Europe’s favorite cookie, with reason!ย Deeply aromatic, beautifully spiced, and nice and crisp to dunk in milk. Not much is lost (if at all) in these gluten free and keto speculoos!
Gluten Free & Keto Speculoos
i.e. Biscoff Cookies!
Speculoos (also known as speculaas in the Netherlands, where they’re originally from) are traditionally made for the Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) holiday on the 6th of December in the Netherlands. But more and more are enjoyed year-round.
Over here, these keto speculoos bring back some pretty fantastic memories from my (half-Dutch) childhood (Paola here!!). I simply know Christmas is just around the corner once these babies hit the oven.
Plus:ย 1/2g net carb a pop. Doesn’t get much better than that.
The Speculoos Spices
These keto speculoos cookies are dominantly cinnamon, with highlights of ginger and nutmeg (freshly ground preferably) and a touch of cardamom, white pepper and cloves.
Though actual spice blends vary from recipe to recipe, with some family recipes also adding touches of anise and allspice. After all, there’s a lot of tradition behind these rustic European cookies.
The Deets
The one indispensable thing, is that the dough be thoroughly chilled before baking. Why? The butter in the dough has to have solidified once again before you can press it into the molds (or roll it into balls), that way it wonโt stick and the shapes will come just right. Plus, you want to give the spices time to permeate through the dough in order to get super duperย fragrant cookies.
So, if possible, allow the dough to rest in the fridge overnight. Though 3 hours would do as well if in a pickle.
If no traditional speculaas mold is on hand, just break off a chunk of dough, roll it up and flatten it. Or roll out the dough and use any cookie mold out there.
But if you are (ultra) keen, you can find some beautiful hand-carved speculaas molds over hereย (not sponsored, just a fan of beautiful handcraft).ย
The Flours
Speculoos cookies are traditionally a wheat cookie, though with many versions incorporating almond flour (and slivered almonds) into the mix. To make them gluten free and keto, I found that super fine almond flourย did a killer job (solo!). Add a touch of xanthan gum, and weโre golden.
Note also that I add a bit more baking soda than is customary (1/2 teaspoon rather than 1/4 or even nil). Reason being, that the slight bigger rise helps aerate the almond flour and get a better texture.
The Sweetener
This recipe works best with erythritol, without a doubt. Not only is it roughly 1-to-1 in sweetness to sugar (and the volume is important here), but it lends a very similar crunch and chew. No other sweetener does that.
Also note that adding a teaspoon or twoย of blackstrap molassesย addsย a tonne of umami and improves browning.
Keep in mind that blackstrap molassesย is considered a low glycemic sugar. Oneย teaspoon (7g) adds 5g net carbs, so just 0.2g net carbs a cookie (i.e. 1/4th the sugar of a strawberry!). But carbs aside, itโs also known to beย a nutritional powerhouse rich in vital vitamins and minerals; such as iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6, and selenium.
Fun fact: Molasses contain high amounts of chromium, which has been studied to increase glucose tolerance levels.
But if itโs still not your thing, just do a brown sugar sub (such as Lakanto Golden!)!
Gluten Free & Keto Speculoos (i.e. Biscoff Cookies!)
Ingredients
- 192 g almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg freshly ground
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 80 g grass-fed unsalted butter
- 1/3-2/3 cup golden erythritol *
- 1-2 teaspoons blackstrap molasses optional
- 1 egg
To garnish
- 1 egg white very lightly beaten for egg wash
- slivered almonds optional
Instructions
- Add almond flour, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt and spices to a medium bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined and set aside.
- Cream butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer, 1 minute. Add in sweetener and molasses (optional), and continue to cream until light and fluffy (8-10 minutes).
- Add in egg, mixing until just incorporated. The mixture will appear slightly 'broken' (i.e. not thoroughly smooth).
- With your mixer on low, add in half of your flour mixture- mixing until just incorporated. Mix in the rest.
- Wrap cookie dough with cling film (saran wrap) and refrigerate overnight (much preferred). But if in a pickle, 2 hours will do.
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF/180ยฐC and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- You have two options here. Either roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and do cutout cookies. Or divide cookie dough into 24 and press onto wooden cookie mold to shape. Just be sure to get them nice and thin, as they'll thicken more when baked.
- Place shaped cookies on the prepared baking tray and place in the freezer for 10 minutes prior to baking.
