My keto thumbprint cookies are easy gluten free cream cheese cookies with a fruity raspberry jam filling. They are ready in 25 minutes!
Friends, this is the most versatile keto cookie recipe you'll ever make!
My sugar free thumbprint cookies are made with almond flour. They are deliciously soft and buttery on the inside, with a lovely crunch.
But the real fun starts with the fillings!
I ended up making several batches - one with raspberry jam, one with a cream cheese filling, one cinnamon "sugar" version and even one without a filling altogether.
Love cookies? Try my keto peanut butter cookies and keto chocolate chip cookies.
Jump to:
🌟 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- The texture - Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy inside.
- The flavor - The fruity raspberry filling pairs perfectly with the buttery vanilla crumb.
- Gluten-free - These are almond flour cookies, which means they don't contain any gluten.
- Keto friendly - Only 0.9 garms of net carbs
- Easy, quick recipe - 7 ingredients, 1 bowl, no special equipment needed
Ingredients
You only need 7 ingredients for this recipe:
- Almond flour - I used ground almonds, which is equivalent to regular almond flour in the US.
- Cream cheese - Full fat cream cheese works better than low fat.
- Unsalted butter - Make sure that it is room temperature so it's easy to make the cookie dough.
- Sweetener - I used a granulated erythritol monk fruit sweetener blend. The first time I used a white sugar alternative. The next time I chose a brown sugar alternative called Lakanto Gold, which gives the cookies a nice caramel flavor. This is the sweetener you see in the step by step images below. Both worked well.
- Vanilla extract
- Egg - size medium. If you can only get hold of large eggs, increase the almond flour by a tablespoon.
- Sugar-free raspberry jam - no cooking necessary! Or, use any other low carb jam.
Option to also add a pinch of salt to the dough. It's not necessary to use baking powder - but if you like an extra fluffy cookie, add ½ teaspoon.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Instructions
It's so simple to make keto thumbprint cookies. Here are the basic steps.
Scroll down to the recipe card for the detailed method with ingredient amounts, oven timings and nutrition information.
STEP 1
Blend the cream cheese, softened butter, vanilla extract and sweetener until smooth.
I used a food processor, but a large bowl and an electric hand mixer work just as well.
STEP 2
Add the egg and whisk. Then, add the almond flour and blend until a smooth dough forms.
STEP 3
Form cookie dough balls (or use a cookie scoop). Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Press your thumb into the middle of each ball to form an indentation.
STEP 4
Fill each indentation with sugar-free jam or a filling of your choice.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden.
Katrin's Top Tips
Chill the dough. If the dough feels sticky and too soft to handle, form a ball and wrap it in clingfilm. Then cool it in the fridge for 20 minutes (or in the freezer for 10).
Patience. After baking, don't touch cookies until they have cooled down. Keto cookies are very fragile when hot. They firm up as they cool.
Variations
I have tried various fillings for these keto cream cheese cookies:
Cinnamon Sugar: Mix melted butter, cinnamon and powdered sweetener.
Cheesecake: Stir together cream cheese, powdered sweetener and a few drops of vanilla extract. Add lemon zest or lemon juice for a lemon cheesecake version.
Chocolate: Put a few sugar free chocolate chips into each thumbprint hollow.
Nutella: Use my sugar free nutella!
Peanut butter: Mix it with a pinch of sea salt. Or, use almond butter.
No filling. This is a great pared-down version that ends up deliciously crunchy.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. Any sugar free jam can be used. Try my blueberry jam or this sugar free strawberry jam. Store-bought jams should be sweetened with stevia or erythritol and not grape juice.
I recommend an erythritol based sweetener for cookies, because it makes them nice and crunchy on the outside. Pure erythritol works, or erythritol blends such as Swerve. Xylitol, Bocha Sweet and allulose make softer cookies.
No, you cannot replace it 1:1. I recommend making coconut flour cookies instead, and add the raspberry filling.
Yes, you can prepare the cookie dough up to 2 days in advance. Wrap in cling film and store in the fridge.
