Keto/Low Carb Thumbprint Cookies

People were asking about a keto thumbprint cookie and I thought it would be easy enough for me to figure out a recipe before Christmas. And it took a few experiments but I got a nice crisp on the outside, soft, chewy inside jam filled keto thumbprint cookie. Can customize this cookie to your childhood favorite with different extracts, jams, rolling them in different nuts. Whatever your favorite kind of thumbprint was you can use this as a base recipe!

First thing you have to do for these cookies is either purchase a no sugar added keto jam (there really isn't a clean keto version on the market) or make your own which is SUPER easy!!! Just fresh or frozen berries and an alternative sweetener and cook until jammy looking. The best sweetener that won't crystalize is allulose, it just makes a smooth, glossy jewel looking keto jam! But you can use any sweetener you would like. Just keep in mind allulose is less sweet than most keto sweeteners so add less than the recipe calls for and taste as you go. You can also add anything you like to it. It would be great with some lemon or orange zest or juice.

The sweetener I choose for the cookie was classic granular monkfruit/erythritol blend, it's just been my go to for awhile. I started branching out with my brown sugar substitutes. The problem with that is I know Lakanto blend so well, I know how it reacts in recipes. I believe the classic white sugar substitutes are pretty interchangeable except for varying degrees of sweetness. I just like using products that I trust and don't have any added ingredients. Most granular sweeteners on the market have natural flavors (not natural at all), maltodextrin (still can have an impact on your blood sugar) or other ingredients I don't know what they are. Lakanto and Anthony's brand is just Monkfruit extract and erythritol.

For the flour mixture, I don't prefer the texture of almond flour and almost exclusively bake with coconut flour and whey protein isolate now. I feel like baked goods just come out better with coconut flour and you don't need a lot so it's very low carb. Then I've been using unflavored whey protein isolate which I find gives a fluffier texture to our keto baked goods. I believe any good brand of unflavored whey protein will work but I'm scared to experiment because once I used iconic brand for a loaf of bread and it turned out horrible. I don't know if it was just the recipe I found or the protein powder but it was a lot of ingredients that went into the trash. Brands I know that work are perfect keto flavored whey protein isolate powders, quest protein powder flavors, and isopure is my go to brand.

I added some gelatin to this cookie recipe to give the cookie a little bit of chew. And the xanthan gum I added to this recipe is essential to all keto baked goods. It is our replacement for the lack of gluten in our keto "flours". It keeps our keto baked goods from crumbling and falling apart.

The only other notes for this recipe is you have to whip the butter and sweetener together for a long time. This is very important for a soft, light and non-crystalized keto baked good. You want the mixture to get significantly lighter and fluffier than when you start mixing. For this recipe I recommend 8 minutes, scraping down several times to get everything evenly whipped. And another thing it to not indent the thumbprints too much, otherwise they will spread too much

I use a stand mixer because of all the whipping required but you can use a hand mixer, your arm may get tired though! You can also freeze any keto dough for future baking. For this particular recipe I would roll and add the print into the dough and freeze flat on a sheet tray. Then defrost completely in the refrigerator and pull out of the fridge an hour before baking, set on your baking sheet. Or you can defrost on the countertop flat on a parchment lined baking sheet until not cold anymore. Then fill with jam and bake as normal. I found they have better texture when they go into the oven at room temp. I tried a bunch of different ways to bake these cookies and I thought that had the best texture.

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Keto Thumbprint Cookie Recipe

Keto Jam Ingredients

8 oz. Frozen or fresh berries

120 g Allulose (3/4 Cup)

splash of water

Cookie Batter Ingredients

112g Salted Butter (8 Tbs./1/2 Cup) (room temp.)

66 g Granular Alternative Sweetener (1/3 Cup) Plus 2 Tbs. for rolling

1 Egg Yolk (room temp)

1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

40 g Unflavored Whey Protein Isolate

15 g Coconut Flour (2 Tbs.)

1/2 Tbs. Gelatin

1/2 tsp. Xanthan Gum

Instructions:

1. Pull out butter first, if making homemade keto jam make it first by boiling berries of choice, allulose, and water on medium heat until a thick syrup consistency forms and a swipe through the jam stays for a few seconds, transfer to a heat proof bowl and chill until completely cool and jelly like

2. Once the jam is almost done chilling, Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare a large cookie sheet with parchment paper, and put 1 egg in warm water

3. Beat the butter and sweetener for 8 minutes until light and fluffy

4. While that is whipping, weigh/measure, sift and whisk together the dry ingredients

5. Once butter and sweetener are super fluffy add the 1 egg yolk and vanilla extract and beat to combine scraping down a few times to make sure the egg is all incorporated

6. When everything is combined well, add all the dry ingredients at once and beat until well mixed, scraping down a few time to make sure you get everything at the bottom

7. Scoop about 1 Tbs. of dough down onto the parchment paper, once all scooped roll in hands and into a granular alternative sweetener and place about 2 inches apart on parchment paper

8. Using your thumb, press a small indent into the cookie and fill with 1/2 tsp. of keto jam

9. Bake for 13-16 minutes, turning half way through until just golden brown around the bottom

10. Let cool completely on the tray, will be soft until cooled, store in a ziplock bag at room temp for up to a week, can freeze the dough after putting the indent in them, flat on a sheet tray then transfer into a ziplock freezer bag. Fill with jam when completely thawed at room temp and bake normally

Macros for 1/16 cookie with raspberry jam:

71 Calories

6.25 g Fat

1.25 g Total Carbs

.5 g Fiber

.75 g Net Carbs

2.9 g Protein

With Strawberry Jam:

70 Calories

6 g Fat

.4 g Total Carbs

.6 g Net Carbs

2.9 g Protein