- Brush with a very lightly beaten egg white (don't get it frothy!) to get that nice shiny finish and decorate with slivered almonds (optional). Otherwise, leave them as they are for a matte finish (similar to gingerbread cookies). And bake for 9-14 minutes (depending on size), until deep golden.
- Allow to cool for ten minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely, as they'll continue to crunch up (keto cookies take a few hours for the sweetener to Harden up completely!). Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Note that these cookies are even better the next day, after the spices have had some time to mingle. And also (for some inexplicable reason), the sweetness also intensifies the day after.
Paola – I have been making sugar free cookies and home made chocolate bars for a couple years now.. Your Bischoff cookie recipe turned out to be the best tasting and crispiest cookie I have made to date. Thank you for that recipe.
Are you still living in Mexico City? We have been there three times because we love it.
Definitely a winner recipe. I followed directions to the letter and they came out great….
I was wondering if you could replace the egg with chia or flax eggs and vegan butter thank you
I am half dutch too ๐ every year I make Speculaas for the family on St Nic’s day eve. I will be able to join in this year too, thank you so much!
How thin should these be rolled out? I use thickness bands because I can be a bit OCD about it. Thank you in advance for your response. ๐
Hello Paola
I am having a great deal of trouble finding any kind of golden sugar substitute in New Zealand, or even anyone online that will ship here. I love the taste of brown sugar so would rather not just sub for regular erythritol etc. Do you think there’s a way I can make my own by mixing erythritol and say sugar free maple syrup or blackstrap molasses?
Thank yoooouu! Xx
EVERY. SINGLE. RECIPE. Every one I have tried from your blog has been a home run. My husband who is extra picky when it comes to Keto stuff gives this recipe a 100% seal of approval. Magic.
Was there an earlier version of this recipe with arrowroot powder? For some reason, I thought there was, so when planning to make it, I went out and bought the arrowroot. Did I imagine it being there? Anyway, thanks for all the wonderful recipes!
Though going to Germany for Weihnachtmarkt in six days, I just had to try and taste these NOW since I know there will be no Keto treats there! Making the dough this morning and wanted to know Paola, can either the dough or cookies freeze once baked? Iโd like to have a few tomorrow and save the rest for once back. Thanks, they look delicious with all the spices! Happy Holidays
Ooooh enjoy Germany (the Christmas markets are my favorite!!!). You can definitely freeze the dough or the cookies (I generally freeze the shaped dough unbaked when I can, so I can have fresh cookies!). xo!
Thatโs wonderful! Thanks so much Paola! You make every week special in this home! I appreciate you and your time so much! And me too, the Christmas Markets are the best!
Looking forward to trying these as Iโm just starting Keto. I wanted to confirm the nutritional values. What size of cookie is represented by the numbers shown assuming it is a per cookie rating.
Thank you so much for this recipe. We used it today to make some โgevulde speculaasโ, using your dough to sandwich a layer of amandelspijs (8 tbsp ground almond, 1-2 tbsp erythritol, 2 egg whites). The result was amazing – really tasted like the proper thing! Thanks so much! Happy Sinterklaas!
Oh how wonderful Naomi!! I hadn’t thought of trying it with amandelspijs ๐!! Thank you for sharing, can’t wait to try! (and happy Sinterklaas to you as well!!)
Lazy girl here and I love cookie bars. This recipe makes the most AMAZING cookie bars! Follow the recipe and smash it all in a greased square pan. Bake until center has risen and then settled and edges pull away from pan. Topped with Keto cream cheese frosting and they are to die for. Crunchy edges and soft chewy center. I have a new favorite โฅ๏ธ
What a brilliant idea Cressi! I might follow suit this week ๐
I put the dough in the fridge for almost 24 hours and as soon as I started rolling it out between the parchment paper, the dough turned to mush. There was no way I could make cut out cookies or put this in a mold. I ended up making drop cookies and flattening them. Any ideas what the problem could be?
Hi Christin! This has happened to a couple peeps sporadically as well with other of the crisp butter cookies on the site (like the gingerbread and cinnamon toast crunch)…. in all honesty I’m not sure what’s up as for me the butter solidifies completely once in the fridge.
Baking wise, this generally happens if you’re working on a warm environment or simply overworking the dough. So maybe try refrigerating it after rolling it out to make sure you get clean cutouts. xo!
Some no name butter is not 100% real butter, it has some filler in it. I noticed that one year when baking short bread for the family. I always use best quality brand name butter.