Storage
Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Suitable for freezing. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Related Recipes
For a "best of" low carb cookie compilation, get my Keto Cookies cookbook. More recipes like this:
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
★ STAY IN TOUCH on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST and INSTAGRAM for more great food and join my NEWSLETTER for the latest updates and a FREE EBOOK.★
Recipe
Keto Thumbprint Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup almond flour 150g
- ¼ cup full fat cream cheese 2oz / 55g
- ¼ cup unsalted butter 2oz / 55g room temperature
- 5 tablespoon granulated erythritol 50 grams
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg medium ***
- ¼ cup sugar free raspberry jam 60g, or any other sugar free jam
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit electric or 160C / 320F fan assisted.
- Mix the cream cheese, softened butter, vanilla extract and erythritol in a food processor or with a hand blender until smooth.
- Add the egg and mix, then add the almond flour and blend until a smooth dough.
- If the dough feels too soft to handle, form a dough ball, wrap it in clingfilm and cool in the fridge for 20 minutes (or in the freezer for 10).
- Form small balls (15 grams) in your hands and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Press your thumb into the middle of each ball to form an indentation. Fill each indentation with sugar free raspberry jam.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Sharon
These cookies are lovely! Thanks for the recipe!
Just one thing though .... I have made them twice and each time stored them in an airtight container but they have gone soft after a day or so. Can you advise how they are best stored to keep them fresher please?
Katrin
Glad you like them! I think the only way to return them to full crunch is to stick them back in the oven for a minute, or maybe under the grill. Almond flour goods do soften when stored.
Cassie
Hi. I don’t have any Erythritol, Can I use granulated stevia instead?? Thanks
Katrin
Absolutely. If your stevia is granulated, it's probably mainly erythritol anyway 🙂 Often, manufacturers use a mix of erythritol and steviol glycosides, and then call it whatever they want. Just make sure your granulated stevia has the sweetness of 1:1 compared to sugar. I once had a stevia-based granulated sweetener that was twice as sweet as sugar.
Cheryl Evans
just made these and made my own Jam filling
Katrin
Fantastic! Thank you for trying the recipe 🙂
Rhonda
I do not have SF jam and i was wondering if i could use 1/4 of a piece of sugar free candy.. like the Russel Stover peanut butter cups?
Katrin
That sounds like a great idea. You can fill these cookies with anything you like. I made a cream cheese filling for them once, which was yum, and I also tried them without filling at all. That time I made them flatter so they came out quite crunchy. Both nice. You could even try a dollop of peanut butter in them, or dark chocolate.
Nan
What temperature should I set my oven to so I may bake some of these cookies? I live in the USA and our ovens don’t go by Celsius over here we go by degrees like set oven to 350 degrees and bake cookies for 8-9 minuets until toothpick comes out clean when using one to test for doneness.
Katrin
Hi Nan, I always give the Fahrenheit option in my recipes - you must have missed it, it's right at the top - Heat your oven to 180 Celsius / 356 Fahrenheit.
Cynthia Mathieu
The sweetener you used looks like light brown sugar. I've never seen light brown erythritol before. Is it different in England than in the States? Would it change the flavor if I used white erythritol?
Katrin
It's the brown sugar alternative by Sukrin, called Sukrin Gold. You can order it on Amazon or over their website, in both the US and the UK. Using regular white erythritol would taste just as good though. The flavour of the cookies comes from the vanilla extract and the almonds.
Maryann
Mine are in the oven now, to take to an about to be told t2 diabetic, tonight. U fortunately the bottom element in my oven has blown for the third time since the oven was two... grilled cookies they’ll have to be!
Katrin
Grilled cookies, that has to be a first! 🙂 They should be fine though at the very bottom. Next time, if you have a microwave, you could also get them started in there and then transfer them for a bit of crunch?
Katrin
That should work, though you might have to add a couple of tbsp of almond flour to make up for the missing solids in the recipe. My liquid stevia has a sweetness ratio of 4 drops per tsp, but do check your bottle, they may not all be the same!
Katrin
What a great idea to fill them with chocolate! Sounds delicious.
Katrin
Thank you!! Let me know how you get on with this one 🙂