Amazingly delicious keto cookie dough is made with almond flour and sweetened with stevia. My picky teenage tester says it’s as good as the real thing!
I developed this recipe after my teenage daughter announced that she’s been craving cookie dough lately. She had a plan: go to the supermarket, buy Pillsbury refrigerated cookie dough and have at it.
When I pointed out that it wasn’t really such a good idea, she found what seems to be a higher quality dough that you can order online. But even that brand, that uses safe, heat-treated wheat flour, was still very high in carbs.
A keto alternative
What if I make a keto version? I asked. She was game! And when she tasted the dough, she loved it. We both loved it actually, maybe too much. Between the two of us, we polished off a batch in just 2 days. 😳
Why keto cookie dough works
It shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone that a dough made with almond flour is amazingly tasty.
After all, almond flour tastes much better than wheat flour! Have you ever tried tasting raw flour? It’s not tasty, and unless heat treated, it’s also unsafe to eat.
In contrast to wheat flour, almond flour is delicious, and as long as it was processed properly with no contamination, it should be perfectly safe to eat. After all, it’s just ground almonds.
So if you don’t use an egg in this recipe (and there’s no reason to), it’s not just tasty, but also safe to eat without baking it first.
The ingredients used in this recipe
You’ll only need six simple ingredients to make keto cookie dough (the exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below):
Unsalted butter: Do make sure it’s unsalted. I love using creamy European butter, but any butter will be great.
Sweetener: I use stevia. You might be able to use a granulated sweetener instead, but I haven’t tried that.
Vanilla extract: Try to use the real thing – pure vanilla extract – and not the artificially flavored stuff.
Kosher salt: If using fine salt, use less of it.
Almond flour: An excellent flour substitute. It’s best to use blanched finely ground flour in this recipe.
Dark chocolate chips: The darker you can go and still enjoy them, the better.
Can I use a sweetener other than stevia?
You can try. The amount of stevia I use in this keto cookie dough recipe is equal to about 1/3 cup of granulated sweetener.
Substituting a granulated sweetener for the stevia will most likely work. But since I haven’t tried it myself, I can’t say for sure.
What chocolate chips to use?
I use extra dark, 85% cacao chocolate chips, that I order on Amazon (link provided in the recipe card below). I’m not a fan of sugar-free chocolate chips. I don’t think they taste very good.
But obviously, you can use your favorite brand of chocolate chips, although nutrition info will change.
How do you make keto cookie dough?
It’s so easy! It’s one of the easiest keto desserts on this blog. Scroll down to the recipe card for the detailed instructions. The basic steps:
Mix the ingredients. You mix almond flour, melted butter, stevia, and vanilla. Add just a bit of Kosher salt to make the flavor more interesting.
Shape them into balls. Form the mixture into balls.
Top them with a few chocolate chips, and voila – you just made a truly fabulous keto dessert, and it took you all of 20 minutes!
Before shaping the dough into balls, I recommend freezing it for a few minutes, to make it easier to work with. But if you don’t mind working with oily, somewhat stubborn dough, this step is not strictly necessary.
I’m a very impatient person, and I usually shape the dough balls right after mixing the dough.
Can you freeze keto cookie dough?
Yes, you can. You can either store it in the fridge, in an airtight container, for up to 5 days. Or freeze it for up to 3 months in freezer bags. Allow it to thaw before enjoying it.
More cookie recipes that you might enjoy
If you like this keto cookie dough, you will also love these keto chocolate chip cookies. They are soft, chewy and chocolatey.
It’s a very similar recipe to this one. Except that you add an egg and some baking soda to the batter, and then you bake it (duh).
And these almond flour shortbread cookies are so delicious and buttery! Their dough is quite crumbly, but I think it’s well worth the amazing buttery flavor.
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Keto Cookie Dough
INGREDIENTS
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon stevia glycerite (equals 1/3 cup granulated sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (not fine salt)
- 1 1/2 cups blanched finely ground almond flour (6 oz)
- 60 dark chocolate chips (1 oz)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place the butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Melt it in the microwave, in 30-second increments.
- Using a fork, mix in the stevia, vanilla, and kosher salt.
- Add the almond flour, mixing it in with a fork and then lightly kneading the dough with your hands until smooth.
- Place the dough in the freezer for 10 minutes to help it set and make it easier to work with.
- Divide the cookie dough into 12 equal parts, each weighing about 20 grams. You can use a heaping measuring tablespoon for each of them. Using your hands, shape each part into a smooth ball. The dough will be oily and sticky, but not impossible to work with.
- Insert 5 chocolate chips into the surface of each cookie dough ball.
- Allow the cookie dough balls to set for about 15 minutes at room temperature before enjoying them. But if you can’t help yourself and dig right in, that’s fine too!
- Keep the leftovers in the fridge, in an airtight container, for up to 5 days. Remove them from the fridge 30 minutes before enjoying them.
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Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., CNC, has been following a low-carb real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She's a Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC), has taken courses at the Harvard School of Public Health, and has earned a Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate from Cornell University. Her work has appeared in several major media outlets, including Healthline, HuffPost, Today, Women's Health, Shape, Reader's Digest, and Better Homes and Gardens.