Keto Sugar Cookie Cutouts

I feel like sugar cookie cut outs are an essential cookie to have for the holidays. So I had to figure out a soft and sturdy keto version. These cookies are absolutely delicious, the perfect texture, not dry or crumbly, perfect! The decorating leaves something to be desired but I have yet to find keto Christmas sprinkles, so I made due with what I had without using to many dyes, which I try to avoid.

These cookies are pretty simple, I start with whipping the butter and sweetener until super light and fluffy. The colder the butter is, the longer you need to whip. I used Lakanto classic granular sweetener but swerve would work fine. Using stevia or splenda would probably work also but they are usually on the sweeter side so just be mindful of that. The thing I like about the lakanto is it's one for one with regular sugar so it's easy to convert regular recipes using them. I don't recommend allulose much for baking because it tends to burn easily and it can make keto baked goods too soft. You need a sturdy cookie that you can frost.

The flour mix is similar to all my other recipes and is pretty simple. 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. Can use a vanilla whey protein isolate for this recipe and I bet it would be delicious. I added xanthan gum to this recipe as always because it 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 flavoring for this cookie is completely up to you. I chose vanilla extract and a little almond extract for this particular recipe. But I know most people have their own preferred flavorings for sugar cookie cut outs. So feel free to change up the extracts used for this recipe.

The decorating can be many things depending on what you are comfortable using. I included the buttercream that I prefer but it will not harden like a traditional frosted sugar cookie would. I don't prefer the cooling effect of too much powdered monkfruit/erythritol so I only used a small amount and then added some pure powdered monkfruit to add to the sweetness of the butter. To make the frosting harden on the cookies you would have to at least double the amount of powdered monkfruit/erythritol in my recipe. You can add any powdered sweetener to taste for the frosting, it just has to be powdered. You can also use pure powdered stevia to help sweeten the butter. The pure stevia and monkfruit are very sweet so I would add little by little until you reach the sweetness you prefer. Flavoring for the frosting is also up to you, along with the color of the frosting. I just kept it an off white, the color made from butter and the vanilla extract.

To decorate I just chose to use a little bit of food coloring in some classic granular monkfruit/erythritol to make a colored sugar. But this is because I have not found any naturally colored Christmas sprinkles to decorate with. Just add one drop of food coloring at a time to the granular sweetener, if you add to much dye it will be too wet and clumpy. To fix that just add more sweetener until the sugar is separated again. I did buy some keto rainbow sprinkles to decorate, I really like them actually, they give a nice crunch to the cut out cookies.

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Keto Sugar Cookie Cut Out Recipe

4 oz. Butter (1/2 Cup, 112 g) (softened)

96 g Granular Sweetener (1/2 Cup) (I used Lakanto Monkfruit)

1 Egg (room temp)

1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract (can use any flavoring you want)

1/4 tsp. Almond Extract

80 g Unflavored Whey Protein Isolate (approximately 3/4 Cup)

30 g Coconut Flour (1/4 Cup)

1/2 tsp. Xanthan Gum

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Salt (if using unsalted butter)

Buttercream Frosting: (Can use any amount or combination of powdered sweeteners you like)

4 oz. Butter (1/2 Cup, 112 g) (softened)

56 g Powdered monkfruit sweetener (about 1/2 Cup)

1/8 tsp. Monkfruit extract powder

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract (can use any flavoring)

keto sprinkles to decorate (optional)

This was enough frosting to cover 18 small star cookies

Instructions:

1. Using a hand mixer or the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, beat the room temperature butter, and sweetener until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping down several times to evenly whip

2. While that whips, measure, sift and whisk all dry ingredients together

3. Add in the one room temperature egg and vanilla/almond extracts to the whipped butter and sweetener and beat until fully combined

4. Add in all dry ingredients at once and mix until fully combined, scraping down several times

5. Place dough onto a piece of parchment paper and squish into a disk, place another piece of parchment paper over top and roll out to 1/4 inch thick

6. Place on a cookie sheet and chill for about 30 minutes to an hour, once chilled preheat oven to 350 degrees

7. Cut out cookies and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, can be close together as they don't spread much, I got 18 small stars

8. Re-roll until all dough is used, handle as little as possible so the dough doesn't get to soft, if you can't pick up the cut outs anymore, re-roll and chill for 30 minutes before continuing

9. Once the pan is full bake for 10-11 minutes until the edges just start to get golden, let cool and make the frosting

10. To make the frosting, beat the butter and sifted sweetener together until light and fluffy add extract of choice and beat to combine, if frosting is to thick to spread add a teaspoon of water at a time until it is a spreadable consistency, frost cooled cookies and decorate as desired

Macros for the cookie dough only:

1287 Calories

101 g Fat

20 g Total Carbs

10 g Fiber

10 g Net Carbs

82 g Protein