Golden Cookies (Low-Carb, Grain-Free)

These lovely low-carb and gluten-free Golden Cookies are made with almond meal, coconut flour and stevia with added vanilla, orange zest, pistachios and dried cranberries. With the most delicious, golden syrup, and floral and coconut flavours, they are perfect for Christmas, birthdays, and with a cup of tea.


Golden Cookies (Low-Carb, Gluten-free, Grain-Free)
 

Low-Carb Golden Cookies

I’ve been getting into cookie-making lately. Perhaps I am inspired by the Christmas holidays. In any case, these healthy, low-sugar cookies can be enjoyed any time of the year. This recipe uses butter but they are grain-free and gluten-free and have no added sugar.

Each cookie has about 5-5.5 grams net carbs and 3 grams sugar (mostly from nut meals and the cranberries, so you can reduce that even further).

The texture of these cookies is slightly softer and more fragile than regular wheat-flour cookies, but they hold well together and the flavour is delicious. I quite like the texture, actually, it’s like the softer part of a regular cookie but all throughout.

Low-Carb Cookies With Almond Meal & Coconut Flour

Why Golden Cookies?

The reason I call these golden cookies is because of their lovely colour and flavour that reminds me of golden syrup, although none is used here.

Sweetened with stevia, these cookies are low-carb but the addition of citrus, vanilla extract, coconut and almond meal give that sweet, nutty, caramel-y flavours…which if you can describe it in a colour would be golden brown. They are somewhere between a vanilla cookie and a coconut macaron.

Golden Coconut Cookies With Pistachios & Cranberries

How To Make These Low-Carb Cookies (Video)

The recipe is pretty simple but I’ve replaced regular flour with almond meal, coconut flour and some shredded, unsweetened coconut. I used butter but you could make it with coconut butter or ghee for a dairy-free version. Ghee is about 99% fat with most of the milk solids removed, so usually save for those sensitive to lactose.

I’ve added chopped pistachios and dried cranberries as I wanted to give these cookies a festive, Christmas feel but you can add any chopped nuts or chocolate chips. You can find dark chocolate, dairy-free chips these days.


Recipe Tips

Once the batter is mixed, it should be very thick. I use an ice cream scoop to shape and add the cookie batter onto the baking sheet. You can use a tablespoon. Don’t flatten the batter before you put it in the oven. When you bake these, the batter will literally melt into a pancake shape.

Once you remove the cookies, they will be really soft to the touch and a little bouncy. This is NOT their final texture! You have to let them cool completely and ideally in the fridge before they become firmer.

How to bake low-carb, almond meal cookies

I like to store them in the fridge as they last longer but you could keep them in an airtight container for a few days.

Almond Meal Cookies With Coconut Flour (Low-Carb)
 

More Grain-Free, Gluten-Free Baking


Full Recipe 

Find the full list of ingredients, instructions, and nutritional breakdown below. If you have questions or cook this recipe, please let me know in the comments, and make sure to rate this recipe so it’s easy for others to find.

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Golden Cookies (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

Golden Coconut Cookies (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Author: Irena Macri
Servings: 12 cookies
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
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Calories: 236kcal
Delicious golden cookies made with coconut flour, almond meal and stevia with a few cranberries and pistachios to add a little festive flare. These are low-carb, grain-free and gluten-free.

Ingredients 

  • 1/2 cup pistachios chopped
  • 30 g dried cranberries chopped (1/4 cup)

Dry ingredients

  • 1.5 cups almond meal
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut unsweetened
  • 1/2 teaspoon bi-carb soda

Butter mixture

  • 150 g unsalted butter cubed and softened (5.2 oz.)
  • 1/3 cup stevia granules or another low-carb sugar alternative equal to 1/2 cup regular sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence or extract
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 small eggs if using large eggs, add a little extra flour

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180 C / 355 F. Line two flat baking sheets with non-stick parchment paper.
  • Chop pistachios and cranberries and set aside.
  • Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
  • Using an electric whisk, beat together butter and stevia until just combined. Add the other ingredients and whisk together for 10-15 seconds until well combined.
  • Add the dry flour mixture in 3 batches and whisk. Finally, add the nuts and cranberries and fold together with a spatula.
  • Using a small ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, add small blobs of the dough to the baking sheets (about 6 per sheet, with enough space between as the cookies will drop and flatten out while baking).
  • Either bake one tray at a time, or do them in two lots. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Don’t panic if it looks like the cookie dough is melting. The balls will melt and flatten into pancake shapes. When you remove the trays, they will feel soft to touch and a little bouncy. Leave them on the tray to cool for 5 minutes, then move with a spatula to a rack to cool completely. They will firm up and become more stable. I like to pop them in the fridge for an hour, and they get a really nice texture.
  • I also prefer to store mine in the fridge as they last much longer and stay fresh.

Notes

Cranberries can be omitted if you want to reduce carbohydrate/sugar amount even further.

Nutrition

Calories: 236kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 50mg | Sodium: 66mg | Potassium: 74mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 369IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 1mg
Keywords: Christmas, Healthy Cookies, Holidays, Grain-Free, Cookies, Gluten-Free
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Irena Macri
By Irena Macri

About the author: Hi, I’m Irena Macri. I share delicious recipes that I have cooked and loved. I am a published cookbook author, have been food blogging for over 10 years and have a Diploma in Nutrition. You will find many healthy recipes as well as my favourite comfort food. More about me here | Subscribe to my newsletter and freebies

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