Keto Almond Crescent Cookies

Keto Almond Crescent Cookies are Made with Almond Flour Every Single Year as a Must make for the Holiday Season. This Extremely Soft, Grain-free, Dairy-free, Gluten free, and Low carb Cookie Recipe is Truly my Favorite of all. 

Together with shortbread cookies, peanut butter cookies, Nutella cookies, butter cookies, and some other 42 cookie variations, they are a perfect gift for a birthday, Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s, or mothers day.

Those buttery vanilla-infused low carb moon shape cookies must be on your festivity table every year. Keto vanilla crescent cookies are incredibly soft with a pinch of crispiness in them with melt in your mouth, a feeling you will never forget. Grain-free, gluten-free, diabetic friendly, and sugar-free keto almond cookies are here to stay forever.

Christmas keto desserts

Not to be short of desserts, Christmas is the right time to go overboard.

We have got delicious low carb gingerbread cookies, sugar free meringue cookies, Christmas tree cupcakes, Santa hats cupcakes, edible gingerbread village, sprinkles, and eggnog popsicles together with yule log keto chocolate roulade, which has to be part of our Christmas table decoration. 

Origins of vanilla crescent cookies

Vanillekipferl, as originally named, is a moon-shaped cookie covered in powdered sugar and served throughout coffee shops in Austria, mainly during Christmas time.

A traditional Austrian Christmas butter cookie recipe does not require eggs and could be done with almonds or walnuts. 

Originating in Vienna 400 years ago after the victory of the Hungarian army over the Turkish, bakers have come up with the cookies shaped into the crescent, characterized by the Turkish flag. 

Some say that they have been shaped after the Hungarian kifli, a croissant-like pastry famous in Hungary. 

Whatever the truth is, those soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookies have become popular since then and are a big part of Christmas baking all over Central Europe, such as Austria, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Poland, Czech Republic, and Romania.

And it can not be that I, coming from Slovakia and living in Austria, would have missed having those beauties on our website.

Let us have those Viennese cookies throughout the whole year. 

Keto almond flour crescent cookies

Living low-carb for over 12 years, we have tried several variations of those lovely moon-shaped cookies. Within the first few months, I discovered a great mix online, which we have tried and fallen deeply in love with. 

This has postponed making our cookies from scratch for years, especially me wondering if it would replace the bough ones.

But as we have got our homemade vanilla extract ready to be used, there are no more excuses.

Two variations of vanilla crescent cookies

After all the successful and not-so-successful baking trials, I decided on two main variations. One with only almond flour and one with the addition of protein powder. 

Viennese almond crescent cookies

I baked both the same day and invited some non-keto Austrian friends to choose and pick the better version.

All, including my daughter, have said the one with protein powder is the best and closest to the real deal. 

The decision was made. 

Apart from my husband, who loved the pure almond version.

That has completely messed up my decision. 

Therefore I have decided to write about both, and it is up to you to choose the one you prefer.

The texture of almond cookies

Both moon-shaped cookies are very soft with a real melt-in-your-mouth feeling. 

The protein ones have a pinch of crispiness, which everyone liked. 

Another advantage of using protein powder was the reduction of additional ingredients in the recipe. Since I have used vanilla protein powder already sweetened, I skipped vanilla and sugar altogether.

Why does this keto cookie recipe work?

• They are irresistible once tried.
• They are soft and crispy at the same time.
• Have only 1 gram of carbs per serving, which is five pieces.
• No spike in blood glucose.
• Melt in your mouth feeling will make you want more.
• Easy to make.
• Only five ingredients are needed.
• From a whole recipe, you get 50 cookies.

Kitchen tools for making the best keto cookies

• Mixing bowl
• Parchment paper
• Baking tray
• Silicone spatula
• Sieve

Ingredients to make gluten-free almond cookies

• Almond flour or blanched ground almonds
• Vanilla protein powder
• Egg yolks
• Butter
• Baking powder

That’s all. Only five ingredients. How easy is that?

*Exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below.

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STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR KETO VANILLA CRESCENT COOKIES

First step: Prepare all ingredients

Prepare all the ingredients and place them one by one into a large bowl big enough to mix them all.

I usually place all the dry ingredients first and then add eggs and butter. There are no steps on what goes first and what last.

Make sure the butter is soft at room temperature. Otherwise, you will not be able to mix it properly. 

At the same time, heat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius or 320 degrees Fahrenheit.

Second step: Mix

Using a silicone spatula, mix the ingredients properly into one smooth dough.

Use your hands if you find a spatula too challenging to mix with. 

Form dough until all is well incorporated.

