Low Carb Keto Pumpkin Cookies – Soft & Chewy!
Can you smell that? That smell is pumpkin spice, and it’s about to light up your life until the snow falls and peppermint and pine take over. Fall is settling in, the leaves are falling (rapidly), and evenings are crisp. It’s the perfect time to start your fall baking and a great time to try these keto pumpkin cookies
Low Carb Pumpkin Spice Cookies
These cookies have a few wonderful things going for them, and I really think you’re going to enjoy them.
They are:
- Low carb
- Keto-friendly
- Gluten-Free
- Soft & Chewy
- Sweet & Slightly Spicy (the level of spice can be adjusted for your own tastes)
What Sweeteners work best in this recipe
We like allulose in these cookies. They add that chewiness without any crystallization. The allulose creates a different texture over other sweeteners. That texture is what makes these cookies really sing.
With that said, if you do not have allulose, you can use erythritol, monk fruit, Swerve, etc. Any of your favorite granular sweeteners will work just fine.
The only thing to note is that if you use any sugar alcohols like erythritol, the cookies will harden as they cool. This isn’t a bad thing; it just creates a different texture. If you like your cookies a bit crispier, erythritol may be the sweetener you want to use.
Answers about Sweeteners, Low Carb Baking Tips, and General FAQ
For more detailed information about must-have baking tools and answers about sugar replacements, you can check out these FAQ pages.
We also have a handy sweetener replacement chart you can download for free!
Our FAQ Pages have answers to your biggest low carb baking questions including:
Tips for Baking With Almond Flour
Tips for Baking with Coconut Flour
Guides for Allulose, Monk Fruit, and Erythritol.
Substitutes for Xanthan Gum.
Keto Pumpkin Cookie Baking Tips
There are a few tips for making these keto pumpkin cookies perfect every time, but the number one is, do not skip chilling the dough. If you do not chill the dough, the cookies will spread into thin non-cookie looking things.
- Sift all your dry ingredients together to ensure there are no lumps. Almond flour tends to lump!
- Do not skip the protein powder. In this recipe, the protein powder acts as a binder replacement since we do not have any gluten. Without the binder, the cookies will fall apart. We have a binder substitute list. You can check out if you want to use something like xanthan gum or psyllium husks instead.
- Blend your cream cheese, butter, and sweetener until well blended.
- Add the egg, vanilla, and rest of the wet ingredients and blend until there are no lumps.
- Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight. Chilling prevents spreading and also allows the spices to really bloom inside the batter.
- Once the batter is cool, roll a heaping tablespoon into a small ball, and gently press down onto a prepared cookie sheet with parchment (don’t skip the parchment, the cookies will stick).
- Bake for 16-17 minutes until the cookies are just slightly browned around the edges. Leave the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before placing them on a cooling rack.
How to make the frosting (Optional, but delicious!)
- In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, whip cold cream cheese until it becomes spreadable.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure all cream cheese bits are well blended.
- Add the heavy cream, vanilla, and sweetener to the bowl and mix on low until whip cream starts to blend with cream cheese.
- Turn the mixer up and whip the mixture until soft and fluffy.
Storage & Serving Suggestions
Storage Tips
Made with allulose, these keto pumpkin cookies store well in the fridge for up to three days. They will firm up slightly but maintain their chewy soft texture.
If you made these cookies with other sweeteners, the texture change could be significant once the cookies cool.
Freezing Tips
For freezing, you can freeze the dough up to a month in a well-sealed container. Defrost in the fridge overnight. Or, instead of freezing the dough, freeze the shaped cookies. This way, you can pull out as many cookies as you want to bake up. Give the cookies about 20 minutes at room temperature before adding them to the oven.
Baked cookies store well frozen as well, be sure to cover them well!
Looking for More Fall Recipe Inspiration?
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Cheesecake Stuffed Pumpkin Bread
- Low Carb Pumpkin Spice Muffins
- Keto-Friendly Pumpkin Spice Donuts
- Chewy Maple Spice Low Carb Granola
Keto Pumpkin Cookies
Soft and chewy, sweet, and spicy keto pumpkin cookies. Only 2 net carbs per cookie!
Ingredients
Pumpkin Spice Cookie Batter
- 1/4 cup pure pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/4 cup full-fat cream cheese softened
- 2/3 cup granular allulose * see notes in post for substitutions
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/3 cup sifted fine ground almond flour
- 1/3 cup sifted coconut flour
- 2 tbsp unflavored protein powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp allspice
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ginger
Frosting
- 1 cup (8 ounces) cold full fat cream cheese
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/3 cup powdered allulose * see notes in post for substitutions
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Pumpkin Cookie Dough
- Sift almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, protein powder, salt, and spices into a medium-sized bowl.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a bowl with a hand mixer, blend cream cheese, butter, and allulose until well blended.
- Add the egg and vanilla to the allulose and butter mixture and blend well.
- Blend in pumpkin puree.
- Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients until everything is blended.
- Cover and chill for at least one hour.
- Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment.
- Roll heaping tablespoons onto the cookie sheet. Gently press down.
- Bake for 16-17 minutes or until the cookies turn golden around the edges.
- Pull the cookie tray from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from the tray.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cube one cup of cold full-fat cream cheese and add it to the bowl of a stand mixer and blend for 1 minute, until the cream cheese has no lumps. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary.
- Add vanilla and powdered allulose.
- Add 1/2 cup of full-fat whipping cream to the bowl and mix on low for 30 seconds, until blended with cream cheese. Turn up to medium and then high until the whipped cream and cream cheese fluff up and resemble buttercream frosting.
- Do not overbeat. Over beating will cause the mixture to liquefy.
- Spread frosting over the cookies and sprinkle with a tiny bit of cinnamon.
Notes
For those of you who want to skip the frosting, the cookies without frosting have 124 calories, 1 net carb, 5 grams of protein, and 11 grams of fat.
- The cookie batter must be cold before it is put inside the oven. Be sure to chill the dough!
- Be sure to sift all the dry ingredients.
- Don't skip the protein powder, it's the ingredient that helps hold everything together in this recipe.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 167Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 45mgSodium: 126mgCarbohydrates: 4gNet Carbohydrates: 2gFiber: 2gSugar: 1gProtein: 5g
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs (and sugar alcohols) are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fibre.
I made these yesterday and they are absolutely delicious! Thanks so
much for the recipe. I’ll be making them throughout the Fall.