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These keto cream cheese cookies are the keto cookies recipe that everyone at the table loves! With a few simple ingredients and kitchen tools, I’ll show you how to make the best delicate and buttery low carb cookies recipe fit for any occasion — all with minutes of prep. Plus, get my top tips for helping your keto cookies bake perfectly every time!
Cream cheese makes great desserts (low carb cheesecake is my most popular!) and adds delicious tang to breakfasts, like cream cheese pancakes. To make a keto cookie with cream cheese, though, I took inspiration from my keto shortbread cookies and made a few tweaks to give them more structure and complex flavor. This keto cookie recipe is perfect for holidays or anytime you need a little treat in your day.
For a soft, chewy consistency and buttery flavor, these cream cheese keto cookies depend on two key ingredients: Besti Monk Fruit Allulose Blend and Wholesome Yum Almond Flour. Unlike other sugar substitutes that can make cookies brittle or give them an aftertaste, this one helps them bake up soft and taste just as sweet as regular cookies — all with 0 grams net carbs and no added sugar. Combine with this finely ground almond flour, and you get low carb sugar free cookies with perfect taste and texture!
Why You’ll Love This Low Carb Keto Cookies Recipe
- Subtle buttery and tangy flavor
- Soft centers with light, crisp edges
- Uses basic keto diet pantry staples
- 1 bowl and no special equipment needed
- Naturally gluten-free with no wheat flour
- 10 minutes prep
- 1.7 grams of net carbs per cookie
- Quick keto dessert that everyone loves with tea, coffee, or on a holiday cookie tray!
Ingredients & Substitutions
This section explains how to choose the best ingredients for easy keto cream cheese cookies, what each one does in the recipe, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card below.
- Butter – I prefer grass-fed butter in my low carb cookie recipes, but any unsalted variety will work. Make sure it is softened. Butter flavored coconut oil might work as a substitute to reduce dairy, but I haven’t tried it.
- Cream Cheese – A full-fat one adds the most flavor, but any plain kind should work. Soften it to room temperature, so it mixes easily. A dairy-free cream cheese should also work if needed.
- Besti Monk Fruit Allulose Blend – The secret to making chewy, mouthwatering keto friendly cookies without any sugar! If you’re craving a subtle brown sugar flavor in these low carb cookies, you can substitute a few tablespoons of Besti with Besti Brown instead. Other keto sugar substitutes may work, but the cookies will be more dry and can have an aftertaste. (In fact, some older comments complain about dryness, because this recipe used to use erythritol — this issue is fixed if you use Besti.) If you still want to substitute, check this sweeteners conversion calculator to get the correct amounts.
- Egg – Use a whole, large egg. Warm it to room temperature to help it combine easily with the cream cheese. A flax egg would probably work as a substitute, but I haven’t tried it.
- Vanilla Extract – A classic flavor addition to conventional and keto friendly cookies.
- Sea Salt – Helps round out the sweet flavor in keto cookies recipes.
- Sour Cream – A not-so-secret ingredient that adds an extra pop of flavor and moisture to this keto cookie recipe. It’s optional, but makes a huge difference in the texture.
- Wholesome Yum Almond Flour – A fine grind compared to other almond flours helps make this keto cookies recipe bake up perfectly — never mushy or gritty.
How To Make Keto Cream Cheese Cookies
This section shows how to make low carb cookies, with step-by-step photos and details about the technique, to help you visualize it. For full instructions, including amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card below.
- Cream butter, cream cheese, and Besti. With a hand mixer, beat butter, cream cheese, and Besti together in a large mixing bowl until pale yellow and fluffy.
- Add other wet ingredients. Add vanilla, salt, egg, and sour cream (if using), adding gradually and beating in between ingredients.
- Add almond flour. Beat until a soft dough forms.
- Scoop. Use a cookie scoop to spoon keto cream cheese cookie dough balls onto a lined cookie sheet. Flatten each ball with the palm of your hand.
- Bake. Cook in a 350 degree F oven until low carb cookies are golden.
- Cool. Let the cookies cool completely before moving them. Dust the finished keto cookies with powdered Besti, if desired.
Tips For The Best Keto Cookies
You can see that this keto cookies recipe is pretty straightforward, but here are a few tips for a great result:
- Bring ingredients to room temperature. Otherwise, they’ll be too hard to mix together and make a lumpy dough.
