Keto Lemon Cookies. Crisp and buttery lemon-scented cookies topped with sweet and tart icing. These go great with a cup of earl grey tea and a good book.
Keto Lemon Cookies – Low Carb, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, THM S
I don’t think I’ve ever met a cookie I didn’t like. Depending on my mood I like chocolate, nut, mint, fruit, and citrus cookie flavors. I’m on a holiday baking journey to bring you a dozen new cookie recipes before Christmas. These Iced Lemon Cookies are number two.
In case you missed recipe number one you can check out my Almond Crunch Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies here.
I’ve been working on the perfect base cookie dough and I think I’ve perfected it. The dough for both of these recipes is very similar and I’m using it again in my Peppermint Fudge Sandwich Cookies coming this weekend.
Feel free to experiment with it on your own by changing the flavor of the extract and the mix-ins.
How to make Lemon Cookies
The dough for these lemon cookies mixes up in the food processor in minutes.
- Add the ingredients to the food processor.
- Process until the dough comes together in a ball. This takes 1-2 minutes. First, it looks dry and crumbly but then it will come together.
- Make balls of dough and flatten onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake. Top with icing and lemon zest.
Keto Lemon Cookies Ingredients:
cold salted butter
Almond Flour – I’ve really come to prefer almond flour in baked goods. It gives a tender crumb in cakes, cookies, and biscuits.
Coconut Flour – Just a little bit of coconut flour goes a long way. Coconut flour helps to balance the oiliness of almond flour since it is naturally drier and absorbs more liquid than other alternative flours.
Sugar-Free Sweetener – I like to use a blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia in my recipes. You can purchase this pre-mixed from the Trim Healthy Mama website or mix your own according to my recipe. By using a combination of sugar alcohols and stevia you can use half the amount required of regular sugar. Since these sweeteners can be more expensive this helps with my food budget.
Gelatin – these cookies do not have eggs so the gelatin acts as a binder and helps hold them together. If you sub in eggs your cookies will be softer and cakier.
lemon extract or fresh lemon zest
Powdered Sweetener for the icing – Most of the time I use my own blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia but there are some recipes that work better using a store-bought powdered sweetener. Those are ground finer than you can normally get in your home kitchen.
What other flavors can I use?
You can easily make these with another citrus flavor like orange or lime by swapping out the lemon extract, juice, and zest for the option of your choice.
Make a regular buttery shortbread cookie by omitting the citrus.
Add in chopped unsweetened dried cranberries and sugar-free white chocolate chips.
Leave out the lemon and drizzle the tops with melted chocolate and sprinkle with nuts.
More Keto Cookies:
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Ingredients
Dough Ingredients:
- 4 oz cold salted butter (1 stick) cut into pieces
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/3 cup Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet or my sweetener
- 2 tsp gelatin
- 1 tsp lemon extract or zest
Icing Ingredients:
- 1 cup powdered erythritol
- 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
- lemon zest optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Next, combine all the dough ingredients in the food processor and pulse until a uniform dough forms. Divide into 24 balls and put on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Press down with your fingers. Sprinkle with a little more sweetener.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool for at least 10 minutes.
- Combine the powdered sweetener with 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a small bowl. Stir until smooth. Add additional lemon juice if needed. Spread on the cooled cookies.
- Garnish with lemon zest.
Notes
To sub in Swerve use 1.5 to 2 times the amount of sweetener called for.
Nutrition
Originally Published December 9, 2016. Revised and Republished August 24, 2019.
Sydney Lee says
I can’t wait to make these cookies! Lemon iced cookies are my fiancé’s favorite. We do like them soft and chewy so to sub the gelatin for egg, how many eggs, and would you use the whole egg or just the whites? Thank you!
Taryn says
I’d try 1 egg.
Sydney Lee says
Thank you, Taryn!
Tsimes says
If you subtract the fiber, that means that each cookie has zero carbs?? What am I missing here?
Taryn says
Yes, if you just eat one. Eating several will raise the net carb count to 2 or 3. This is helpful to figure out nutrition for how many you eat. Just make sure to delete the carbs for the sweeteners since they are sugar alcohol. https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe_parser
Carlie says
Maybe I’m being done but why does it say 4oz (1 stick) butter when 1 stick of butter is 8 oz. Sorry. Love your recipes!!!!
Taryn says
Generally, there are 4 sticks in a one pound box so each is 4 ounces. A pound has 16 ounces. 1 stick has 8 tablespoons, that might be why it’s confusing.
Carlie Kukielski says
I knew I was missing something…hahaha. Thank you for clarifying. Sometimes one is too close to the problem to see the solution XD.
Erin says
I made these today and the cookies turned out perfect! I had a little problem with the frosting. I used powdered swerve, and made it exactly per the recipe. I was able to frost two cookies before it turned in a hard mess. I added a little more lemon, and ended up adding hot water to try to get it pliable. I was able to salvage it, and the cookies, but they aren’t pretty. : ) Has anyone else had this problem with Swerve?
Taryn says
How much swerve did you use? If you doubled the amount (as I mention in my sweetener notes since it isn’t as sweet) you would definitely need to add more liquid.
Erin says
I used 1 cup, and started with 2 T. lemon juice. I ended up adding a bunch of hot water and that helped a bit. I’ll probably start with a smaller amount of Swerve and go from there. The cookies have been a huge hit! I shared some with my mom, she said I could bake those for her anytime. Thanks for a great recipe!
Jamie Pittman says
Could you use fresh meter lemon juice in the dough instead of lemon extract? If so, how much would you recommend? Do you have any other Keto recipes that use fresh lemon juice? Thanks!!
Taryn says
You can use fresh lemon juice. I’d try 2 tsp and add some zest into the dough too.
I use fresh lemon juice in my Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole. And you can make my Lime Curd with lemon instead.
Ellen says
Hi,
I was wondering how much lavender you would add to make a lemon and lavender cookie. The two go beautifully together…and would be divine with a cup of earl grey tea.
Taryn says
I’d start with 2 tsp and then taste the dough. I’ve never made lavender cookies but I just looked up some recipes and most use 2-4 tsp.