Keto Molasses Gingerbread Cookies

Finally, a recipe for soft and chewy Keto Molasses Gingerbread Cookies! And one with only 93 calories and 2g net carbs to boot.

Jump to:

• Greetings 👋
• Slow as molasses 💭
• But are molasses Keto? 💬
• Is molasses good for you? 💬
• Ingredients 🥣
• About the ingredients 🥄
• Instructions 🧾
• Tips and tricks 💬
• Phew! 👩‍🍳
• 📋 Recipe
• Where to buy Specialty Ingredients 💰

Greetings 👋

Today I'm going to share my recipe for Keto Molasses Gingerbread Cookies. These cookies might not look like much, but they really pack a wallop! And each of these cookies has less than 100 calories and 2g net carbs.

Big flavor, little package.

Slow as molasses 💭

I’m sure you’ve heard the old-timey phrase, “Slow as molasses in January”, but you might not know where it originated.

It actually came from one of the most unlikely and surreal events in U.S. history.  It happened on a very cold January day in Boston in 1919.  A new shipment of warm blackstrap molasses had just been poured into these enormous tanks for storage.  And because the molasses was hot, it actually poured pretty fast.

A little after 12 noon, the tanks ruptured, releasing more than 2.3 million gallons of molasses, creating a syrupy tsunami that gushed over the city, killing 21 people and injuring 150.  The sweet wave of goop traveled at 35 miles per hour, leveling buildings in its path of destruction.

The area surrounding the tanks was turned to rubble.

And the fact that it was Boston in January only made things worse. 

That’s because the molasses hardened around the victims, making it difficult for rescuers to unstick them.  Can you even imagine being trapped in thick viscous molasses? I shiver just thinking about it. It brings to mind one of my absolute worst fears: dying stupidly, like being crushed by a vending machine or drowning in molasses.

But yes, that is why we say, “As slow as molasses in January”.

But Keto Molasses Gingerbread Cookies, let's discuss.

These gingerbread cookies make very tasty low carb treats.  They are packed with vitamins, minerals, and protein, so you can feel good about eating them. And they are actually chewy. So many cookies made with almond or coconut flour fall fat, but these beauties have a great chew to them.

A chewy low carb cookie is truly a thing of beauty.

But are molasses Keto? 💬

Well, it’s complicated.  Blackstrap molasses are a byproduct of sugar, so that’s… not great. But it actually ranks very low on the glycemic index so it is unlikely to spike your blood sugar.   The recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of molasses, which has 11 grams of carbohydrate.  Split that among 20 cookies and it works out to about an ⅛ of a teaspoon per cookie.  

That translates to just 2g net carbs per cookie.

Is molasses good for you? 💬

Yes, there are a surprising number of health benefits to including molasses in your diet.  There are certain health fanatics who actually drink it straight as a supplement.  That's because molasses is packed full of vitamins and minerals like selenium, copper, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin B6.  And, somewhat ironically, this sugar byproduct contains high amounts of chromium, which is thought to increase glucose tolerance levels.

So yes, molasses is actually quite healthy.

Molasses is dirty and lazy. 😜

If you are following a strict Keto diet, then these molasses gingerbread cookies are probably not for you.  But if you are like me, and doing “Lazy” or “Dirty” Keto, then you are all good.  Lazy Keto uses the same macronutrients as the traditional Ketogenic Diet, but it doesn’t place as much emphasis on the quality of the food that you eat.  And in Dirty Keto, you just count the carbs and eat whatever the heck you want.  You can use up your daily 20 grams of carbohydrate on Ding Dongs and Hi Ho’s and still be considered a Keto dieter.

It's like a license to party.

Ingredients 🥣

• sugar-free almond butter
• eggs
• unsulphured blackstrap molasses
• fresh ginger
• Swerve Brown
• coconut flour
• baking soda
• cinnamon
• ground ginger
• ground cloves
• salt & pepper

About the ingredients 🥄

• Almond Butter:  This is the secret ingredient that binds the cookies together and gives them a wonderful chewiness.  Try and buy freshly ground almond butter, if you can, because it is made of just almonds with no preservatives or added sugar.  But if you have to buy it in a jar, make sure to read the label because it might contain sugar.

• Eggs:  Use Large eggs because the recipe, like all recipes, was designed to work with that size.  So don’t be tempted to buy Extra Large or Jumbo eggs, or it will throw off the proportions of the recipe.

