Keto Sugar Cookies – Low Carb Recipe (with frosting!)

I had someone email recently asking me why I didn’t have more cookie recipes on the site. I’d say low carb cookies are the hardest to get right. They take a lot of testing and trials, and I usually get frustrated long before I ever get to the point I want.  But I love cookies. I would say I would take a cookie over a piece of cheesecake any day, so long as the cookie was GOOD.  So are these frosted keto sugar cookies good?  Yes, yes, they are!  

These keto cookies are soft and cake-like and melt in your mouth.  They are not overly dry, but they are not moist, chewy cookies either, they land somewhere in between, just like traditional sugar cookies!  The sprinkles on the top are also low carb and keto-friendly, and if you want the recipe, you can hop on over to this post. 

The frosting is a half-sweet cream cheese whipped topping that I feel compliments them very well.   

These are pretty big cookies too, they are thick, and 3 inches in diameter and still only clock in at five net carbs.  If you made them smaller, you could cut the carbs even more, but you know sometimes you just want a big ass cookie, and in that case, this recipe works very well. 

This recipe is: 

• Keto-Friendly
• Low Carb
• Gluten-Free 

Keto Sugar Cookies with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

The great thing about sugar cookies is their versatility.   You can change up the flavors with different flavor oils, or the frosting, or anything you want. 

The sugar cookies are great without the frosting dipped or drizzled in chocolate because let’s get real; anything dipped in chocolate is goooooood!  

If you don’t like the thickness of the cookies, you can make them thinner, just watch the baking time.  And yes, you can even roll the dough and do cut-out sugar cookies, just make sure your dough is very cold when you roll it out.  The easiest way to do this is between two pieces of parchment paper. Use cookie cutters to cut out your shapes before the dough warms up too much.

Thinner cookies also make great sandwich cookies!  You can get quite creative with this recipe. 

What Sweeteners Work Best for this recipe?

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I tested this keto sugar cookie recipe with powdered erythritol. The powdered sweeteners like monk fruit and erythritol have a better texture, and tend to have the least amount of aftertaste, so I recommend them.  The powdered sweetener creates a softer cookie without a lot of grain.  I like So Nourished Monk Fruit Blend and Surkin Icing.  

Powdered erythritol, monk fruit, or blends of both work great in the frosting recipe. 

Swerve would work here as well, or any of your favorite granular blends like xylitol or erythritol.  

Liquid sweeteners like stevia will throw off the dry-to-wet ingredient ratio, and I don’t recommend them for this recipe, unless you want to do some testing on your own. 

Tips for the sugar cookie dough

• Make sure your eggs, butter, and cream cheese are at room temperature before blending.   
• Don’t skip the protein powder. It’s the ingredient that binds everything together in this recipe and holds the cookies together. 
• Be sure to wrap your dough in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before forming into cookies. 
• A large ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup will create the perfect size cookies. Scoop and roll dough into even balls.
• Once the cookies are formed into balls, push down with your fingers to flatten.  I tried using a cup, and it only made a mess. Fingers worked best!

Baking tips To make the perfect keto sugar cookie

• Use a heavy-duty cookie sheet.  If you do not have a heavy-duty cookie sheet, doubling up the pan with another cookie sheet will do the trick.  No second pan?  Use a layer of tin foil to protect the bottom of your sheet.   Almond flour and coconut flour over-brown, and protecting the bottom of the cookie sheet ensures an even golden brown bake. 
• Keep an eye out on the cookies around the 12-14 minute mark. We want the sugar cookies to be just starting to brown a bit around the edges.
• Line your baking sheets with a piece of parchment paper. This will prevent the cookies form sticking, and make it easy to transfer them to a cooling rack.
• Let the cookies cool on the pan for 10 minutes before removing them.  They will be soft (just like a regular cookie) when first out of the oven, and we need to give them time to set. 

Storage & Serving suggestions

I used my go-to frosting recipe because I find it’s not super sweet, and it doesn’t have that weird aftertaste when you use too much sweetener.  But you can use any of your favorite low carb frostings or toppings, or even eat them plain. The frosting recipe below is very soft at room temperature, and it is better if the keto sugar cookies get stored in the refrigerator.   With that said, I personally like the cookies themselves at room temperature.  They are softer and more melt in your mouth, so it’s a bit of a catch-22 here.  You could store your frosting in the fridge, and your cookies on the counter, and frost them as you need them. 

The cookies themselves, unfrosted, store brilliantly in the freezer.

No matter where you store these low carb keto sugar cookies, I recommend using an airtight container.

Also, to up the melt in your mouth feeling, a hot beverage is highly recommended. 

Looking for more Keto Cookie Recipes?

Are you looking for more cookie recipes that won’t ruin your keto diet? Try these ones out for a sweet treat:

• Low Carb Halloween Cookies – With Monster Fur and Googly Eyes
• Keto Gingerbread Cookies – Gluten and Sugar Free!
• Keto Lemon Cookie Recipe With Lemon Chocolate Glaze
• Low Carb Keto Pumpkin Cookies – Soft & Chewy!
• Easy Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies – Soft, Chewy, and Amazing!
• Almond Flour Thumbprint Cookies (Low Carb & Keto Friendly)

Editorial Note: This recipe was originally published on April 8, 2020, and was updated on March 1, 2022.