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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This is now my favorite recipe of yours! I had no problem with the filling being too jiggly…in fact, by the time the crumb topping was browned there was no more jiggle, but didn’t seem to make a difference. I didn’t think the filling was sweet enough (I used a different powdered sweetener) so I added some Sweet Leaf English Toffee stevia drops…FABULOUS! 🙂
Thanks, Pam!
these look great. I can’t wait to try them!! Have you tried subbing THM baking blend? I’m wondering if that would work. Thanks!
Made these earlier and they are amazing! By far my favorite low carb dessert. I didn’t have any Swerve for the dough so I used Truvia Brown Sugar Blend. I had to cook it a lot longer than you listed, but it was worth it!
I have now made these twice. I must say they are beautiful to look at and taste delicious. I do have a problem getting the cheesecake part done all the way through. The top is really browned but when it comes time to cut it it’s still gooey. Has this been mentioned before?
No, you are the first to mention it. Maybe next time, you need to cut down a little on the liquid? Hard to say.
Don’t mean to be indelicate, but “squee!” Clap clap clap. I’m makin this! So I’m one of your fans where, you know, some of your recipes don’t work when I make them. That was hard to admit. The macha tea cake comes to mind as a fantastic fail. I traumatized myself….couldnt touch almond flour for awhile. Though I just made the chocolate fudge bars and it worked. So I’ll be building this recipe with confidence.
Can I ask what brand of almond flour you are using? And sweetener? Because those are usually the culprits in things not working out.
Hi Carolyn,
I use the honeyvale almond flour and, looking back, it was my fault in that I measured the flour incorrectly. Maybe it had been effected by humidity, it was dense and crumbly and I had way to much flour for the recipe
What was so difficult to get over was that the almond flour was so expensive and I wasted it. I think its that simple. Though making the tea cakes and breads is a goal, and I was just thinking tonight that it woul be fun to make a savory crustini to serve with my soups, I build amazing soups :)…right now, my baking skills are not that good. This month offers more time to practice With a new bag of almond flour. 🙂
Oh, and at the time I used the sweetner suggested in the recipe. But lately I’ve been using mostly swerve.
Thank you for asking, I think the next baking experiment will be the caramel cupcakes. Can’t wait. Cross your fingers…lol.
Oh, i meant biscotti….not crustini….lol.
This post made me giggle,, I agree with made up words too! I had a recipe in mind to try tonight but this keeps gnawing at me! I have to make a dish to pass and this looks to good to pass up! I can’t wait to try it!
I made these and love them! Is there anyway to make them into cookies and not use the cheesecake part? Could I just bake the crust like cookies?
Yup, that’s what the crust is based on. Follow this recipe: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2013/06/coconut-chocolate-chip-cookies-low-carb-and-gluten-free.html
This is a beautiful beautiful thing. Thank you! 🙂
Hi Carolyn, first I just wanted to say a huge huge thank you for sending us in the direction of TYPEONEGRIT ! It has been a game changer for us! I had spoken to you not long ago in regards to the heavy cream versus low-fat cream for my daughter and you sent us in that direction. Just had a quick question for you in regards to the coconut sugar in this recipe. Are we able to use coconut sugar without having spikes just wanted to make sure before I made it. Thanks again!
I am so glad you’ve found TYPEONEGRIT helpful! So coconut sugar is still sugar and I only use it to get the slight “brown sugar” appearance and flavour. but I cannot say if it will spike your daughter or not. In this particular recipe, it amounts to about 1 extra carb per serving. If you are worried, follow the recipe with the instructions for just using additional Swerve.
That sounds great! Thanks Carolyn!!
I made these yesterday and they turned out absolutely wonderful! What a treat!
You think xylitol would work for these? I do not have swerve!
I think it would, but I can’t guarantee it as I didn’t try it myself.
12oz of cream cheese. Is this measured by weight or is it 1.5 cups?
Measured by weight, since each brick is 8 ounces, so 1.5 bricks.
Thanks for getting back to me. I made them last night and measured the cream cheese by weight because you had other items measured by volume so I felt you’d be consistent. I buy the big tubs of cream cheese from Costco as I use lots while eating LCHF.
The bars turned out AMAZING. I only had an 8×8 pan so I had to bake them a little longer and ended up cutting it into 16 squares. I will admit that I had one for lunch today. No regrets!
Glad they worked out!
any substitute for almond flour, I’m allergic to nuts?
You could try sunflower seed flour but be forewarned that it can turn green in baked goods. Use a tablespoon or two of lemon juice, that might help offset the colour.
Can I use regular sugar rather than the swerve?
Yes, you should be able to.
Okay so, these were awesome! Just made them but have no idea why today considering tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and I’m supposed to fast. (Forehead slap!) Mine do not look as condensed as yours – more like cookie crusted & crumbled cheesecake. Do you think I might have mixed the whipping cream too much?
I am making this for the second time this week. I cut the sweetener in half (erythritol). Every one loved it.
When you say 1/3 cup whipping cream do you mean out of the container or whipped up.mi love all your recipes can’t wait to make this one.
Liquid, out of the container. If I say “whipped cream”, then it’s already whipped up. Hope that helps!
Thank you Carolyn.
I came home from work today and couldn’t decide if I wanted to make cookies or cheesecake. And then I found THIS. Holy cow. I made it immediately. The hardest part was waiting for it to cook and cool. So I didn’t – I had a taste of the raw cookie dough, a little taste of the cheesecake filling, a little taste of it all warm out of the oven, and finally I had a completely cooled, cooked serving. And it was delicious every step of the way! Like one reviewer, I didn’t have the chocolate chips called for in the recipe, so I chopped up 100% unsweetened chocolate and used it in the recipe, and it worked beautifully.
I’ll be making this again. It’s wonderful!
It’s in the oven now. I’ve made the raspberry almond cheesecake bars and they were amazing. Those look like the same but with yummy choc chips. I don’t think I’ve ever made any of your recipes that didn’t turn out perfect.
My son and I made these today– they are fantastic!!