Keto Holiday Cookies

Keto Holiday Cookies are sure to make the season merry and bright!
Steviva sweetener makes a great base for making traditional sugary desserts guilt free!

Yesterday a coworker mentioned she had not had sugar in six months! SIX MONTHS! She is rocking it! But I am not her and I can't even go 24 hours without a sweet dessert. It makes healthy eating worth it to me if I have a goal to work towards every day. Dessert is my motivator. 

While dessert may be my motivator, it doesn't mean I have to have a fattening, sugary dessert every night. I can easily make some guilt free desserts and have them ready for when my nightly craving hits. These cookies are amazing and it's easy to make several different types of holiday cookies with the same dough base.  

We hope your holiday season has been off to a good start. We got to go to watch my daughter perform and then spent the night walking around downtown. We stopped at our favorite service vending machine. This is definetely one of the most unique ways to give and if you have one in your city, your kids will LOVE it! My kids spent a long time trying to decide between giving a goat, a chicken and water. Water won, the line was shorter and the kids were ready for hot cocoa and cookies. 

Later on that week we were driving home from yet ANOTHER holiday event and we got a call from one of the kids favorite adopted grandmas. i had the Bluetooth connected and the kids all shouted "hi!!" and "Merry Christmas!!" It made her night. I took her off Bluetooth so she could hear me and i could talk to her and from the backseat I could hear my little girl shout "IT'S GINGERBREAD HOUSE TIME I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!" She said it so loud my cute neighbor could hear her loud and clear. This beautiful woman is 81 and still hand rolls each gingerbread house for her kids, grandkids and my children. 26+ houses each year!

This year our theme was blue frosting. We had to go over and pick out all of our candy and get our house from our sweet neighbor. She has tubs of candy and it is a process for the kids to go through the tubs and decide what they want to do for their house. My youngest got to decorate her house this year with her favorite sitter. I had a work party and my daughter was so excited to have her favorite sitter watch her since all of us had things going on that night. The blue frosting however, I found everywhere....ugh! 

For those of you who are cringing at the sight of blue frosting, candy and treats there IS a way to indulge. These keto holiday cookies are amazing and taste great! If you are still adjusting to the taste of keto sugar consider using half regular sugar and half keto sugar until your tastebuds have adjusted. 

PUMPKIN SNICKERDOODLES

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar (can use coconut sugar or Steviva keto sugar)
• ½ cup light brown sugar (can substitute brown keto sugar)
• ¾ cup unsweetened pumpkin puree (for apple spice use applesauce)
• 1 large egg
• 3 ¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour (we use a keto flour blend)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ginger
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• ⅛ tsp cloves
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ginger

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugars, pumpkin, and egg until blended well.
3. Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices, mixing until all ingredients are well incorporated.
4. Place the dough in the refrigerator to chill for approximately 30 minutes to an hour, or in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
5. Once chilled, remove the dough from the refrigerator or freezer and roll the dough into tablespoon sized balls.
6. In a separate bowl mix together the sugar, cinnamon and ginger. Roll the dough balls in the sugar topping, then place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes until cookies are lightly browned and still soft.
8. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for several minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.