Looking for low-carb Halloween cookies that won’t send you into a sugar crash? These vanilla sugar cookies are soft and tender and topped with a creamy, lightly sweetened cream cheese frosting—perfect for spooky season without the refined sugar spike.
The little googly eyes shown are sugar-free too, and the recipe includes simple instructions to make your own. Making the eyes and royal icing is fun and straightforward, but if you’d rather skip that step there are easy alternatives included below.
Best Sweeteners for This Recipe
I tested these low-carb sugar cookies with allulose, erythritol, and a 50/50 erythritol/monk fruit blend.
- Allulose: My top pick. No aftertaste, the cookies stayed soft when chilled, and they didn’t grain or harden. This is the best choice if you want the cookies to stay tender for more than a day.
- Erythritol: Gave a pleasant texture with a slight cooling effect. Cookies made with erythritol firmed up more at room temperature; some people preferred that bite, though I did not.
- Erythritol + Monk Fruit Blend: Great texture with much less cooling sensation. These cookies held up well for about a day before beginning to firm up.
- Liquid sweeteners aren’t ideal. They change the dry-to-wet ratio and reduce the bulk of the dry ingredients, which affects texture and structure.
- If you can’t find allulose, a sweetener blend works well. You can substitute allulose 1:1 with either 100% erythritol or a 50/50 erythritol/monk fruit blend.
- For the frosting, use what you prefer. Powdered allulose was used here, but powdered erythritol or monk fruit will work. Liquid sweetener replacements are also fine for the frosting.
Answers about Sweeteners, Low Carb Baking Tips, and General FAQ
For more in-depth answers on baking tools and sugar replacements, consult the site’s FAQ pages. You can also download a handy sweetener substitution chart from the blog.
Common FAQ topics include baking with almond flour and coconut flour, and guides for allulose, monk fruit, erythritol, and xanthan gum substitutes.
Sugar-Free Googly Eyes — Plus Options
I made a sugar-free royal icing to create the googly eyes shown. If you want to make them, the recipe card includes complete instructions. Making royal icing also lets you create colorful sugar-free sprinkles if you like.
If you’d rather not make the eyes from scratch, here are a few easy alternatives.
Option 1
Melted chocolate: Use white sugar-free chocolate for the whites and a little dark chocolate for the pupils. It’s quick and effective.
Option 2
Buttercream: Tint a small amount of buttercream with black food coloring and pipe pupils directly onto the frosting.
Option 3
Regular edible googly eyes: If you use store-bought candy eyes, note the small carb impact: roughly 4 net carbs per teaspoon (about six small eyes), so one set adds approximately 1.3 net carbs per cookie—still reasonable for many low-carb diets.
Making the Sugar Cookies
- Use a heavy-duty cookie sheet. If you don’t have one, double up pans or place a layer of foil under the sheet. Almond and coconut flours brown quickly, so protecting the bottom of the cookies helps achieve an even, golden bake.
- Watch the cookies closely around the 12–14 minute mark. You want the edges just beginning to brown.
- Let cookies cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring. They’ll be soft when they come out of the oven and need a few minutes to set up.
Frosting
Follow these tips for a light, whipped cream cheese frosting that pipes nicely:
- Beat cold cream cheese until smooth and spreadable.
- Scrape the bowl to ensure all cream cheese is incorporated.
- Add heavy cream, vanilla, and powdered sweetener and mix on low until blended.
- Increase speed and whip until the mixture is soft and fluffy—take care not to overbeat or it may become runny.
Piping Tips
Use a piping bag fitted with Wilton Grass Tip 233 filled halfway with frosting. Hold the bag perpendicular to the cookie, squeeze to form short strands of “fur” (about 1 inch), then pull the tip up and away to finish each strand cleanly.
Storage & Serving Suggestions
These cookies are best within the first few days. Store unfrosted cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
You can freeze unfrosted cookies for up to a month. Thaw in the fridge before frosting and serving.
Low Carb Halloween Cookies with Monster Faces
16
5 minutes
30 minutes
35 minutes
1 hour 10 minutes
Adorable monster cookies with fur and googly eyes, made without refined sugar and gluten-free — a cute Halloween treat for anyone watching carbs.
Ingredients
Monster Cookie Batter
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup powdered erythritol
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 2 Tbsp protein powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Frosting
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1/3 cup powdered sweetener
- 1 cup (8 ounces) full-fat cream cheese
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Orange & purple food coloring
Googly Eyes
- 2 Tbsp powdered egg white
- 2 cups powdered erythritol
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp water (plus more for blending)
- Food dyes
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Sugar Cookies
- Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth and spreadable.
- Add sweetener, vanilla, and egg; mix until combined.
- Blend in almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, protein powder, and salt on low until incorporated.
- Wrap the dough and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325°F and line a heavy-duty cookie sheet with parchment.
- Portion dough into 1/4 cup rounds, flatten evenly, and place on the prepared sheet.
- Bake 14–16 minutes until the edges just start to brown. Do not overbake.
Low-Carb Frosting
- Cube 1 cup cold full-fat cream cheese and beat until smooth.
- Add vanilla, coloring, and powdered sweetener.
- Pour in 1/2 cup full-fat whipping cream and mix on low, then increase speed until fluffy.
- Do not overbeat or the frosting may separate.
- Fit a piping bag with Wilton Grass Tip 233, fill halfway, and hold the bag at 90° to pipe fur-like strands about 1 inch long, pulling up to finish each strand.
Googly Eyes (Optional)
- Whisk powdered egg white and powdered erythritol in a stand mixer, then slowly add water, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat until stiff peaks form, about 7–10 minutes.
- Divide icing into bowls, tint with gel colors a few drops at a time until desired shades are reached.
- Thin each color with 1 teaspoon water at a time to reach piping consistency. The icing should pipe but not spread.
- Pipe dots onto parchment with a size 2 or 3 tip, dry 30 minutes, then pipe tiny black pupils with a size 1 or 2 tip.
- Allow icing to dry at least 4 hours, longer if humidity is high.
Notes
1. If you don’t have a heavy-duty sheet, place a second pan under the baking sheet or wrap the bottom in foil to prevent over-browning.
2. Don’t skip the protein powder — it replaces gluten and stabilizes the cookie. Any flavor works.
3. Chilling the dough is essential to prevent spreading and keep the cookies’ shape.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 16
Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 197Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 122mgCarbohydrates: 8gNet Carbohydrates: 5gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 5g
Nutritional information is approximate. Erythritol and other sugar alcohols are typically excluded from net carb counts.