These Keto Carmelitas are going to blow your mind. Heavenly low carb crumb bars filled with sugar-free caramel and chocolate. Hard to believe this grain-free treat isn’t made with oats!
The first time I ever tried Carmelitas, I think swooned and fainted away. I was so overcome by the delicious, oat-y, caramel-y, chocolate-y crumbliness in my mouth, all other senses faded away. I was utterly transported.
Well good news! These Keto Carmelitas are just as swoon-worthy as the classic. I love them, I worship them, I adore them. And I think you will too!
And if you love dessert bars filled with gooey deliciousness, be sure to check out my Peach Cobbler Bars and my Keto Fudge Crumb Bars.
Why this recipe is so awesome
If you’ve never had a carmelita, let me tell you a little bit about them.
Conventional carmelitas are made with a crumbly oat and brown sugar crust, and are filled with caramel sauce and chocolate chips, with a top layer of the same crust. Can you see why I fell so hard and fast in love with them?
Oats are lovely but they are not lovely for me. And presumably not for you either, since you are reading a low carb, grain-free food blog. So how do you make carmelitas without oats?
Well, friends, I have come up with the best keto replacement for oats. It’s a trick I use in many recipes, including my Keto Oatmeal Cookies. And it results in the perfect texture with no grains and no added sugars!
Reader Reviews
“I have so many favorites from your website and your baking book. But these have risen to the top of my favorites short list! Can’t believe how easy it was to make the caramel and put together the bars. So good! Thank you for sharing your talent with those of us who are trying to live a sugar-free life. ????” – Kathya Singh
“Oh. My. Goodness! This is my new number one favorite recipe. I told my husband they’re horrible so he won’t touch them 🙂 Mine… They’re all mine!” – Sheryl C.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for this recipe ! They are devine. Every bite is a mouthful of joy.” – Frieda
Ingredients you need
- Flaked unsweetened coconut and sliced almonds: I chop these roughly in the food processor just enough so that they resembled oats in size. This creates an oatmeal-like texture for these keto Carmelitas.
- Nut flours: I use a combination of almond flour and coconut flour to create a crumbly crust, along with the coconut and sliced almonds.
- Sweetener: I recommend an erythritol-based sweetener for the crust to give it the right texture. I used Swerve, which does contain a little allulose, but not enough to affect the results. You can also use my homemade brown sugar substitute.
- Sugar-Free Caramel Sauce: You will need to make the sugar free caramel sauce prior to making these bars. Just be sure to leave out the additional water in the recipe.
- Sugar Free Chocolate Chips: I used Lily’s chocolate chips, but you can use any other low carb chocolate.
- Baking staples: Butter, baking soda, and salt
Step-by-step directions
1. Make the “oats”: Combine the coconut and sliced almond in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles oat flakes. Transfer to a large bowl.
2. Prepare the bottom crust: Add the almond flour, sweetener, 2 tablespoons of the the coconut flour, the baking soda, and salt. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press a little more than half firmly into the bottom of a greased 9×9 inch square pan.
3. Bake the crust: Bake 10 minutes at 325ºF, until puffed and edges are just golden brown. Remove and let cool completely.
4. Make the filling: While bottom crust is cooling, make the caramel sauce and let it cool 10 minutes or so. Then pour the caramel sauce over the crust and sprinkle with chocolate chips.
5. Add the top crust: Add the remaining tablespoon of coconut flour to the remaining crust ingredients and mix well to help make it drier and crumblier. Break it up into small crumbs. Sprinkle over the tilling and press lightly to adhere. Bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the bars are golden brown.
6. Remove and let cool completely before cutting into squares.
Expert tips
The crust for these low carb bars is meant to be on the crumbly side, to mimic the texture of real Carmelitas and other crumb bars. The little crumbly bits are sometimes the best part. The way they fall back into the pan or onto your plate, and you lick the tips of your fingers to press into them and lift them into your mouth. Yum!