Third step: Refrigerate

Once the dough is mixed, place it into the medium bowl in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour. For the dough to roll and shape, it needs to be cold. 

Fourth step: ¼ dough only

Take only ¼ of the dough and place it on parchment paper for rolling. Keep the rest in the refrigerator until you are finished. The rest of the dough should always stay cold while you are shaping the cookies. Otherwise, it will soften fast and be difficult to shape. If you feel your dough is getting challenging to shape, place it into the fridge for 2 minutes and use the fresh one.

Fifth step: Roll and shape

Roll 1/4 of the dough into a log. Using your spatula, separate that log into smaller pieces the same size. 

One by one, take each piece, roll it with your hand into a small log, and form a crescent shape. Place each on a prepared baking sheet covered with parchment paper. 

They will rise and spread a bit and stay fluffy, so make sure you have space between each. I’ve found distributing them about 1 inch apart is perfect.

Once you are finished, take another ¼ of the dough and repeat the steps. 

Sixth step: Bake

Once all moon-shaped cookies are on the baking tray, place them in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes until lightly golden brown.

Seventh step: Sugar dusting

After the cookies are baked, take them from the oven and while still warm, dust them with vanilla protein powder using a sieve. Dusting the cookies while still warm will help the protein coating stick onto the cookies and stays put. 

Do not touch the cookies while warm. They will crumble in your hands. They need to cool on the pan thoroughly to harden a bit. 

Vanilla kipferl cookies are very soft, and it is advisable to handle them gently. Some might break in the process, but that is a tremendous advantage for eating some right away. 

Tips and tricks:

• Do not touch warm cookies – they only harden once they cool completely. If you do feel them while they are still warm, they will crumble in your hand (my own experience). 
• Butter – make sure the butter is at room temperature and soft enough to mix with other ingredients. 
• Crumbling – While rolling and shaping the moon cookies, you might find some crumbling in your hands. That means your dough is already too warm. Just take those pieces and return them to the refrigerator for the Kerrygold butter to cool down and roll again. 
• Sugar dusting – Dusting vanilla cookies with sugar or protein coating works better than dipping them. It’s easier because you don’t have to touch the hot cookies and dip each one into the sugar.
• Frost – if you want to frost them, take cream cheese and whisked powdered swerve into it.

Substitutions:

• Vegan – use coconut oil instead of butter for a vegan option.
• Plain protein – add sweetener and mix in vanilla extract until smooth.
• No protein? – use extra almond flour instead of protein. The cookies will be a bit softer but still preferred by some (my husband). Do not forget to add vanilla and sugar substitutes in this instance. 
• Walnuts – add walnuts or ground pecans. The cookies will be a bit moister, but still tasty. Many recipes are using only walnuts for vanilla crescents. We found the flavor too strong. 
• Coconut flour – because of its different texture, I do not suggest swapping it in this recipe.
• Sweetener – If you are using plain protein, add 1 tablespoon or two powdered swerve, erythritol, or one of our suggested sweeteners. Any granulate sweetener can be powdered in your magic bullet of coffee grinder.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

What to serve with cookies?

As all of our cookies are delicious and healthy, they can also be served for breakfast or throughout the day.

Serve them together with one of our keto drink choices, such as:

• Coconut milk
• Ginger turmeric shots
• Hot chocolate mix
• Cold brew tea
• Whey
• Cold brew coffee

What if my cookies spread out?

Make sure the oven is fully preheated. 

Low-temperature oven melts the butter but is not warm enough to bake the cookies, so they might spread before they can bake. 

Baking our perfect keto vanilla crescents is done in 10 minutes, and there is not enough time if your oven is not fully preheated. 

Keto pecan crescent cookies

As you might have already heard of the famous name, pecan or walnuts can be replaced with a bag of almond flour. As they are very similar in texture, you can use the same amount as almond flour. The only difference might be a bit stronger nutty flavor your cookies might have.

If you go for this choice, you can sprinkle them with chopped pecans, edible sprinkles, or brown sugar before they are cooled.

My keto vanilla cookies are crumbly after they cool.

Maybe your egg yolks needed to be bigger. Either add one more yolk or add a pinch of xanthan. This will help cookies to stay firm. 

How long do low-carb vanilla cookies stay fresh?

You can also keep them on a plate out on the dining table for up to a week. If anything longer, freeze them. 

Can you freeze keto moon cookies?

Yes, you can, and that is what I do with cookies, especially during Christmas.

I usually bake all of the Christmas cookies well in advance and store them one by one in the freezer. On the day of Christmas, I take them all out the night before, and they are fresh, as if I just baked them yesterday. 

More almond flour recipes

• Crepes
• Pound cake
• Pancakes
• Bread pudding

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