- Use a cookie scoop. The dough is very soft and fairly sticky, so a cookie scoop is easier than a spoon or using your hands. It also ensures that the cookies are uniform in size, so that they’ll cook evenly.
- Flatten the cookies. Keto cookies do not flatten or spread very much the way regular cookies with wheat flour would. So, make sure you flatten them to the right thickness before baking. Also, since they don’t spread a lot, having the cookies about 1 to 1.5 inches apart is sufficient.
- Account for wet dough if needed. If the dough is too wet and sticky to flatten easily, chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes. It can also help to wet your hands to flatten, which will prevent the dough from sticking to your hands.
Variations
- Chocolate Chips – You can fold them right into the batter, dip half of each baked keto cookie in melted chocolate, or add a melted chocolate drizzle at the end. This is my favorite brand of keto dark chocolate chips.
- Flavor Extracts – I used classic vanilla, but you can also try other flavors.
- Citrus – Add a little lemon or orange zest to the dough.
- Frosting – Spread cooled cookies with keto cream cheese frosting (and top with sugar-free sprinkles if you like!).
- Caramel – Add a drizzle of sugar-free caramel syrup and set in the fridge to harden. (You’ll want to eat them cold to keep the caramel firm.)
Storage Instructions
- Store: Cover low carb cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or up to a week in the fridge.
- Meal prep: You can make the dough ahead of time and store in the fridge or freezer until ready to use. If using frozen dough, thaw overnight and bring to room temperature before scooping.
- Freeze: Place the keto cookie recipe in an airtight container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More Keto Cookie Recipes
If you like a quick and easy keto cookies that fit your macros, you’ll love these other popular low carb cookie recipes:
Tools To Make Low Carb Cookies
- Hand Mixer – This one is really powerful and I love the convenient storage.
- Cookie Scoop – A cookie scoop ensures that the keto cookies bake evenly. This one is the perfect size for this recipe.
- Baking Sheet – This one is sturdy and will last a long time.
Cream Cheese Keto Cookies Recipe
Low Carb Keto Cream Cheese Cookies Recipe
Sweet, buttery low carb cream cheese cookies are one of the best keto cookies recipes! They're fast, easy, and need just 6 ingredients + 10 minutes prep.
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Ingredients
Tap underlined ingredients to see where to get them. Please turn Safari reader mode OFF to view ingredients.
Instructions
Tap on the times in the instructions below to start a kitchen timer while you cook.
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
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Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to beat together the butter, cream cheese, and sweetener, until it's fluffy and light in color.
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Beat in the vanilla extract, salt and egg. Beat in sour cream, if using (optional).
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Beat in the almond flour, 1/2 cup (64 g) at a time. The dough will be soft. If it sticks to your hands when you touch it, refrigerate for 30 minutes.
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Use a medium cookie scoop (about 1 1/2 tbsp, 22 mL volume) to scoop balls of the dough onto the prepared cookie sheet. Flatten with your palm.
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Bake for about 12-15 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden. Allow to cool completely in the pan before handling (cookies will firm up as they cool, but are intended to be soft).
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Readers Who Liked This Easy Recipe Also Made:
Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1 cookie
Nutrition info does not include optional sour cream.
If you prefer to buy pre-made cookies, these are delicious!
Nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see our nutrition policy.
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656 Comments
Steve
0Cookies made from cream cheese are supposed to be refrigerated after being out for 2 hours. Since these have cream cheese, they would need to be refrigerated, right?
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Steve, Yes, you can store them in the refrigerator.
Susan
0Very good, haven’t eaten cookies, bread etc. in over a year. My husband and I loved them.
Ayami
0This was sooo good!!
Elizabeth Fortney
0These cookies were horrible. They went straight in the trash. Totally flavorless.
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Elizabeth, Sorry this recipe didn’t meet your expectations. I would love to help you troubleshoot, did you follow the recipe exactly as written?
DIane
0Confused…Video shows adding egg WHITE, not whole egg. Recipe says add 1 egg. Which is it? 1 whole egg or just the egg white. Thank you!
Diane
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Diane, This recipe has been updated recently to include the whole egg. I recommend using the recipe as written in the recipe card.
Sharon
0I don’t have almond flour. I’m using coconut… its all I have… for sweetener I’m using Stevia in the raw.. we shall see.