Remember when you process the almonds and coconut you do not want them to be ground to a fine powder. You want it coarse like oatmeal, but not too big where the bars fall apart.
You can bake these bars in an 8×8 pan, but you will need to bake them for a little longer since they will be thicker. Some of my readers like to double the recipe and bake it in a 9×13 pan. Yes, that are THAT good!
Frequently Asked Questions
Conventional Carmelita bars can have upwards of 50g of carbs per serving. No, I am not kidding! Whereas this recipe for Keto Carmelitas has 7.6g of carbs and 3.3g of fiber per serving. That comes to 4.3g net carbs per bar.
You can store the bars in an airtight container on the counter for several days. They will keep longer in the refrigerator, up to one week. These bars also freeze well for several months.
For a dairy-free version, try using a vegan butter replacement in the bars and the caramel sauce, and use coconut cream in place of the whipping cream. Use a little less of the coconut cream, because the caramel doesn’t thicken quite as well as the dairy version.
More recipes you will love
Carmelitas
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 cup (85 g) flaked unsweetened coconut
- 3/4 cup (69 g) sliced almonds
- 1 cup (112 g) almond flour
- 1/2 cup (91 g) Swerve Sweetener
- 3 tbsp (21.3 g) coconut flour, divided
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) butter, melted
Filling:
- 1 Sugar-Free Caramel Sauce, (leave out the additional water)
- 1/2 cup (90 g) Lily’s Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips, or other low carb chocolate
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat oven to 325ºF and grease a 9×9 inch square pan (can also use 8×8 but baking time will be longer).
- In a food processor, combine the coconut and sliced almond. Pulse until the pieces are broken up and about the size of oats in size. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Add the almond flour, sweetener, 2 tbsp of the coconut flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the melted butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Press a little more than half of the mixture firmly into the bottom of prepared baking pan (it doesn’t look like it will be enough, but it is…just keep pressing it in, as thinly as you need to). Bake 10 minutes, until puffed and edges are just golden brown. Remove and let cool completely.
- Add the remaining tablespoon of coconut flour to the remaining crust ingredients and mix well to help make it drier and crumblier. Break it up into small crumbs.
Filling
- While the bottom crust is cooling, make the caramel sauce and let it cool 10 minutes or so. Then pour the caramel sauce over the crust and sprinkle with chocolate chips.
- Sprinkle the filling with the remaining crust and press lightly to adhere. Bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the top crust is golden brown.
- Remove and let cool completely before cutting into squares.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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These were amazing! Absolutely hands-down our favorite low carb cookie/brownie so far. The texture is wonderful: crumbly, buttery, delicious! This was all in spite of 3 substitutions I had to make too! (1. Golden Lakanto for the Swerve w/ the molasses in the caramel sauce doesn’t really work and turns grainy when cooled but in the bars… is still absolutely delicious! 2. Shredded dried coconut instead of the flaked. (I still chopped the almonds as you suggested and it worked great!) 3. Chopped bar of Lily’s Salted Almond milk chocolate instead of the chocolate chips (well… that one might be just because we are addicted to it). That’s how delicious and versatile this recipe is… it’s awesome! Thanks again for all you do Carolyn… you rock!
Yes unfortunately Lakanto Golden is still really mostly erythritol so it does re-crystallize. Not an issue for flavour but not always great for consistency!
Hi Carolyn,
I just tried your Lemon Scone recipe and it was AMAZING!
I can’t wait to try this one too, however I ‘m not much of a flaked coconut fan. Can I use something else?
Try more sliced almonds. It’s the texture you’re going for here.
I made these yesterday and they are to die for! they are really rich, so I cut them into 25 pieces (I used an 8×8 pan). However, I made my own caramel sauce because your link to the sauce recipe is not working. Any way we can get that fixed? Or can you tell me which caramel recipe you used?
Thanks again for a wonderful recipe!
Thanks for the heads up, I just fixed the link!
