Almost too good to share: These keto chocolate chip cookies are the perfect combination of soft chewiness with a crunchy edge. You'll never guess they are sugar free! Perfect for gluten free and low carb diets.
It's been grey here the past few days, which has made me crave comfort food. You all know I have a bit of a sweet tooth. And what is more comforting than a freshly baked cookie??!
These keto cookies are an adaptation of an old family recipe.
The reason for their popularity in our house was not just the simple fact that everyone likes chocolate chip cookies. No! They beat all the chocolate chip cookies in the neighbourhood because of my mum's secret ingredient: double (heavy) cream. It makes them taste richer, creamier and infinitely more yummy.
This is how I made my mom's cookies low carb and sugar free: I replaced the wheat flour with almond flour and the brown sugar with erythritol.
Instead of using milk chocolate, I settled on 85% dark chocolate. As half a bar (50g) is distributed between 10 cookies, the carb and sugar content is kept low. If you can source it, you can also use sugar free chocolate or sugar free chocolate chips.
How to make super-easy keto chocolate chip cookies - step by step:
First, you add your almond flour, egg, cream, butter, vanilla extract and granulated sweetener into a bowl.
You can use coconut oil if you want a dairy free keto dessert!
To my UK readers - if you use ground almonds, add an extra couple of tablespoons as ground almonds tend to be coarser than almond flour.
You can mix everything with a fork in a large bowl - it comes together really easily. Let the batter sit for a few minutes to let the flour absorb the moisture.
Now, chop your chocolate. Any chocolate with a cocoa solids content of 85% and above is fine.
If you can get hold of sugar free chocolate, even better - it is pricey though. Lily's is popular in the US (they even sell ready-made chocolate chips) and in the UK you could go for Cavalier.
Want to make your own sugar free chocolate chips? Check out this easy recipe from my blog!
Fold the chopped chocolate into the cookie batter. Now's a good moment for a little taste - adjust your sweetener if you wish 🙂
Roll the batter into little balls (or portion them with a cookie scoop) and place on a baking tray. The dough will still be a tad soft and sticky.
TIP: Use baking/parchment paper to prevent the cookies from sticking. I had run out, so I greased the tray with butter.
Flatten your low carb chocolate chip cookies with your hand. They should be about ½ centimetres thick. Then bake in the oven for around 13 minutes.
Baker's TOP TIPS
As almond flour does not contain gluten, low carb cookies are always softer than their wheaten counterparts. The browned edges still have a lovely crunch though.
The mixture makes 10 cookies with a diameter of around 6 cm. (I tried so much of the dough we only ended up with 9!)
Keto cookies are really soft and fragile when fresh out of the oven. DON'T WORRY. They firm up as they cool down.
How to make crispy keto chocolate chip cookies
Simply leave out the double / heavy cream. It helps make the cookies chewy, is just not necessary for you.
Flatten them more! The thinner your cookies are, the crispier they will end up.
Bake them for longer. You want the edges to be golden-brown. Consider placing aluminium foil over the cookies so they don't burn and add another few minutes to the oven time.
Another option is to turn off the oven when they are done and prop the door open with a wooden spoon. Then you leave the cookies in for longer. The air circulating around them will help them to continue crisping up.
How to make this keto chocolate chip cookies recipe chewy
Don't miss out on the cream! It helps with the chewiness.
Make the cookies larger and thicker. This way, the centre stays lovely and chewy.
Watch out that your cookies do not brown much. Take them out as soon as the edges start to turn golden!
Consider replacing the erythritol with xylitol or allulose. Especially allulose is great for soft baked goods.
Can you make low carb chocolate chip cookies with coconut flour?
Yes! If you prefer coconut flour over almond flour, simply halve the amount of flour stated and use 50g or ½ cup of coconut flour. Coconut flour absorbs a lot more moisture than almond flour, that's why you need less of it. You may want to add ½ a teaspoon of xanthan gum to make them a little firmer.
If you want extra fluffy cookies, add ½ tsp of baking powder.
NOTE - I love, love, love dark chocolate. That's why it was a no-brainer for me to use dark chocolate in my healthy chocolate chip cookies. If you have picky children in the house or simply are a milk chocolate person, do try to source sugar free milk chocolate.
Check out the links in the text above - Lily's in the US and Cavalier in the UK both offer stevia-sweetened milk chocolate. You can find sugar free chocolate on Amazon and in health food stores.
More great cookie recipes:
- coconut shortbread cookies
- Keto Sugar Cookies
- Italian walnut kisses
- Keto Almond Butter Brownie Cookies
- Keto Macaroons
... and if you're after a classic chocolate cookie, you MUST try my Soul-Satisfying Keto Chocolate Cookies!
Made these low carb chocolate chip cookies? Give them a star rating below!