• Blackstrap Molasses:  Try and find organic molasses.  If it’s not available at your local store, (and it probably won’t be) you can buy it online at Amazon.  And make sure that the label says “Unsulphured” because that means there aren’t any additives.

• Fresh Ginger:  You’ll need to grate the ginger with the small side of a cheese grater to get it to the right consistency.  Or use a fancy style hard cheese grater like the one in the image below. Peel one bulb of a larger ginger root and hold the unpeeled part as you grate the ginger.

• Brown Sugar Substitute:  Real brown sugar is just sugar mixed with a small amount of molasses, so using sugar-free brown sugar cuts down the amount of molasses we’ll need to use.  Swerve, and Sukrin both make good brown sugar substitutes.

• Coconut Flour: This low carb flour is harder to find in stores than its cousin almond flour.  But you can find regular and organic coconut flour on Amazon.

• Baking Soda:  I cannot stress enough that Baking Powder is not the same as Baking Soda.  You use powder for cakes and soda for cookies.  Many the commenter has confused the two and left me a very salty comment when the recipe didn’t work out.  Don’t be that guy.

• Ground Cinnamon, Ginger and Cloves:  This is the classic gingerbread spice mix.  You can buy pre-mixed gingerbread spice at some stores, but not at all of them, so I broke it out to its component spices.  If you can find gingerbread spice, then use 2 ¼ teaspoons instead of the three spices.

• Salt and Pepper:  It might sound funny to use black pepper in cookies, but gingerbread spice actually contains a few shakes of pepper.  And the salt just balances out the flavors.

Instructions 🧾

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and cover 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, beat together almond butter, eggs, molasses, and fresh ginger with an electric mixer until smooth.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the remaining dry ingredients.  
4. Use a wooden spoon to mix the dry ingredients into the wet.
5. Scoop out heaping tablespoons or cookie scoops of dough and use your palms to roll them into balls.  Put the dough balls onto the prepared cookie sheets, 8 balls to a sheet.  You'll have enough dough to fill 2 ½ cookie sheets, so bake the first 2 cookie sheets, and then reuse the first cookie sheet for the remaining 4 cookies.
6. Bake cookies, until firm around the edges and starting to crack in the center, 8-9 minutes.  The cookies will look slightly puffed but will flatten and crinkle as they cool.  If they haven't flattened to a thickness of your liking, then use the bottom of a glass that has been sprayed with cooking spray to gently press them down a little.
7. Cool 5 minutes on the cookie sheets and then transfer the parchment paper with the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Tips and tricks 💬

• Be sure to keep the cookie count to 8 cookies per sheet.  You’ll need to use 3 cookie sheets for the 20 cookies the dough makes, but don’t be tempted to crowd them all into 2 sheets.

• You don’t actually need 3 cookie sheets though.  Just fill 2 cookie sheets with cookies.  Bake the first batch and then reuse the cookie sheet for the last batch of 4 cookies.   

• Did I mention that Baking Soda is Different than Baking Powder?  I simply cannot stress this enough.  The ingredients are expensive and it would be a shame if they went to waste.

• After the cookies come out of the oven, they will still be pretty thick.  Spray a tall glass with cooking spray and use it to gently flatten the cookies a little bit.

• The cookies will crack some when you press down on them with the glass.  That’s ok.  You can press in around the outer edges if you want them to look fancier.  But they’ll taste the same either way.

• If you like a bigger cookie, feel free to double the size of the dough balls. Just add a minute or two to the bake time.

• These thick and chewy cookies are incredibly dunkable. Have them with a nice cup of coffee or tall glass of nut milk and you are in teatime heaven.

• A plate of Keto Molasses Gingerbread Cookies can totally pass for regular sugary cookies if you bring them to a party, but be sure to make a sign that warns others that they contain nuts.  If someone had a reaction to the almond butter, it would be sure to ruin the party.

Phew! 👩‍🍳

That was a lot, I know. But in about 15 minutes, you can make yourself a batch of Keto Molasses Gingerbread Cookies with only 93 calories and 2g net carbs each.  These low carb cookies are gluten-free, grain-free, wheat-free, sugar-free, and soy-free.  They are all of the best frees, so you eat them guilt-free.  

Please just promise me one thing though…

Don’t be as slow as molasses when you make them.

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📋 Recipe

Where to buy Specialty Ingredients 💰

Swerve Brown

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Swerve Bundle

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Coconut Flour

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