One of the best low carb bar cookie recipes there is. These come out amazing each time, and they are a big hit at home and work. No one knows they are low carb at all. I’ve made these numerous times and they always turn out as pictured. Thanks for posting this treat
This is first keto treat I’ve had that actually tastes good. Thank you!! I used monkfruit instead of swerve because that’s what I had on hand. Do you think this changes the net carbs? Is the net carb including the Carmel sauce?
Thank you!!
Depends on what kind/brand of monk fruit…
And yes, the carbs in this recipe include all parts of the recipe, including the caramel sauce.
Are they supposed to be jiggly after baking or will thwy set up as they sit
Not jiggly, but softish.
I know I must be missing something, but I can not see the recipe for the carmelitas or a link to it. Please help!
It’s not you. My site is having issues and we are trying to get it fixed ASAP.
Delightful! I doubled the recipe and used a 9×13. Turned out perfectly. Thank you for posting this.
Recipe has been sent to the email above. Thanks!
I made Carmelitas once again and they satisfied my sweet tooth while everyone else was eating sugary cookies I made such as butterfudge squares. It is a recipe that has been in my family for a long time. The base is similar to the Carmelitas so I made an extra base to try butterfudge squares low carb as it’s just the topping and the icing after that. I’d love to send you the recipe if you’re interested in trying another cookie. All your recipes are great and saved me at Christmas when the temptation was very strong to eat sugar. Thank you again for your work and I love your blog!
Sure, please send it to alldayidreamaboutfood@gmail.com
I am SO doing the happy dance with you! I have loved carmelitas for probably 30 years; they were always one of our special occasion, holiday treats. Like you, oats are the one thing (well, besides pizza), that I really miss with our transition to low carb high fat eating. I am beyond thrilled that you’ve shared this recipe! I can’t wait to try them!!!
I have these in the oven, and I admit, I’m nervous. My caramel sauce did not thicken. I mean, it’s thicker than water but it’s thinner than the thin batter from a box cake mix when you pour it out. It did spread out over all of the crust, though, which it probably wouldn’t have if it had been thicker. Was it supposed to thicken?
Would this recipe work minus the flaked coconut? Is there something else that would need to be substituted for it?
These are my favorite dessert now…ty so much…I keep them in the fridge to keep them together…love love love!!!
I made them today! Super yummy but they fell apart?. How do I get them to stay together?
Grind your nuts and coconut a bit more.
But keep in mind that carmelitas are supposed to be crumbly.
I have been trying a few of your recipes and this one is one of my favorites next to the Brownie Cheesecake. The caramel sauce so amazing that one would not know that it is low carb. I doubled the caramel sauce recipe since I had a half stick of melted butter already and I’m glad I made a double batch since I will be making a second Carmelita recipe once this one is devoured. I hate trying recipes using very expensive ingredients just to have them be inedible but your recipes are manageable and taste fantastic! Thanks for your hard work and generosity in sharing your recipes!
HELP! What am I doing wrong? I have baked for decades and have never had issues like this. I have tried making the caramel sauce twice. I am using erythritol – is that my problem? The first time I used the molasses and it immediately burned. The second time I used all erythritol, and it was looking OK but suddenly turned and burned. I cooked on lower than medium gas flame and stirred constantly with heat-resistant spatula. I suppose it is the sugar substitute. I thought erythritol was the same as Swerve…apparently Swerve is a mixture of erythritol and oligosaccharides . Ugh. Now I have a cooked bottom crust, Lily chocolate chips, uncooked crumbs for the top, and two batches of the burned butter and erythritol in a smelly kitchen.
Suggestions on what to do with my ingredients?
Can you whip up some cream cheese with sweetener and cream and pour it over the crust? That would be tasty. Top with the other crust material and bake until the cream cheese seems mostly set. As for the burning…what pan are you using? That could be part of it. Obviously yours seems to burn more easily so definitely reduce the time next time.