of lemons and it’s nice to find recipes to use them.
Joyce K
Perfect lemony cookies! I am on a lemon kick lately and these cookies are delightful. Easy to throw together in a few minutes and a nice, bright flavor. Just perfect to go with my afternoon tea!
Allison Done
I didn’t grind my sweetener so my glaze was a bit gritty but these cookies are absolutely delightful! So lovely and lemony!
Valerie Keir
Hi, could I use "date sugar" instead of powdered sweetener? I appreciate this is not keto but I am trying to vary things and not use too much sweeteners. Thank you
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Valerie, any sweetener should work in the recipe. You could also use coconut sugar.
Nicole
Tack för dina goda bakverk!!!
Cate Bowden
SO easy to make and just SO yummy. My grandson just loved them as did his Dad. They got to them before I had the chance to glaze them. Next batch!!! I am so looking forward to Christmas with all these yummy recipes to try. Thank you so much for all your time and effort.
Heike
Hallo, Kathrin, 2 cups are not 200g, but almost 500g. So, I made the recipe with 2 cups instead of 200 g. It is in the fridge right now so I can bake them. The dough smells heavenly.
Katrin Nürnberger
Hello Heike, I am using US measuring cups, as described in my post about how many grams are in a cup. This is a standardised cup and it has a specific size. You used a lot more almond flour than I did - but I hope the cookies tasted good nevertheless!
Malwina
Amazing cookies, made double batch straightaway as love anything lemon. Waiting them to cool, but had the warm one already - delicious! Thank you!
Char
These are delicious considering they are low carbs. But, what I would like to see is a lemon cookie without almond flour. So many of these recipes require almond flour. Almond flour is very incompatible with some peoples kidneys, and can exasperate kidney disease and other kidney conditions. I am hoping you put out a coconut flour version of this recipe. Thank you
Katrin Nürnberger
You could try my coconut flour cookies and add lemon to those.