Let’s face it, adulting is hard. And sometimes you have to make tough decisions. Like choosing between keto cheesecake or keto chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Really, it’s quite heart-wrenching stuff!
Thank goodness there are delicious mashup desserts like these Keto Cheesecake Bars. This way, you can enjoy all the creamy deliciousness of cheesecake with the buttery sweet flavor of your favorite cookies. This is one of my most popular keto desserts, with good reason!
I got it into my head that I needed to make them again for a party, and while I was at it, I took some new photos. To be honest, I had forgotten just how much I liked them. And they got rave reviews from everyone.
If you like to maximize your sweet treats, check out other mashup recipes like Keto Coffee Cake Cookies or my delectable Keto Brookies. So many wonderful ways to bring two recipes together!
Why we love this recipe
- Easy to make: Cheesecake Bars like these are also wonderful because they’re easier than full scale cakes. And they don’t require a water bath!
- Great flavor: You really do get to get to enjoy two desserts in one!
- Great for parties: This recipe makes 16 delicious bars so you can share with family and friends.
- Freezable: Want to keep them all to yourself? Store them in a covered container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Macros: They look and taste like a high carb dessert but have only 6.1g total carbs per serving!
Reader’s Thoughts
“Hello and thank you from Australia! My husband became a type 1 diabetic in his late 20’s, and when he got the diagnosis it was such a struggle to try and find ways for him to still enjoy desserts safely. This recipe and all the other incredible recipes on your website have been an absolute godsend. Keep up the fantastic work!” — Gin
Ingredient Notes
- Almond flour: This keto shortbread crust is made with almond flour. You could use sunflower seed flour for a nut free option, but you will need to add a little lemon juice to offset the green reaction.
- Sweetener: You will want a brown sugar substitute in the cookie portion and a powdered sweetener in the cheesecake portion.
- Cream cheese: Make sure your cream cheese is properly softened.
- Sour cream: This helps make the filling extra creamy. You could also use heavy cream.
- Sugar-free chocolate chips: I like to use Lily’s or ChocZero dark chocolate chips. If you can find them, mini keto chocolate chips are great too.
- Kitchen staples: Eggs, butter, vanilla extract, baking powder and salt.
Step by Step Directions
- Prepare the cookie dough: In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, baking powder, and salt. Add the egg, melted butter, and vanilla extract and beat until the dough comes together. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Bake the crust: Press about two-thirds of the dough into the bottom of a greased 9-inch square pan. Bake at 325ºF for 12 to 15 minutes, until light golden brown, then remove from the oven and let cool (it will not be fully baked at this point).
- Make the cheesecake filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until completely smooth, about 1 minutes. Add the powdered sweetener, sour cream, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Finally beat in the egg until just combined.
- Assemble the bars: Pour the filling over the cooled crust. Take the remaining cookie crust mixture and crumble over the top of the filling, pressing lightly to adhere.
- Bake, then chill: Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top crust is golden and the filling is just a little jiggly in the center. Remove from the oven and let cool, then refrigerate for 1 hour until set.
Tips for Success
I cannot stress how important it is to have your cream cheese properly softened before beating. In cooler climes, this means warming it up a tiny bit. I always zap mine in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds.
Bake the bottom crust until it’s just golden brown. You don’t want it fully baked but you want it to bake enough to be firm under the cheesecake filling.
Sweetener Options: I recommend using an erythritol-based brown sugar sweetener for the crust. Allulose will cause it to brown too much and it will also be overly soft, so the bars won’t have enough structure.
You do want a powdered sweetener for the cheesecake filling but it can be whatever kind you like best. I used a combination of erythritol and allulose.
Frequently Asked Questions
Good news! Cheesecake is a wonderful dessert that is easy to make without sugar or flour. You can enjoy many wonderful flavors and styles of keto friendly cheesecake! I advise making your own rather than trying to purchase it, so you know exactly what it contains and how many carbs it has.
Keto dessert bars like this refrigerate and freeze really well. Make sure to let them cool properly before wrapping them up tightly to store. You can freeze them in the pan, if you like, but I recommend pressing plastic wrap to the surface of the cooled bars, to avoid freezer burn. Then wrap the whole pan tightly in foil or additional plastic. You could also cut them into individual servings and store in a covered container between sheets of waxed paper, so that you can enjoy them anytime the craving strikes.
This keto chocolate chip cheesecake bar recipe has 6.1g of carbs and 3.2g of fiber per serving. That comes to 2.9g net carbs per bar.
More Delicious Keto Cheesecake Bars
Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Cookies Crust:
- 2 1/2 cups (280 g) almond flour
- 1/2 cup (100 g) brown sugar replacement
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) butter, melted
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup (60 g) sugar-free chocolate chips
Cheesecake Filling:
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) cream cheese, softened
- 1/3 cup (60.67 g) powdered sweetener
- 2 tbsp sour cream, or heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat oven to 325ºF and grease a 9-inch square pan well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the egg, melted butter, and vanilla extract and beat until the dough comes together. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Press about two-thirds of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until light golden brown, then remove from the oven and let cool (it will not be fully baked at this point).