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Sharon, Coconut flour is usually not a suitable substitute for almond flour.
Christine
0Great recipe. I make Italian Ricciarelli cookies at Christmas and these are so close. I use 2 tsp of orange zest and pure almond extract instead. They are amazing.
Cindy
0These turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!
Jessica
0This did not cook at all lol
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Jessica, I would love to help you troubleshoot the issues that you had if you can be a little more specific on what you mean by did not cook at all.
Doug
0You show servings as a gauge on how much to make. What is a serving?
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Doug, The serving size is 1 cookie and the recipe makes 24 servings.
Karen
0Allergic to almond flour what can I substitute?
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Karen, They might work with sunflower seed flour but I have not personally tried that.
Shad Chancey
0YUM!! These turned out FANTASTIC! Thanks for the recipe! Any other good Keto dessert recipes I should try?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0So glad you liked them, Shad! I have lots of other keto dessert recipes here.
Madison Lyn Burchett
0I don’t want to be rude, but I made this recipe to the t, other than using stevia instead of allulose, and they were absolutely awful… i’m trying again and using less vanilla because all I could taste was straight nasty vanilla extract.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Madison, Sorry to hear your cookies didn’t turn out. Unfortunately, swapping out the sweetener is not following the recipe to the T. 😉 The sweetener makes a big difference in both flavor and texture, and stevia would definitely have an aftertaste, that is likely what you are tasting. It could also be, if you used a low quality vanilla, that the flavor of that was not the best. I link the ingredients I use and recommend on the recipe card, and hope you’ll have the chance to try the recipe as written.
Pippy
0I really don’t mean to be rude, but these are absolutely disgusting! I have tried so many different low carb cookie recipes that everyone swears by and they are all disgusting. I’m trying to figure out how anyone finds these recipes appetizing in any way.
Mrs. Valerie
0Thank you for the recipe! If I want to use honey, how much should I use? Would I need to make any other adjustments since I’d be using a liquid sweetener? Gracias~
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Valerie, I do not test any recipes using honey so I can’t speak to the adjustments that would be needed.
Rose
0I used marscapone for the cream cheese and added extra marscapone in place of sour cream. Used 2.5 tbls stevia for the sweetener, so a bit less than stated. Added 1 tsp almond extract along with the stated vanilla. I also added 1/2 tsp baking powder. The mix was soft and pliable, so not as dry and dense as expected. I baked at 177C in my Vortex Airfryer, directly on the lift out tray, for 10 mins, turning half way through. They are quite golden brown and definitely cooked through. Taste good warm so I’m looking forward to tasting the cold version to see the texture.
Karen
0I like the cookies but am having an issue with the bottoms getting too dark. I’ve tried shortening the cooking time to 12 mins, lowering the temp to 325 but had the same result. They look perfect from the top, the edges are just starting to get golden but the bottoms are burned and don’t taste good. I have to cut the bottoms off to enjoy the cookie.
Deb Giesler
0I cooked mine for 8 min. They were great.
KDawn
0I used snøfrisk cream cheese and duck eggs for these and they are beyond delicious 🙂 Thanks for the recipe, SO GOOD!
Marjorie Heard
0Can I use mascarpone for the cream cheese?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Marjorie, The flavors will be more subtle, but the recipe will still work. Enjoy!
Darci
0My husband and I really enjoyed these. The recipe was very easy and the instructions were clear. We did find the first batch good but a little plain. On the second batch, I rolled the dough balls in a mix of cinnamon and erythritol before flattening them out. Kind of like when you make Snickerdoodles. They turned out great! I also made a few with sprinkles. Sprinkles are for winners. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. I will definitely make these again!
Jewel Marcuerquiaga
0Love your cookies…a bit of cinnamon was nice. I also had a strip of parchment paper about 4 inches wide and I could lay that on top of a roll of cookies and flatten them with my hands no sticky mess. I was wondering what sugar substitute you like that doesn’t leave that nasty aftertaste? Thanks Jewel
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Jewel, I have my own line of keto-friendly sweeteners! They don’t have any aftertaste, and several options to suit your needs. Check out Wholesome Yum Foods to see the full lineup of sweeteners!
Cornflakes
0Loved these. Added a little lemon extract to everything else and they are so tasty!