Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, lemon flavored shortbread cookies. These cookies are just 4 ingredients and are also low carb and keto-friendly. They are an easy dessert for any occasion.
Shortbread cookies are one of my favorite types of cookies and I love that it is possible to make a low carb version that tastes just as buttery and melty.
Ingredients
- Butter
- Erythritol
- Superfine Almond Flour
- Lemon
All you need are four ingredients to make this buttery shortbread.
Erythritol
Erythritol is used to sweeten the cookies. Other similar granular sugar substitutes should also work.
Superfine Blanched Almond Flour
Make sure you use superfine almond flour. You want the fine texture so that your shortbread melts and doesn’t have any grittiness.
Refrigerating the Dough
You do need to refrigerate the cookie dough before baking, so plan ahead. The dough needs to chill for at least 30 minutes. If you do not refrigerate the dough, the cookie dough will be hard to handle and the cookies will spread too much during baking.
More Easy Low Carb Cookie Recipes
- 2 Ingredient Almond Cookies
- 4 Ingredient Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 3 Ingredient Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
- 2 Ingredient Low Carb Peanut Butter Cookies
Keto Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp erythritol granular
- 1/2 (packed) tbsp lemon zest + 1 tsp lemon juice from 1 lemon
- 2 cups superfine blanched almond flour
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add butter and erythritol. Cream together until light and fluffy. Add in lemon zest and lemon juice and mix until incorporated. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
- Add in almond flour and mix in slowly until completely incorporated and a dough forms.
- Place dough between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll out the dough until it is 3/8 inch thick. Place dough into the fridge and let it firm up for at least 30 minutes. The dough does not need to be completely chilled, just firm enough that you will be able to cut and move the cookies.
- While waiting for the dough to chill, preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- After 30 minutes, remove dough from fridge. Slice into rectangles approximately 2 inches by 1.5 inches. Carefully peel cookies from parchment paper and place onto prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies about 1 inch apart. Reroll dough scraps and repeat.
- Bake cookies about 15 minutes or until edges turn light brown.
- Let cookies cool completely on baking sheet to let them set. Cookies will firm up as they cool. Do not remove cookies until they are set.
Notes
- You will not use the entire lemon but one lemon should be enough to produce 1/2 tbsp lemon zest and 1 tsp lemon juice.
- Make sure to use superfine almond flour. I used Kirkland Signature superfine almond flour.*
- I used So Nourished Erythritol Sweetener Granular.*
- *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases (at no extra charge to you).
- Estimated nutrition provides total carbs, carbs from erythritol and net carbs. The net carbs count excludes fiber and carbs from erythritol. If you are on a keto diet, please remember to look at net carbs and not just total carbs.
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.
Very moorish and delicious cookies. So easy to make. Will be making them again.
We’re glad you loved the cookies!
I love the 4 ingredient shortbread recipe – it is the most versatile recipe ever! I’ve made coconut chocolate chip short bread, the lemon, the vanilla, a butterscotch pecan and, today, maple with chocolate salted caramel chips and walnuts.
Oh, that’s so nice to hear! Thanks for letting us know and for sharing your variations!
These cookies are delish. However mine yielded 12 instead of 24 and weren’t as thick as your picture.
Thanks for letting us know! We’re not sure why you only got 12 cookies. This recipe uses 2 cups of almond flour so it should definitely yield more than 12 small cookies. Did you re-roll the scraps to make more cookies?
These are delicious and pretty easy to make. I rolled my first batch a little too thin but they still cooked up the same and they’re still delicious. This will be a keeper recipe.
So glad you liked the recipe!
What can I use to substitute the sweetner? Shall I use dates?
Thank you
Dates won’t work for this recipe – we recommend using other granular sweeteners for a sub.
These shortbread cookies are delicious! The taste is light, with the subtle lemon flavor bringing notes of spring. They’re just slightly sweet and the almond flour gives them a lovely richness.
I had to chill the dough twice since it was rather warm when I made them, but I had a batch of yummy cookies in just a little over an hour.
I highly recommend trying this recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Hi there, my banana Buns came out quite heavy. I was very careful measuring the ingredients. What have I done wrong?
Be careful not to overmix the dough – that can make the rolls dense. Hope that helps!
Can I bake this in a earthenware shortbread pan?
We haven’t tested the recipe using that kind of pan, so can’t say how it will work.
Chocolate chips cookies
We have a great keto chocolate chip cookie recipe you might like to try!