Filling
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until completely smooth, about 1 minutes. Add the powdered sweetener, sour cream, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Finally beat in the egg until just combined.
- Pour the filling over the cooled crust. Take the remaining cookie crust mixture and crumble over the top of the filling, pressing lightly to adhere.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until the top crust is golden and the filling is just a little jiggly in the center. Remove from the oven and let cool, then refrigerate for 1 hour until set.
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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I do not like coconut, so is there anything I can sub for it in this recipe?
Simply more almond flour.
I made this yesterday, and it turned out great! I substituted almond flour for the coconut to appease my family, who has an aversion to it that I don’t, but, unfortunately, they still didn’t like it as much as I did. More for me!
What can I use to substitute coconut in the cookie crust? Thanks!
More almond flour would be fine.
what can I use in place of almond flour I have an allergy to almonds?
Do you have an allergy to all nuts? Any nut flour would do. You can also use sunflower seed flour.
I have an almond allergy as well but for some reason it only applies to raw almonds. If I eat them raw, my throat will close up but once roasted, I can eat them just fine. Since almond flour/meal is made with roasted almonds, it doesn’t bother me (same thing for almond milk!). Not sure about the severity of your allergy but just wanted to offer my experience on the possibility that it may help you! I will be attempting this recipe tomorrow 🙂
Oh my word!!! I am dying, these bars look super delicious!!!
Thank you for this great recipe. I just served it to my morning Bridge group, was a big hit. I didn’t have sugar free chips instead I took a coco bar, sugar free unsweetened, chopped into very small pieces. The opinion from the gals was the bar had enough sweetness that the chocolate added another layer of flavor.
Great tip, thanks!
Hi. I don’t think we can get brown sweetener anywhere here in New Zealand.
What can I substitute it with?
Regular erythritol and a tsp or two of molasses works.
Sure to be a “Best of 2015!!”
Just wondering if these freeze well? I’ve made the non THM recipe and when I freeze them, they thaw very soggy.
I honestly have no idea…we ate them too fast to freeze them!
I froze mine and they are great right out of the freezer!
Carolyn – Wow! OK, now you’ve put this idea in MY head!!
In answer to the question posed, You are RIGHT, so VERY RIGHT!
What would happen if I didn’t cool the crust before topping it?
Your crust ends up soggier because the cream cheese filling melts more as you spread it.
My boyfriend has a severe coconut allergy. Any thoughts on possible substitutions for the coconut ingredients?
Just add more almond flour in exact same amount.
I am actually salivating just looking at the pictures. :0)
What is swerve?
http://www.swervesweetener.com
I just bought some Truvia for baking. Can that be substituted for Swerve?
Yes, I think so but it does have a higher carb content.
Truvia is also just erythritol and stevia, right? So the ‘carb count’ still more or less nets out to zero, doesn’t it? I prefer Swerve for sure, but sometimes when it just isn’t available, Truvia always seems to work ok.
I made this today with truvia and it turned out great. So yummy! thanks 🙂
Can i just use coconur sugar instead of swerve
Sure.
Baking vlend is half sugar, i believe. Read the label.
There is regular Truvia and baking blend Truvia; she is referring to regular Truvia. Which, you can use in lieu of Swerve and/or plain erythritol.
As I am unable to find a place near me that sells ”swerve” can I use stevia instead?
sharron
No, I don’t think that would work very well. The texture of the cookie depends on a bulk granulated sweetener. Can you find Truvia or plain erythritol?
I have Swerve in the powdered sugar form..will that work ok?
Yes, that should be fine!
Hi Carolyn, I hope you can help! I am out of powdered sweetener, do you think I could use liquid stevia for the cream cheese fillin only, and if so how much would you recommend? I really want to make these tonight, they sound and look DIVINE!!!
You can but I can’t say how much because I don’t know how sweet yours is! Try looking it up online and seeing how sweet it is in comparison to sugar.
I have bought Erythritol on Amazon and Swerve is on there, too!
Amazon has Swerve
I really think you have outdone yourself with this one!!!!!
This looks so yummy! I still have some unsweetened coconut from Christmas baking this recipe calls for unsweetened right? Thanks!
Yes, always unsweetened.
I had to come over and check these out from Facebook, they look so amazing!! WOW
OMG!!!! If I’m dreaming PLEASE DON’T WAKE ME UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow!!!! This is definitely getting made next weekend. (I know, excessive use of ! but this so deserves it!)
I couldn’t wait for today to get here. The aroma of it baking in the oven was wonderful. The longest hour . . . waiting for it to sit in the fridge!!! I just had a serving of this and I want to say it is so delicious. Thanks for a wonderful recipe. Next time, I am going to add some very finely chopped pecans and a touch of cinnamon to the cookie dough.
Love the idea of cinnamon and pecans!
Hi there, could cacao nibs be used in place of chocolate chips?
Sure!
Awesome, thanks! Can’t wait to try them!
This is so, so, SO not fair. Posting this on a Monday and all. I don’t imagine I’ve ever felt a craving this heavily.