These Keto Shortbread Cookies have a hint of lemon and are made with a shortbread dough that makes beautiful keto shortbread cookies, or the perfect low carb shortbread crust for a summer fruit tart or lemon meringue pie!
These Keto Shortbread cookies are my new easy, “go to” keto cookie recipe – and once you try them you’ll understand why!
I wasn’t always a fan of lemon flavored desserts – in fact, as a kid I wouldn’t even eat them. In my adulthood though, I’ve come to appreciate the brightness that lemon imparts to a dessert, especially in keto recipes – and now I can’t get enough of it.
I would even go so far as to say that when given the choice of lemon over chocolate, 75% of the time the lemon flavored dessert would win out. Crazy, I know – sometimes I can’t believe it either!
So maybe it’s due to all of the pastel colored foodie magazines showing up in my mailbox, and the promise of Spring and warmer weather just around the corner, but I’ve had lemons on the brain for weeks now.
Anyway, during my crazed obsession with all things lemon last week, I also made these awesome keto shortbread cookies with lemon zest, and they did NOT disappoint!
These keto shortbread cookies require just four ingredients and have an addicting but subtle lemon flavor and crusty shortbread texture that I absolutely love!
Be sure to use a sweetener that is advertised to bake like sugar in these keto shortbread cookies (I prefer granulated erythritol like Swerve, or a monk fruit and erythritol blend like Lakanto) and not a liquid sugar free sweetener or they may not hold together properly.
Also important is that you chill this keto shortbread dough before you cut them into cookies, otherwise they will crumble apart and be impossible to work with.
This versatile keto shortbread dough also makes a lovely low carb tart base or keto pie crust, which does not require pre-chilling. You simply press it into your pan and bake it for 15 minutes.
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Keto Shortbread Cookies
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 1 large tart or 16 cookies (about 2 inches in diameter) 1x
- Diet: Diabetic
Description
Keto shortbread cookies – but the dough also makes the perfect low carb shortbread crust for a summer fruit tart or lemon meringue pie!
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 cups superfine blanched almond flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sweetener (Swerve & Lakanto are my favorites)
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
Instructions
To make the dough:
- Melt the butter in the microwave or a small saucepan.
- Add the almond flour, sweetener, and lemon zest, stirring until fully combined.
To make cookies:
- Gather dough into a ball (it will be crumbly at first, this is normal)
- Then form into a cylinder shape about 10 inches long and 1.5 inches in diameter ( and wrap tightly with plastic wrap to compress.
- Chill in freezer for 30 minutes or until firm, or in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- With a sharp knife, slice into 1/2 inch thick cookies (if they crumble apart your dough isn’t cold enough) and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until firm and golden brown.
- Allow to cool before removing.
To make a tart or pie crust:
- No need to pre-chill, just press dough into tart or pie tins.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees (F) for 15 mins, or until firm and golden brown.
Notes
Approx nutrition info per 1/8th tart crust: 238 calories, 23g fat, 3g net carbs, 6g protein
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Keto desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 119
- Fat: 11g
- Carbohydrates: 2g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 3g
Can’t get enough keto lemon dessert recipes? Me either! Check out this amazing collection of delicious low carb lemon recipes from some of our favorite bloggers!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Sorry you had a bad experience Karen. I have made these more times then I can count and they always come together and I never have a problem with the butter to flour ratio. Not sure what went wrong for you.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Glad you were able to make them work for you!
Roberta says
If using ghee instead of butter, would the amount requested be the same? About the sweetener, since here it’s almost impossible to have Swerve or Lakanto, bu ther’s no problem to get erythritol, considering that personally I feel satisfied with not-so-sweet cookies and generally use erytrhitol 1:1 converting recipes that use castor sugar, would yuou think that I could simply swap this sweeteenr for the others you propose or should anyway be better to adding some more (and if so, how much would you suggest to get the best result)?
Thank you, looking forward to try this delish (meanwhile pinned it, together with the everything-lemon round up linked above) :-)
Mellissa Sevigny says
Ghee will work just fine and any brand of erythritol should also work just fine!
Jessica says
Oh wow these are so simple and so delicious!
Arin says
Very easy and quick recipe to recreate. I can confirm this recipe works well with granulated monkfruit!
I used this recipe as a topping for my peach cobbler, and it worked great. I baked the crust separately from the peaches and simply placed it on top of the cooked peaches after it had cooled completely.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Great idea Arin!
Marianne Slattery says
My dough was crumbly after almost two hours in the freezer. Any suggestions for how to form the cylinder and wrapping it up? My technique was an epic failure so I used it for a crust. The dough tastes wonderful!
Thank You
Marlyn says
Loved..loved these. Used vegan butter spread and they came out great. Big hit with my kids who immediately asked me to make a second batch!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks for letting us know these worked out in a vegan format Marlyn, glad they were a hit!
JoKing says
These sound so easy and I like the limited amount of ingredients. My biggest issue with most of your recipes however is family with tree nut allergies.
Kim says
Have you tried using oat flour in place of almond flour? I have a tree nut allergy and have been experimenting with it. So far works the same.
Cynthia Bowman says
I wanted to say thank you for this recipe. I have made it numerous times, we have made it original, spice, pecan, walnut and now coconut. Following your directions, it comes out wonderful every time.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks Cynthia! So glad you’re enjoying them and love your variations!
Nanci says
Have you tried making this as a savory recipe…like with rosemary?
Aline Allan says
Hi Mellissa, sorry, but I always have this question using the sweetener in my low carb recipes. I have granular erythritol, should I blend it to become a fine powder for all the recipes (including this one, can’t wait to try it), so it dissolves better? Thank you!
Mellissa Sevigny says
For my recipes unless I specifically call for powdered you can use the granulated, but if you need the powdered then blending it works just fine!