These shortbread cookies are just 2 ingredients and healthier than traditional shortbread. They don’t contain white flour, butter, eggs or refined sugar. They come out crispy, crumbly and nutty.
I’ve been experimenting a lot this month with creating healthier versions of my favorite holiday cookies. I still plan on baking all my favorite holiday cookies to gift to family and friends, but I also wanted to create healthier alternatives at home so we don’t go overboard with the sweets.
This healthier version of shortbread is so quick and easy. The dough takes less than 5 minutes to form!
Ingredients
- Superfine Almond Flour
- Maple Syrup
Superfine Almond Flour
Superfine blanched almond flour replaces both the flour and butter that is usually found in shortbread. Because almond flour has a high fat content, the cookies still have a little of the melt-in-your-mouth crumbly sensation when you bite into them.
Maple Syrup
The syrup sweetens the cookies and binds them together. I haven’t tried it with other sweeteners but I think honey should work.
Texture
Without butter and wheat flour, these shortbread cookies don’t taste exactly the same as traditional shortbread, but they do taste like a version of shortbread. The cookies are very crispy on the outside (they remind me of biscuit cookies) and crumble once they hit the inside of your mouth.
Shapes
To keep these simple, I just cut them into rectangles. However, the dough is firm enough that you can use cookie cutters to make other shapes.
Decorating
You don’t need to decorate these cookies. They taste delicious without anything added. But they are not the prettiest. They look a bit like pale crackers when they are not decorated.
I dipped mine in melted dark chocolate. I used a dark chocolate low in sugar. If you want to avoid refined sugar, there are brands of dark chocolate sweetened with maple syrup or honey.
More Easy Healthy Cookies
- Apple Pie Oatmeal Cookies
- 3 Ingredient Healthy No Bake Cookies
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
- 3 Ingredient No Bake Chocolate Oat Cookies
2 Ingredient Healthy Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup superfine blanched almond flour
- 2 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add almond flour to a large bowl. Add in maple syrup, one tablespoon at a time. Mix syrup with almond flour using a spoon and stir until the maple syrup is completely incorporated and has moistened all the almond flour before adding in the next tablespoon. After 2 1/2 tbsp, your dough should be clumpy but not one big lump. You will know your dough is ready if when you pinch a clump together, it stays together and doesn't fall apart. If your dough is too dry, you can add a little more maple syrup (about 1/2 tbsp). If your dough is moist enough to fully form a large dough ball, then you've added too much maple syrup and will need to add a little more almond flour.
- Gather dough together and place between two sheets of parchment paper. Use a rolling pin on top of parchment paper to roll out dough. You want the dough to be between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick.
- Slice cookie dough into rectangles, approximately 1.5 inch by 2 inch. You can also use a cookie cutter to cut other shapes.
- Place cookies onto prepared baking sheet. Bake 25-35 minutes (1/8 inch cookies will be done around 25 minutes and 1/4 inch will be done closer to 35 minutes) or until cookies are a light brown and the surface is firm. The cookies will firm up a little more once they are cooled but the surface of the cookies should feel firm rather than soft before you remove them from the oven. Let cookies cool completely before removing from baking sheet and eating.
Notes
- The cookies must be cooked at a low heat. If cooked at high heat, they will brown and burn around the edges before they firm up in the middle.
- The cookies should be between 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch thick. You do not want them thicker than 1/4 inch because the cookies will not completely firm up. I like 1/4 inch cookies as they have more crumbly texture when you bite in. The 1/8 inch ones are super crispy but are so thin that they don't have as much crumble.
- Make sure to roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper.
- You can leave the cookies plain or you can dip them in melted chocolate. I used dark chocolate with low sugar. You can also use dark chocolate sweetened with maple syrup or honey. If you are looking for a healthy frosting, I also have this chocolate frosting.
- If your dough is too crumbly/dry and doesn't roll out well, then add a little more maple syrup to it. If your dough is very sticky and you can't make cut-outs, then add a little more almond flour.
- Make sure to use superfine blanched almond flour. Regular almond flour will not work the same.
- I used Kirkland Signature superfine almond flour.*
- *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases (at no extra charge to you).