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Low Carb Keto Chocolate Chip 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
- 100 g / 1 cup almond flour (to my UK readers - ground almonds work well here, just add another 2 tbsp)
- 1 medium egg
- 2 tbsp double/heavy cream
- 2 tbsp butter unsalted, VERY soft
- 3 tbsp granulated sweetener (So Nourished)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 50 g dark chocolate/chocolate chips (85% minimum or sugar free)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius/356 Fahrenheit
- Combine all ingredients apart from the chocolate with a fork. Let the dough sit for a few minutes so the flour can absorb the moisture
- Chop your chocolate and stir into the dough
- Form dough balls with your hand or spoon the mixture on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Press down into the desired shape (ca ½ cm thick)
- Bake for ca 13 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned. They are soft when straight out of the oven but firm up as they cool down.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
The recipe for keto chocolate chip cookies was first published in September 2016. It was updated in August 2018 with new photos and a recipe change to reflect how we make these cookies now.
This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one of these links and purchase a product, I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Sugar Free Londoner.
Elly says
Hi, thanks for all your cookie recipes - in keto cookie heaven today! I plugged this recipe into my Carb Manager app and it came up with much higher net carbs, 4g, I can’t work out why. Also the dough was very wet, not a thick cookie dough as expected. They took closer to 18 mins to brown at all and remained very soft. The flavour, however, is outstanding. I’ll try again but sub in a little coconut flour to try to dry them out a bit. Despite textural problems this is still a delicious recipe, thanks.
Katrin Nürnberger says
Hi Elly, you would have to go through your individual ingredients to work you where the highest carb count is. I use the carb calculator of the keto diet app. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Weronika says
This recipe is great! It was my second attempt to make them, first batch was quite wet and I added way more almond flour, this time I swapped it for 20g vital wheat gluten and I must say it's hit! It gave them this chewines and crispness that standard chocolate cookies has. Of course it makes them unsuitable for gluten free dietes, but luckily it's not a case for me.
Katrin Nürnberger says
Hi Weronika, thanks for letting us know your tweaks!
Lily says
Delicious, but somehow I couldn't get that gorgeous dough you made... probably the super fine almond flour I used. Everything was far too sticky to even get a spoonful out. Doubled the flour (mine is extremely low carb, thank God!) and then it did turn out fine. Will make them lemon-flavored next time! I prefer some good ole carb free lemon skin and juice over choco chips. Much luv from Spain! 🙂 x
Kathryn McLaughlin says
Really enjoyed these. Made them with coconut flour because that’s what I had in.
Katrin Nürnberger says
Glad you made the recipe work for you!
Trish says
Have you ever tried baking in an air fryer oven?
Katrin Nürnberger says
I haven't yet, but I'm sure it would work great. It may bake a little faster.
Lillian Hackett says
I’ve been using an air fryer for 6 months now. I absolutely love it! I haven’t tried baking anything in it but all these great Keto recipes are making me really interested in baking cookies in it. Love this site!
Olly says
Tried this out last night and followed exactly but without the cream and used stevia instead of erytherol as wanted them crispier... came out perfect and were still soft in the middle. Great simple recipe! Thank you! I used 90% dark chocolate... will probably use 85% next time to lessen the bitterness slightly. First time baking with almond flour.
Kia says
I think this texture is perfect. Smaller portion and I was concerned it would be gritty since I didn't use xantham gum. Only thing, with no salt not baking powder/soda, I needed more salt. I'll figure out how much later. Maybe half salted butter to half unsalted. That may be enough.
Katrin Nürnberger says
Yes, that sounds good. Or sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over the tops.
Tania Lucas says
Hi,
I only have coconut flour and coconut sugar, can I use these instead?
Katrin Nürnberger says
You could try with 1/3 the amount of coconut flour. But do consider using the recipe for my instead and add chocolate chips to them!
Joy Antonucci says
Hi Katrin: This was the third chocolate chip recipe I tried and it is the best. My batter made 16 cookies using heavy cream and cookie scoop. I'm in the USA so finding Lily's chips was easy. I want to try making them crispy vs chewy next time. Well done & thank you.
Katrin Nürnberger says
So glad you like the recipe!
Roshni says
Hi, just wondering for this recipe, instead of the butter could I use coconut oil? TIA
Katrin Nürnberger says
Yes, that would work as well.
Dawny says
Just made these (scaled down to half the recipe as I only had 125g of ground almonds in) and they were delicious! I used evaporated milk as another reviewer suggested as I had no cream. It all worked brilliantly. I have been looking for erythritol recipes and this was perfect. So easy and light and just the right amount of sweetness. I love anything with dark choc and used 85% dark only 11g of sugar per 100g. Thank you so much for the great recipe. Will definitely make the full amount next time as they are not going to last long this time!
Maria says
I would love to try to make these cookies However have cholesterol issue. What would your recommendations be for butter and heavy cream replacement (coconut products are not good either). Thanks
Katrin Nürnberger says
Hi Maria, you can't make soft, tasty cookies without a fat. I have a great recipe for crispy walnut cookies which you may want to try instead.
