These low carb thumbprint cookies are the perfect sweet treat for the holiday season. No one will know that they are sugar free and gluten free and best of all they are only 0.9g net carbs per cookie!
You might also like these low carb spice tea cookies!
I love cookies. Lately every time I go by a certain bakery I stop in for a couple thumbprint cookies. I don’t know if it’s because my mom used to make these or if it’s the nuts and buttercream icing that I love so much. Finally I said enough is enough and I set out to make some low carb thumbprint cookies and I am so happy with the result. Each cookie is only 0.9g net carbs and they are delicious! My husband raved about them and he doesn’t even like sweets so much.
Search for the best buttercream recipe
I love buttercream icing and have been on a mission to find the best one. Our local bakery (Barton’s) has the best in my opinion and I have been trying to figure out how them make theirs. I finally came upon a recipe from my friend Veena and it was spot on. If you love buttercream icing, I have to recommend her recipe and her video is especially helpful. However I wanted a sugar free recipe so I made my own and it was delicious too. (But if you want the real deal and you don’t care about carbs go check out Veena’s)
Notes about this low carb thumbprint cookie recipe
The base of the cookie is my mom’s recipe and my sister Patti has a post with her recipe! I substituted almond flour and Swerve sweetener and they came out great! They are very soft to work with and they seem pretty fragile at first but once they cooled, they were perfect. The nuts keep the dough together so don’t skimp on the walnuts.
The butter cream is really sweet and the secret is to beat it for a long time- 5 to 10 minutes. Start out with less sugar and add more if you think it needs it. I used Swerve confectioner’s sweetener so it would mimic powdered sugar however I found that you don’t need to use as much as powdered sugar.
Low Carb thumbprint cookies
These sugar free cookies were delicious to me and I hope you like these as much as I did. I froze them so I could have 1 or two every once in awhile. My low carb spice tea cookies are a good low carb cookie too but not as fancy as these. I will be making these again and again I assure you! The nutrition for 1 cookie is:
176 cals / 17.9g fat / 22.3g carbs / 21.4g fiber / 2.9g protein = 0.9g net carbs
Check out my friend Kasey’s keto chocolate snowball cookies for another delicious cookie recipe for the holidays!

Low Carb Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1 cup butter softened 2 sticks
- 1/2 cup Swerve sweetener
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 1/2 cup walnuts finely chopped
Butter Cream Icing
- 1 stick of butter softened
- 1/4 cup of heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups Swerve confectioners sweetener
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
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Chop nuts and add to a shallow bowl.
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Separate eggs and put the whites in a shallow bowl and the yolks in with the butter.
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In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, Swerve, vanilla, salt and egg yolks.
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Add in the flour and mix until a dough forms.
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Roll the dough into balls and then dip in the egg whites and then roll in the walnuts.
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Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 5 minutes.
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Pull out of the oven and gently push your thumb into the cookies to make a print.
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Place back into the oven for 7-10 minutes until lightly browned.
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Let cool completely before icing.
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To make the icing, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla using a standing mixer.
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Slowly add the cream and then mix on high for 5-10 minutes until nice and creamy.
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When cookies are cooled, pipe the icing onto the cookies.
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emma
Thanks so much for sharing with us at our Thanksgiving Edition of Full Plate Thursday! Hope you have a great week and come back soon!
Rick
These are really good. I get to eat all of the rejects.
Denise
Haha!
Megan
Thank you for providing a low carb option to survive the holidays! #MM
Denise
You are quite welcome!
Miz Helen
Your cookies look so pretty and will be delicious! Thanks so much for sharing with us at our Thanksgiving Edition of Full Plate Thursday! Hope you have a great week and come back soon!
Miz Helen
Christie Hawkes
They look delicious! Thumbprint cookies are one of only two cookies I still bake every Christmas. I haven’t tried using almond flour though. Thanks for the tip. I found your blog on Over the Moon. Happy holidays!
~Christie
Denise
Thanks for stopping by Christie. The almond flour works surprisingly good!
Helen at the Lazy Gastronome
What is swerve sweetener? I’ve never heard of it. Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party!
Denise
Swerve sweetener is erythritol which is a natural sweetener. You use it like you would sugar.