Tangy, zesty and gently sweet: these Keto lemon cookies are easy to make, delightfully soft and moist and simply perfect with a cup of tea or as an after-dinner treat. We think they taste of summer! Sugar free, gluten free and low carb.
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 sugar free lemon mug cake which is ready in minutes, an incredibly creamy Sugar Free Lemon Curd, this zingy low carb Lemon Cheesecake a sugar free lemon sorbet and, of course, my (very popular) Keto Lemon Bars. All worth making if you like lemons!
Basically, it was time to add keto lemon cookies to my repertoire.
These very delicious, incredibly moreish sugar free cookies have evolved from my raspberry thumbprint cookies, which are essentially almond flour cream cheese cookies with a raspberry topping. I tweaked the recipe and added PLENTY of lemon juice and zest to turn them into wonderful little bites of summer.
What I love about this recipe - apart from the lemon taste - is the face that the cookies are soft and crumbly. They're really moist in the centre, almost like a tiny cake.
The size of these cookies is rather generous. I made 12 large cookies. If you prefer smaller cookies, the recipe could easily be stretched to 20 small bitesized ones.
How to make Keto lemon cookies - step by step:
1.) Cream the butter, cream cheese, 4 tbsp lemon juice and the zest of one lemon together with the powdered erythritol until smooth. Use a food processor or an electric mixer.
2.) Now add the egg and blend until well-combined. Your mix will be very liquid.
3.) Add the almond flour and blend...
4.) ...until you have a dough.
The cookie dough will be quite soft at this stage. Simply chill it either in the fridge for 20 - 30 minutes or in the freezer for about 10 minutes to make it easy to handle.
5.) Form 12 cookie dough balls and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten them with your hands to form thick discs. Then bake them for about 15 minutes until they are firm on top (and ever so slightly browned).
6.) Time for the glaze! It's simply lemon juice mixed with powdered sweetener and lemon zest. Stir it together and spoon or drizzle over the cooled cookies.
Recipe tips and variations:
I don't like my cookies too sweet. If you have a sweet tooth, feel free to increase the amount of sweetener in the dough by one or more tablespoons. However, keep in mind that the glaze is VERY sweet.
Definitely don't miss out the lemon zest. It takes these cookies from Keto lemon cookies to Keto LEMON cookies. It adds a fragrant note that is simply irresistible.
I used ground almonds in this recipe. This is equivalent to regular (coarser) blanched almond flour in the US or almond meal. I think it works really well for soft cookies like these and gives them a moist, grainy, rustic texture.
If you wanted to use super-fine almond flour (that's the type that looks just like white wheat flour), you'd DEFINITELY need to use less of it as it's way more absorbent. I'd go for no more than 1 ½ cups or 150 grams.
With a few simple tweaks, you can make these cookies crunchy - more in the style of a shortbread. Simply 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.
If you only have granulated sweetener, you can simply blitz it in a food processor to powder it.
Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week. Suitable for freezing.
Try my other Keto cookies:
- Keto Sugar Cookies
- Keto Almond Butter Brownie Cookies
- Low Carb Keto Shortbread Cookies
- The Ultimate Low Carb Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Low Carb Sugar Free Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Keto Lemon Cookies
Note: 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
Lemon Cookies
- ¼ cup / 55g / 2 oz cream cheese full fat
- ¼ cup / 55g / 2 oz butter unsalted
- 5 tbsp powdered erythritol (So Nourished) (6 tbsp if you like a sweet cookie)
- 1 egg medium
- 2 cup / 200g almond flour NOT super-fine. Ground almonds / almond meal works well
- 4 tbsp lemon juice (circa 1 large lemon)
- zest of 1 lemon
Lemon Glaze
- ¼ cup / 30g powdered erythritol (So Nourished)
- 1.5 tbsp lemon juice
- lemon zest, to taste
Instructions
- Cream the butter, cream cheese, 4 tbsp 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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Danica says
Delicious! I used 1 and 1/2 cup almond flour with 1/2 cup coconut flour. They are perfect.
rochester923@gmail.com says
Yum !! Easy and delicious!
Karens says
These are delish! The ONLY change I made was for the glaze; instead of milk, I used lemon juice!! They were FANTABULOUSLY SCRUMPTIOUS
Kat70 says
These are fabulous!! Delicious and holiday appropriate!! 5 stars in my book.
Chelsea says
Very excited to make these cookies but how much lemon extract. I don’t see it listed with ingredients.
Thanks for this recipe. Looks amazing. I made your chocolate krinkles the other day and they were fabulous!
Katrin Nürnberger says
I did not make these with lemon extract, just the juice and zest of lemon. But if you want to use extract, I'd say 1 tsp is a good amount.
Kelly says
Thank you for this recipe. I have made it numerous times. Following your directions, it comes out wonderful every time.
Kristy says
Delicious!!! Mouthwatering cookies. I love these. So refreshing with the lemon too!
Can these cookies be frozen?
Katrin Nürnberger says
Yes, absolutely! Anything made with almond flour freezes well.
Jimmy says
Just tried this recipe and some nut at top. So great, love the taste from lime.
Carol Machen says
Made these Lemon Cookies this morning exactly to the recipe and they are delicious I love your recipes, always good, well written, easy instructions. Everything that I have made So far has turned out as it should and I love receiving your emails with new recipes and news - our diet is Keto/Low Carb so I use you for inspiration, Thank you for your hard work in putting this site together for us to share
Carol
Katrin Nürnberger says
So glad you like the cookies! Thank you for your support 🙂
Christal says
I haven't used this recipe we have a lot of nut allergies and need coconut flour recipes thank you so much .we love your ideas
Katrin Nürnberger says
Hi Christal, if you type in "coconut flour" into my search bar you'll find all my coconut recipes!