Justin A. says
Use unsweetened baking chocolate. It's inexpensive. No need to buy overpriced sugar-free chocolate.
Joylene Culver says
How do you sweeten it?
I have the bars?
Maybe chop and then add some butter and sweetener?
Janet says
I made these cookies last night. I made a few adjustments. I have no heavy cream, used evaporated milk. I also added Serve brown sugar. I found sugar free chocolate chips in Walmart. These cookies are incredible. They're even better today and the chips have softened a bit. Thank you so much Katrin. I have done so many searched for sugar free sweets. You recipes are the best
Katrin Nürnberger says
Yes, I also found these chocolate chip cookies just keep on getting better! Almond flour does that often 🙂
Seth says
FYI, when you change the ingredients to 2x the almond flour doesn't re-calculate to 2 cups.
Great recipe!
Katrin Nürnberger says
Yes, the plugin only converts the first numbers...
Kim says
I have a truvia brown sugar. Can I use it in this recipe? How much would you suggest? The conversion chart says to use half the amount you would use for regular brown sugar.
Katrin Nürnberger says
If it's twice as sweet as sugar, then it's half the amount I put for erythritol as well.
Janet M Watson says
Kim, I don't know where you live. Swerve (sugar free) has their own brown sugar. It is incredible. You won't believe it's not sugar
Lillian Hackett says
Thanks for this great information! Love all the comments people write. I am not a baker so I’m grateful to everyone for all your help.
Suki says
Hi Katrin, how do you calculate your nutritional information?
Katrin Nürnberger says
Hi Suki, I used to use the free calculator on sparksrecipes.com, but now I use the calculator in the keto diet app. Both are good 🙂
Jayne Green says
Hi are the nutritional stats per biscuit or per batch?
Katrin Nürnberger says
I always calculate per cookie / serving.
Sonia says
I made them today, my 1st try with keto cookies. I got 15 small cookies. I used Splenda as a sweetener and around 3 extra full big spoons almond meal. Plus some lemon zest and ready chocolate chips (with no sugar).
I put the dough in the freezer for 5mnts as it was too soft.
I think we can add some nuts with the chocolate chips. Or decorate with them on the top?
Katrin Nürnberger says
Yes, adding nuts would be delicious!
Anna Pieta says
These are excellent cookies. They don't even require baking powder! Thank you!
Lisa EL-Nagar says
Hello. Could stevia be used as sugar instead?
Thanks for the recipe.
Katrin Nürnberger says
Of course. If you use granular stevia, check that it's a 1:1 sugar replacement. If you use stevia drops, calculate how much you need (mine is equivalent to 1 tsp of sugar per 4 drops)
Dee says
is the carb count before or after taking out the fiber?
Katrin Nürnberger says
It's the total carbs. You have to deduct the fibre to get the net carbs. 🙂
Jan says
I wanted a crispier cookie but wanted to see what the heavy cream did so I added 1 Tbsp instead of 2. I also added a pinch of salt and a large egg instead of medium because that's what I had on hand. I liked them.
They weren't supper crispy like the old regular/non-keto cookies but the almond flour taste was more subtle. I've tried other recipes and I don't like how overpowering the almond flour taste is.
I will say the dough was very sticky to work with, but I still got 9 good size cookies with this recipe.
Definitely my new go to.
Katrin Nürnberger says
For a cookie that is crispy through and through I would replace the cream with more butter and use only the egg white. Also, thin and flat is the way to go, plus let them brown properly (and then cool fully).
Janet says
I put these in the oven for 11 minutes while I went to peg my washing out. When I came in to check them they were far too well done. They tasted burnt
Katrin Nürnberger says
What a shame! Try baking on a lower shelf next time so they don't burn as quick. Or use a slightly lower oven temperature
Janet says
They were still delicious though. I am going to make 20 next time & I will put them on a lower shelf & a slightly lower temperature. Thanks for the recipe
rose says
looks great thanks!
so question here.. why couldn't we ADD gluten?
#1 it's a protein, sure from wheat, but as a protein would not trigger insulin
for gluten=intolerant folks could omit
Katrin Nürnberger says
You can add to these chocolate chip cookies whatever you want 🙂 I avoid wheat myself, so you won't find any gluten on this website 🙂
Jan says
can you use oat flour instead of almond flour (nut allergy!)
Katrin Nürnberger says
I think you probably could. Check if you need to use the same amount though or maybe a little less.
MiRai says
what about a Soya cuisine (Alpro / plant based cream alternative) instead of heavy cream? Have anyone tried that?
Katrin Nürnberger says
A reader once tried it in another recipe (the required regular yoghurt I believe) and the result was watery. I would just leave out the cream altogether, maybe increase the butter a little.
Ally says
How about almond cream? That should work, right? I used normal cream since its hard to find double cream here in Germany and the Xanthan (which is suggested with the coconut flour) I replaced with Konjac Powder. I had to add extra cream because the batter was a bit dry.