Just wanted to thank you for this inspired keto cookie recipe: I made then a few weeks ago and they have a delicious, complex flavor– my new all time favorite cookie!! Being somewhat lazy as a chef, I gave up on the cookie cutters after one trays worth, and switched to rolling them into little patties then placing a blanched whole almond in the middle to flatten a bit further–that method was fast and easy and tasted really good too: less of crisp cookie, more chewy, I would say. I also stored some of the extra baked cookies in the freezer so they wouldn’t get stale, and they taste really great that way, too!
Kristen so awesome to hear! I actually love your tip about how you did the cookies- itโs actually often done in the Netherlands too! Theyโre lightly soft in the center and beautiful cookies alike!! Xo!
Hi Paola, just wondering if you were making these cookies for the holidays this year and how you think Golden Lakanto would be compared to Swerve in this recipe. I noticed in many of your recent recipes youโve indicated Lakanto as either a first or second choice of sweetner.
Definitely Tamara (I’m doing a little update of this recipe this week, you beat me to it!)! I do think sweeteners are a personal choice, but I’ve imo Lakanto golden has much less cooling effect (particularly noticeable in things like cookies and brownies) xo!!
How long would these last after baking? And store at room temp or in the fridge?
Hi Michael! These guys hold up quite well for about 5 days (depending on your climate really). Store in an airtight container at room temp, and if they get a little moist just pop them in the oven back for a few. xo!
Are the desserts on your page okay for diabetics? I have Swerve & Truvia in my home so I would think so but when it calls for like 6 TBS, ect. (on any given recipe) just had to ask. What about the molasses, if one didn’t use it would they still come out good?
Thanks!
Hi Melina! In all honesty I don’t feel qualified to answer your question if the recipes are ok for diabetics. Having said that, you generally wouldn’t eat the entire batch (i.e. the 6 tablespoons of sweetener) in one sitting. So your GI should be left unaffected (needed for keto). Other than that you’ll be fine without the molasses, they’ll just come out lighter in color. xo
Do you experience a cooling sensation that’s common with Swerve when eating these cookies?
Hi Marisa, I think that perception varies form person to person. With these I didn’t quite get it. xo Paola
Iโm super sensitive to cooling and didnโt get it with these, so yay! Thank you SO much!
NICE! Yeah I didn’t get it either, but you never know ๐
It bugs me quite a bit that someone would give a 4 star rating, without trying the recipe, just because there’s a 1/8th missing… WTF is wrong with people?!!!
You can see the amount of work that went into this post….
Saw that as well… bothered the crap out of me as well! Thank you for such a beautiful post!
Anne M, I know this response is coming almost 4 years after you posted your comment, but I just saw it today. In defense of the lady who asked why 1/8 tsp of cloves in metric was changed to 1 tsp of cloves in US measurements, she was spot on. If she had put 1 tsp of cloves in the recipe, it would have been ruined and probably almost inedible. That was a proof-reading error on the part of the recipe writer, whether it was Paola or someone on her team, if she has a team. Paola seemed very grateful that the lady caught the mistake. So perhaps her four-star rating was to catch someone’s eye to notice the mistake. An inexperienced baker might not realize that cloves are added in miniscule amounts to recipes, and if s/he had ruined a batch of those cookies might never return to Paola’s blog and experience any of her other outstanding recipes. Just sayin’
Correct, Iโm always incredibly grateful when you guys catch my mistakes (itโs just me, so theyโre bound to happen).
And yes, cloves are one of those things that you really donโt want to add a whole teaspoon! In fact, I was recipe testing hot toddyโs this afternoon and did 4 cloves instead of 2 (they looked pretty on the lemon)… ahem, nearly undrinkable.
Anywaysw, you guys make gnom-gnom better! Again grateful for your feedback.
I’m properly excited about these!! Your speculaas spice mix is SPOT ON! Dank u wel!! ๐
These are my husbands favorite cookie so can’t wait to make them. Question? In your metric recipe it calls for 1/8 teaspoon of cloves in the US customary it calls for 1 teaspoon of cloves. Which is correct?
Thanks for all the good recipes.
Hi Sandee! NO! It’s supposed to be 1/8 teaspoon as well!! Oh geez thanks for pointing that out!
And my pleasure, so glad you’re enjoying them!
Could I use coconut oil instead of butter. My grandson is Dairy intolerant. Thanks for your great recipes & information
Hi Sharon! Yes, coconut oil would work for these (taste might be slightly different, but should be good). Also given that coconut oil is pure fat, they should be nice and crispy ๐ xo Pola
Your blog is such a culinary delight. Thank you for such fabulous recipes Paola!