Nutmeg butter ball cookies are an old fashioned, holiday cookie recipe that I’ve adapted for a low carb lifestyle. With only 0.8 carbs in each delicious Christmas cookie, they also fit well with a keto diet. Sweet and crumbly, these little low carb Christmas cookies are full of the flavors of the season. Be sure to use freshly grated, whole nutmeg for the best flavor!
For this recipe you’ll need: butter, granulated sugar free sweetener, vanilla, pecans, coconut flour, orange peel, powdered sweetener, and whole nutmeg.
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Low carb Christmas cookie recipe background
The original recipe was found in a 1950’s cookbook published by the Women’s Clubs of America. I was immediately intrigued by the checkmark quickly penned with blue ink next to the title. Nutmeg Butter Balls. At some point someone had taken the time to mark the recipe so I thought it must be delicious. In fact, the marked up recipes with handwritten notes are always the first ones I make when I come home with a new to me antique cookbook. My keto shortbread cookies had some origins from this book as well as my keto sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookie recipes.
How do you make low carb Christmas cookies?
These were pretty easy to adapt to a low carb recipe and I really love the flavor. Like other keto recipes, the first thing to go is the sugar. I’ve used erythritol as it’s measures just like sugar. Unlike the popular Splenda (sucralose), it doesn’t cause an insulin spike. It’s also not as sweet as Splenda which is supposedly 600 times sweeter than granulated sugar. I used erythritol in my low carb peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Using powdered sugar is a no no on a keto diet so a powdered sugar free sweetner is called for.
The other thing to make keto cookies is changing out the wheat flour. I’ve used different flour substitues such as almond flour and coconut flour. One benefit of almond flour and coconut flour is that they are gluten free. For this recipe I chose coconut flour as it’s got a slight sweetness to it.
Be sure to buy whole nutmeg and grate it for use in this recipe. I have an old grater that belonged to my parents – it’s probably from the 1930s or 40s. It’s always been just ” the nutmeg grater” to me. You can use a microplane or regular box grater.
If you don’t like nutmeg this is NOT the cookie for you!
The best thing about these are not how delicious they are, but the low carb count actual allows them to be considered a keto cookie. Please note the nutrition information shows 11 carbs per serving. Remember that a “serving” is all 24 cookies in this case ! So if you eat an entire batch of 24 to 30 cookies, that’ll be 11 carbs. When you finish baking them, count how many you made, divide that by the number of carbs (11) and you have your carb count. Or you can use my estimate of 0.8 carbs per keto Christmas cookie !
I want to make sure you know one important thing about making this keto Christmas cookie recipe. While I love these yummy low carb butter cookies (besides the fact that they are addictive) is that they will totally crumble on the cookie sheet if you try to remove them before they’re totally and completely cooled. Also, don’t expect them to hold their round shape as they will flatten out quite a bit so make sure to give each cookie dough blob room on the baking sheet. The good news is that this flattening doesn’t change the flavor at all.
How long do keto Christmas cookies last?
Although you can freeze either the cookie dough or the finished Christmas cookie, I think they are too delicate to ship. If you do decide to freeze them, use a hard container (like a food grade plastic) and put a layer of waxed paper between each layer of cookies. They should be just fine for up to 3 months. Because of the nutmeg flavor, of all the low carb Christmas desserts I’ve created, these are by far my favorite. Hope you and your family enjoy them as much as mine do.
Navigation Tip
This low carb Christmas cookie recipe makes about 24 cookies but you could certainly make more than enough for the whole family. If you tap the blue number “24” after the “Servings” in the recipe, a slider will appear that you can use to increase the number of servings. The ingredients will automatically change so you don’t have to do any math. I usually make a mistake when I try to do math in recipes lol.
Nutmeg Butter Balls Recipe
Here’s the low carb Christmas cookies recipe! Come on back and let me know what you think. 🙂
Print Pin Recipe
Nutmeg Butter Balls Cookies : Low Carb – Gluten Free
Buttery, sweet, and crumbly – these Nutmeg Butter Balls are just right for holiday parties — and they are low carb (gluten free), too! Nutmeg Butter Balls couldn’t be easier to make!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American – low -carb
Keyword cookies
Prep Time 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes minutes
Total Time 25 minutes minutes
Servings 24 to 30 cookies
Calories 137kcal
Author Marye
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 cup erythritol sugar free sweetener
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 2 cups finely chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange peel optional
- 1/2 cup erythritol sugar free sweetener
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
US Customary – Metric
Instructions
Cream the butter and sweetener together until well blended, light, and fluffy.
Beat in the vanilla and pecans.
Add the coconut flour and beat on low until well combined.
Chill for 30 minutes or up to 2 days.
Preheat the oven to 325F.
Stir the powdered sweetener and nutmeg together until well mixed.
For the dough into 1-1/4 inch balls.
Roll each ball in the nutmeg mixture.
Place on a baking sheet covered with Sil-pat sheet or parchment.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until light, golden brown.
They will probably lose their “ball” shape but it’s ok.
Let cool completely on the cookie sheet. If you try to move them when they are still warm you’ll have crumbs.
Nutrition
Calories: 137kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 66mg | Potassium: 37mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 241IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 0.3mg
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