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Do happen to have a gingerbread cookie recipe, if so I would love to try to make that one.
Hi Dina! We do have a recipe for Gingerbread on the blog: https://kirbiecravings.com/gingerbread-family/
I interested Super easy methad resipes everyone else
We have lots of 4 Ingredients or Less recipes you might like!
Can I use Lakanto (monkfruit) Syrup?
If it has the same consistency as maple syrup it could work, but we haven’t tried it so can’t say for sure. If you have granular erythritol on hand you might want to try our Lemon Keto Shortbread Cookies.
I’ve made these a few times now and just love them! They taste good both with and without the chocolate dip and they are so easy to make! Even my husband really likes them and he’s a die-hard-full-sugar-in-my-cookies kind of guy. Thanks for this recipe!
That’s great to hear! So glad you both enjoy the recipe.
DEAR ,
WHAT CAN WE SUBSTITUTE ALMOND FLOUR WITH ?
Thank you !
Your recipes are a well of discoveries!.-beyond standards, genuine and appealing!
Keep it UP!
We have only tested this recipe with super fine almond flour. Sorry!
can protein powder be added to this recipe?
We haven’t tested it with protein powder.
How much protein in each cookie?
less than 1
Using munk fruit puree to sweeten them makes them very sweet but no added calories. Because im diabetic i love using munk fruit puree to sweeten things i bake because it does not raise blood sugar! Hope this tip helps others
How did you get more than eight cookies? I love the recipe but even at 1/8 inch, I couldn’t get very many cookies out.
I didn’t have any issues getting more than 8. Maybe you can only cut 8 after you roll out the dough the first time but if you re-roll the dough scraps you should be able to make many more.
Can you make these into bar cookies, like brownies?
the cookies are very firm and also very thin, so i don’t think they will work well as bar cookies
My original question, that didn’t get published or got lost in the ethers, was can honey be used as a substitute for the maple syrup?
Thanks.
you can use honey but you will need to add a little water to dilute it since honey is thicker than maple syrup. I would measure out less honey than the recipe calls for and dilute it with about 1 tsp water. This is just an estimate. You may need to add a little more water. Also, you will need to work the dough a little more. Because honey is so sticky, it won’t spread as evenly across the almond flour so you will have to knead the dough to make sure the honey is evenly distributed.
Cookies are now out of the oven…. VERY CUTE using the Pampered Chef mini cutouts ( used the Pickle, Star and Heart shapes ) I actually prefer them without chocolate and I am a major Chocoholic!
These will not last long (hubby just had 4 of em…. since so easy to make I can whip up any time a craving calls us 🙂
Thanks again
I’m so glad you liked the cookies! Mine didn’t last very long either. Luckily they are very easy to make!
Thanks Kirbie for a great recipe low cal and sugarfree PLUS no flour & eggs !! A batch is in the oven now …actually used my mini oampered chef cookie cutters and ended up with 28 instead of 18…YUM!
One question… is the 48K before the Chocolate dip or after?
Happy Holidays
Karen
I’m so glad you enjoyed! the estimated nutrition is before being dipped in chocolate.
Greetings, where is the cholesterol reading coming from? I don’t see any animal listed in the recipe. Thanks.
There’s no cholesterol listed in the nutrition but there is saturated fat which comes from the almond flour.
Loved these shortbread, it sounded too good to be true, but lived up to everything the post said. We made one batch which resulted in two trays in Christmas shapes shortbread. The steel tray cooked really well, the one on a greased, lined aluminium foil not so much, we turned them over and it took an extra ten minutes. The thinnest ones were superb and those a few millimetres thicker only delicious. The recipe was so easy to follow though next time I would put the dough into the fridge to chill a bit before rolling out for the second batch. Everyone loved them and there wasn’t even time to add chocolate, lol. Thanks. I have a photo but not sure how to post it here.
I’m so glad they worked out well for you and you enjoyed them! Thanks for sharing.
Can coconut flour be substituted for almond flour in any of the recipes
It will not work as a substitute for this recipe
I just, found your recipie I love it I will make it and see what happen. It looks sooo good. Thank you! I will be in contact prity soon.
Cristina de OHIO
hope you enjoy!