Krista says
Hi there! Planning on making these tomorrow morning but i’ve only got monk fruit sweetener. Will this work?
Katrin Nürnberger says
Hi Krista, do you mean an erythritol/monk fruit mix like Lakanto sells? That will work. I have never used a pure monk fruit sweetener of which you'd just need a tiny amount, so I don't know how much you'd need.
Jeanette says
KETO Lemon Cookies - my dough is not dough, it is fluid. The recipe said to mix the lemon juice and zest into the main dough, but it then says to use it for the glaze, likewise with the Erythritol. Is the recipe wrong, and is that why I have a bowl of fluid?
Katrin Nürnberger says
It's not wrong - you have to use lemon juice for both. The dough is soft after you mix it together. You have to chill it in the fridge before using. It should not be liquid though. Have you measured your ingredients? Let me know and we'll figure it out 🙂
Mele says
Can I add Xanthan gum to hold the cookie together? If so how much?
Katrin Nürnberger says
Sure! 1/4 - 1/2 tsp should be enough!
Jessica says
I added 1/4 tsp of Xanthum gum as you suggested. My cookies came out "gummy" and not crispy. I even put it back in the over fo another 10 minutes to try to crisp up? W hat did I do wrong? I want to throw away the rest of the batch...
Katrin Nürnberger says
Xanthan gum does not make things crispy, it binds. For a crispier cookie, simply 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. Or try my
Carrie Dickson says
We love these cookies!!! Thank you for sharing!!!
Melissa says
These were so good. I used a combination of coconut flour and flax seed because my daughter has nut allergies. I also had to substitute clementine as I had no lemons.My whole fam loved them, I can't wait to try it with lemons!
Sophie says
I am also nut sensitive and would love to know your amounts for coconut and flax substitute. I can’t use almond flour.
These look delicious and would love to try them.
Fehmida Kola says
Please share your quantities of flax and coconut flour. Thanks
Angela says
I made these today. Because I have an intolerance to dairy, I used goats butter and goats soft cheese. Delicious, thanks for your recipes
Carolynn Peters says
Hi, 1st time i a writing . These were great. I had to use the fine almond flour(i threw in a little coconut, cuz they were needing more stability). i live in Belgrade Serbia so not so easy to find my ingredients, but I like the challenge.
thank you for your recipes!!
Katrin Nürnberger says
Glad you liked them!
Liezel Boonzaier-Lacquaye says
Please help. I used double the butter, one egg white and made these very flat with a fork amd cooked them for 25 min so that they will be like shortbread but it still came out soft... and now very flat. how can i get them more crunchy.
Katrin Nürnberger says
Once they are lightly browned all over, you can take them out of the oven. Almond flour cookies are very soft and fragile when they are hot. They get crispy once they have cooled down. So - patience!!!
Doug says
My go to cookie with a mug of bulletproof coffee...I put some shredded coconut in mine also. Good job, good site...cheers
Katrin Nürnberger says
Sounds like a perfect coffee break!
Laurie says
I made these cookies twice. The first time was great. The second time, not so much. I had to repurpose them into a crust for a lemon cheesecake. Not sure why. The only difference was I used coconut flour instead of the almond flour since the almond flour seems to be too dry for my husband. He's diabetic and has trouble swallowing sometimes and the dryness of the almond flour can be too hard to eat at times. Any suggestions would be appreciated since we love the lemon flavors. Thanks for all your great recipes. I've used several.
Katrin Nürnberger says
Hi Laurie, you cannot replace almond flour with coconut flour one-to-one. I find that depending on the recipe, you should use 1/3 to maximum 1/2 of the amount stated for almond flour. This is because coconut flour absorbs more liquid. Hope you will give them another go!
Tim Burton says
Can these be made with coconut flour instead of almond?
Katrin Nürnberger says
I have never tried it. But I would try with 3/4 cup of coconut flour instead of almond flour (use maximal 1 cup in total - you'll have to see which is the right consistency). You need less of it because coconut flour is more absorbent.
Jo Gresty says
I love all the recipes you have and can't wait to try them. I have a quick question though. Years ago when I did lighter life I was told that anything citric brings your body out of ketosis. Has this changed? I love lemon anything so I'd really love to use them.
Katrin says
Lemon juice is fine. Watch this video: https://www.drberg.com/blog/will-lemon-water-kick-you-out-of-ketosis
Collette says
First try today. Had no cream cheese and doubled up on butter and added one whole egg. Made them smaller dough balls to make them flatter and a smaller biscuit, getting more than 12. They are delicious - the texture is between a cake and a biscuit - crispier outside and softer inside. I did leave them a bit longer to go darker and crispier. Cannot believe I can now have biscuits on my keto diet. They are better than any store bought ones.
Thanks for some great recipes - you have saved many people from straying from Keto with all these recipes. I cannot wait to try the others. So many to choose from. Looks like I can always stay in ketosis!! This has to be one of the best Keto recipes sites and UK based too.
Katrin says
Hi Collette, I'm so glad you found - and like - my site!
Aor says
I tried this recipe yesterday, I really loved it. Cookies came out as chewy cookies. How can I do if want more crispy?
Katrin says
Just make them flat and thin. You could also try to replace half the cream cheese with butter and use only the egg white and no yolk
Aor says
Thank you for your advice ^^
Ruth says
Oh, Katrin, these cookies look so yummy! I couldn't wait to try them out immediately. I love this zingy, tangy, refreshing taste. They are a perfect accompaniment to a chilly glass of ice tea on hot summer days.