These delicious and festive Sugar Free Cranberry Pistachio Cookies are keto, gluten free and low carb!
KETO CRANBERRY PISTACHIO COOKIES
Cranberry and Pistachios are a wonderful combination for a perfect, keto shortbread like cookie for the holiday season.
Pink might not be the typical Christmas color for a cookie but does knowing it contain cranberries make it more Christmas-y for you?
I wasn't planning on making them pink, but just felt like a little bright color was festive enough for the holiday. I've made these cookies 3 times now just to get them perfect with a chewy texture.
My original plan was a nut free cookies and the reason I was using coconut flour.
Have I told you about my youngest has a tree nut and peanut allergy? Also, he hates coconut.
BUT that doesn't stop me for making things with coconut flour and disguising it enough for him to eat it.
Obviously these now have pistachios in them, otherwise they would be a pretty allergy friendly cookie; no eggs, no nut flour etc, BUT I added pistachios to these simple cookies.
Why you might ask?
He hated the flavor of the cranberries.
I made them 3 times adjusting things each time and each time he tried them, nope, not interested. One bite was all he took.
So I said, forget it. I love nuts and some Christmas cookies just needs some nuts. End of story.
These are those cookies and they are so much prettier with the nuts. Perfect treat with a cup of coffee that won't spike blood sugar on my keto diet.
SWAPPING LOW CARB SWEETENERS
If you don't have Swerve sweetener you can use another sugar free granulated sweetener, but you should remove the lemon stevia. Swerve is not as sweet as most sugar free substitutes.
If you don't have lemon stevia, vanilla liquid stevia would be my next choice. You could also use low carb powdered sweetener.
Best way to work with low carb sweeteners is to always use less than recipe calls for, taste batter, and decide if it's right for you and your tastebuds. Everyone will feel differently about sweeteners, but there are so many on the market today.
The only thing to do is keep experimenting until you find one or two that works for you on your own low carb journey.
If you prefer to use another sweetener of choice like Monk Fruit or Allulose, no problem! Please use my Sweetener Guider & Conversion chart to help you figure out the right amounts to use.
CAN COCONUT FLOUR BE SWAPPED WITH ALMOND?
Unfortunately coconut flour and almond flour are not interchangeable in these keto cranberry cookies. Coconut requires more liquids and ore eggs and a little bit less flour.
¼ cup coconut flour is equal to about 1 cup almond flour and like I mentioned you would also need to decrease eggs and other liquids and makes a huge difference when using almond flour instead of coconut.
HOW TO MAKE KETO CRANBERRY PISTACHIO COOKIES
Ingredients
Exact measurements are at the bottom of the page on a printable recipe card, along with nutritional information.
You need some fresh cranberries, and the following dry ingredients; your favorite low carb sweetener, Swerve sweetener, lemon juice, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, coconut flour, and pistachios or pumpkin seeds could also be used instead for nut free.
The only wet ingredients are either room temperature butter or you can use coconut oil.
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the first 4 ingredients into a food processor and process until combined and cranberries are finely chopped. Set aside.
In a stand mixer or large bowl, add the coconut, Swerve, xanthan, baking powder and salt. Mix on slow to incorporate or combine by hand.
Add the remaining ingredients except the pistachios.
Since there are no eggs in this batter, please taste the batter and decide if you need more low carb sweetener.
On low speed stir in ¼ cup pistachios.
Roll cookie dough batter into 24 small balls of dough.
Place each on a silpat lined or parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten each then roll outer edges of cookie in remaining chopped pistachios.
Bake cookies in preheated oven for 12-14 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool completely before removing.
CAN THESE BE MADE NUT FREE?
Yes these keto low carb cookies can be made nut free.
If you do have a child with a nut allergy, then skip the pistachios, or replace with chopped pumpkin seeds instead. That would still give them some green color for the festive aspect, right?
Right. Oh and by the way, my other two kiddies and picky hubby LOVED these and they have become our favorite cookies. Can't win them all right?
Can I Swap Pistachios?
Yes if you'd like to swap the pistachios with walnuts they would be delicious sugar free cranberry walnut cookies! You could also swap out the pistachios with sliced almonds.
Can I use Unsweetened Dried cranberries instead of fresh?
Yes you could swap out the fresh cranberries and use an unsweetened dried cranberry recipe. My friend Carolyn from All Day I Dream About Food has a recipe for homemade unsweetened dried cranberries you might like.
More Sugar Free Cookie Recipes
Need more cookies with classic holiday combinations for the cookie exchanges this time of year? Check out all these low-carb cookie recipes;
Low Carb No Added Sugar Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Keto Classic Thumbprint cookies
SUGAR FREE KETO CRANBERRY PISTACHIO COOKIES
Sugar Free Low Carb Cranberry Pistachio Cookies
Ingredients
Cranberries
- ½ cup fresh unsweetened cranberries
- ¼ cup Swerve granular sweetener
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Cookie Batter
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ½ cup Swerve granular sweetener
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter room temperature, unsalted
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon lemon liquid stevia
- ¾ cup unsalted pistachios chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the first 4 ingredients into a food processor and process until combined and you have finely chopped cranberries. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer add the coconut, Swerve, xanthan, baking powder and salt. Mix on slow to incorporate.
- Add the remaining ingredients except the pistachios.
- Taste batter to adjust sweetener if needed.
- On low speed stir in ¼ cup pistachios.
- Roll batter into 24 balls.
- Place each on a silpat lined or parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Flatten each then roll outer edges of cookie in remaining chopped pistachios.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes until golden brown.
- Storage: Place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months or refrigerate for 7 days. You can also leave on the counter in a cool, dry place for 2-3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Jackie O Smith
that sounds perfect and I have pecans on hand as well as the other ingredients
Iva
Recipe does not say how to use the cranberry mixture
Cindy Ward
I made these yesterday and hubby and I both loved them! They were not as pretty as yours, lol, as I could not get the chopped pistachios to stick to the sides after flattening. I ended up just sprinkling them on top of the cookies. I missed the pretty pink color but they still tasted great! Any tips to get the nuts to stick to the sides?
Brenda
Thank you! You could smear a little softened butter around the edges of the cookie then dip into the pistachios.
Melissa
How many carbs each ?? Without the pistachios?
Patricia Raymond
Good evening-- Just made a recipe, and they were very soft. Baked an additional 4 minutes and they didn't firm up. Did you cool these on wire racks, or on the silicone sheets? And are they supposed to be soft or crispy? Thank you so much!
Brenda
They are soft once out of the oven then they will crisp up once cooled.
Patricia Raymond
Actually, user error-- I used TWICE the amount of butter in the recipe (two sticks, gaak!). Much better on try today-
Michelle
Do you have to use xanthan gum?
Brenda
Helps with the texture.
Michelle
What is the texture like without it.
Nakalan
Could you use just a gluten free flour for these also? I'd love to make these but am allergic to coconut!
Brenda
Yes you could sub that.
Lisa Reade
Could you use regular liquid stevia with some lemon extract to mimic the flavor of lemon stevia?
Brenda
Sure!
jeanie
I made these last night, with a few substitutions. Orange for lemon and pecans for pistachios. (Working with ingredients I had at home). Boy did they hit the spot! Great flavor.
Thanks!