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’ve tried a lot of Keto deserts and have never found something that doesn’t taste like KETO, until now. They all seem to have no sweetness that didn’t have a funny after taste, a lousy texture , just no appealing in appearance.
These are amazing.I can’t believe that it’s Keto!
I know this is supposed to be a cold bar….. when I made this I had the patience of a 2 year old. Let me just say that this is absolutely delicious warm. Oh my goodness, fresh out of the oven with a few minutes to cool. I think I’ve found my new favorite dessert.
Interesting! Thanks for the tip!
I don’t know what I did. Something is wrong. They’re all stuck to the bottom of the pan, even though I greased it liberally. The cheese part tastes OK, but the cookie part just tastes like a brick of almond. Maybe my expectations are just too high, as this is my first keto baking attempt.
Your expectations aren’t too high, clearly something went wrong. Please tell me what brand of almond flour and sweetener you used.
Sorry I didn’t see your reply earlier! I did figure it out. My last attempt tasted much better. It was the Hill Country Farm (cheap HEB store brand) almond flour–I bought the actual HEB brand this time in the red bag. This one seemed more finely ground and brighter in color. I also subbed plain cream cheese spread in place of my previous 8oz brick (obviously this has nothing to do with the “brick of almond” flavor but how can you make something taste unbricklike if you use bricklike things to make it?). Sweetener was Swerve, so that was fine.
Thanks for the recipe. I’ll make sure not to skimp on the ingredients in the future.
Hands down the best bars!
This recipe came out amazing! It checks all my boxes for a satisfying dessert without having a “cheat”. Thank you!
Just had to comment that these were the best low carb dessert I have had in a loooong time. Wonderful. I put Lily’s butterscotch chips in them, and they were divine. Thank you
Great idea!
Can I double this recipe and use a 9×13 pan?
It’s a basic question of math. 9×9 = 81. 9×13 = 117. That’s not double… it’s more like 1 1/2 times.
Thanks, Carolyn! I look forward to making the Nainamo bars as well. It’s one of my go-to summer treats since it’s a no
bake goodie.
I am always looking for healthier recipes, and this one is TRULY amazing!
Delicious! I substituted the extra almond flour for the coconut because I am one of those oddballs who doesn’t like coconut, and loved this dessert! Would the same technique and substitution of almond flour for the same amount of coconut work in your Nanaimo bars? I love Nanaimo bars, and use a non-coconut recipe (sacrilege!) in a traditional recipe for them. Thanks for the great recipes!
No… with the Nanaimo bars, the coconut isn’t really for consistency so you can just leave it out.
What size pan do you use?
The pan is listed in the first step of the instructions, as always.
Omgosh! Made these today and they are decadent and delicious! Sooo good! Thanks Carolyn!
This recipe is a must try!! All who have tried this have loved it even those that are not sugar free. Thank you for this delicious treat!!
Zucchini chocolate chips cookies is so delicious,I make a batch once a month,I just add 1/2 cup more almond flour and 1 extra tbsp of coconut flour,it comes perfectly and want spread as much
I wanted to reproduce some decadent butterscotch crunch, cheesecake bars I used to get at my supermarket bakery pre keto. I added some chopped walnuts to the cookie dough, and subbed in the new keto butterscotch chips that just came out.
I use Allulose for things that don’t need to be crisp, so I used that for the cheesecake part. Delish!!! Even better than the overly sweet store ones. The coconut adds to the yumminess, and since Mr. Naturally Slim and Trim doesn’t like coconut, more for me (tee hee).
Thanks for all your hard work, Carolyn, coming up with these treats. They make being diabetic so much more tolerable.
Sounds delicious!
OMG just when I think you couldn’t possibly come up with anything else, I find this recipe on your Facebook page. Well I tried them, never in my wildest dreams did I think they would replace my favorite recipe of yours (Brown Butter Blondies) but I have to say they have!! Please keep up what you are doing! Your creativity inspires me everyday!! To anyone who hasn’t tried these Chocolate Chip Cheesecake bars, please do, they are absolutely decant!
So glad you like them!
has anyone tried freezing them??? hoe do they come out?
thanks
They should be just fine! Wrap them up tightly.
These were delicious, and a nice change from what I usually make.
Awesome! I made these when one of my ingredients for the brownie cheesecake when bad and and I located these on my favorite keto chef’s hit list. I didn’t have chocolate chips, but I had peanut butter chips so that’s what I use and they turned out yummy.
learning a new way of cooking at 84, been very hard, Thanks to I Dream About
Food all day, sure has helped and Love all the recipes
food all day
Thanks so much!
After reading the reviews, I can’t wait to make this recipe! However I don’t have Swerve Brown, I do have Sukrin Gold. Would I use the same amount?
Yes, that should be fine.