Gooey and delicious keto salted caramel butter bars, with a tender, buttery crust and a rich layer of sugar free caramel. So rich and delicious, you won’t believe it’s low carb. This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill.
You’re going to hate me when I tell you that I’ve been holding onto this recipe for salted caramel butter bars since last August. I really have no excuses. I’m sorry. Please still be my friend?
I have a long list of keto recipes waiting to be published, and as I am always creating new ones, I am constantly adding to this list. Some recipes, no matter how amazing they are, get put aside in favor of other ones. I am always trying to strike a good balance of sweet and savory, and of nourishing meals vs. decadent keto treats.
One cannot live on keto desserts alone. As much as one might want to.
So in any particular week, I might pair something like my Keto Crab Cakes with the well loved Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, and the Keto Chocolate Cereal. Just so I am not giving you desserts all day every day.
Why I put this particular keto caramel bar recipe on hold escapes me now. All I can say is Oh. Em. Gee. It is so insanely good. It is perfect gooey, crumbly, deliciousness and it makes me swoon just thinking about it.
The Inspiration for Keto Salted Caramel Bars
I adore my sugar-free caramel sauce and I know so many of you do as well. It may very well be the most popular keto caramel sauce out there. I basically want to put it in, on, and over everything.
So when I saw a recipe for Salted Caramel Butter Bars on Cookies and Cups, I knew I had to find a way to ketofy them.
Yes, that’s a real word. Ketofy: (verb) To take a high carb recipe and magically make it low carb and grain-free.
That is what I do best. Just call me the Ketofier!
Obviously, this was more than just switching out the caramel. I needed to make a crumbly buttery crust with a melt in your mouth texture. So of course I turned to my trusty keto baking side kick, Bob’s Red Mill. I simply cannot do without their fantastic keto friendly almond and coconut flours.
How To Make Salted Caramel Butter Bars
Make the sugar-free caramel: You want to do this first, because it should be cooled to room temperature before pouring over the crust. And if you really want THE BEST keto caramel, you do need a mix of the two sweeteners.
All Swerve will cause your caramel to re-crystallize. All Bocha Sweet or allulose, and it will be too soft and gooey, and will ooze right out of the bars. Plus too much allulose could cause some serious tummy upset (trust me, I know this from experience).
Make the crumb crust: For this, I highly recommend a combination of both almond and coconut flour. It helps achieve that perfect crumbly consistency. Coconut flour alone won’t work in this, it’s too dry and absorbs far too much moisture.
But adding just a few tablespoons helps offset the moisture in the almond flour. So you end up with a crust that’s both tender and crumbly at the same time.
Press in the bottom crust: You want to take about half, maybe a little more than half, of the crumb mixture and press it firmly into the bottom of an 8×8 inch pan. It should cover the entire bottom of the pan. It’s okay to use a little more if you have to, the rest is just for a scattered topping.
Then par-bake the bottom crust for 10 minutes. This helps the crust be firm enough to not soak right into the caramel sauce.
Let the bottom crust cool a bit: Patience, my hungry friends! I know it’s hard but this also makes the difference between a soggy crust and crisp one. Keto baked goods can be very soft when they first come out of the oven but they firm up as they cool.
Pour on the caramel: Now for the fun part! Pour your gorgeous keto caramel sauce over top of the crust. Try not to just pour it straight into your mouth. That would defeat the purpose of making salted caramel butter bars.
Add salt: This is salted caramel, after all. How much salt you add is up to you. I recommend at least 1/4 teaspoon but if you love salt and caramel together, go for 1/2 teaspoon.
Sprinkle on the remaining crust: It should be enough to cover most of the caramel, with some peeking through. Press lightly to adhere and bake another 20 minutes or so. The filling should be bubbly and thick and the topping should be light golden brown.
Let it cool! Trust me, I know just how hard this is. It’s going to be torture to let the bars cool enough for cutting. But if you don’t, they will be far too soft to cut properly and to lift out of the pan. And you might burn your mouth on the hot caramel sauce! So don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Cut into bars and enjoy. These bars are so gooey and good, you may find you don’t want to share. I don’t blame you one little bit.
Ready to make some oh-so-fabulous keto salted caramel bars? What are you still doing here. Go on, have at it. You can thank me later.
What else can you do with my keto caramel sauce?
Salted Caramel Cheesecake Bars
Gooey and delicious keto salted caramel butter bars, with a tender, buttery crust and a rich layer of sugar free caramel. So rich and delicious, you won't believe it's low carb.
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp butter melted
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 recipe sugar-free caramel sauce
- 1/4 tsp sea salt (more if desired)
Preheat the oven to 350F and grease an 8x8 inch baking pan well.
In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, coconut flour, and salt. Stir in the melted butter and vanilla until the dough begins to clump together.
Press a little over half of the dough into the prepared baking pan and bake 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool 10 minutes.
Pour the caramel sauce over the crust and spread to the edges. Sprinkle with the salt (add more if you like). Then take the remaining crust and crumble it over the filling, pressing lightly to adhere.
Bake another 20 to 25 minutes, until the filling is bubbly and the topping is golden brown. Remove and let cool completely in the pan before cutting into bars.
See the blog post for detailed recipe notes
Jennifer F Schoenbein says
June 6, 2019 at 7:05 amOoh! But I’m like you, I cannot leave a recipe Alone. I’m thinking of adding some chopped pecans to the topping or swapping out some of the almond flour with pecan flour/meal and adding just a bit of chopped apple to the caramel sauce. OR a few chunks of dark chocolate! Sigh.
Thanks for another great recipe!
Carolyn says
June 6, 2019 at 7:38 amHave fun with it!
Crystal says
June 6, 2019 at 4:08 pmSo any chance I could use monkfruit sweetener instead of swerve?
Carolyn says
June 6, 2019 at 6:40 pmDo you mean Lakanto? Please understand that Lakanto is primarily erythritol and only a little added monk fruit. Which means that yes, you can sub it. It’s very similar to Swerve. I don’t like it because I get a strong aftertaste from monk fruit.
Karen says
June 7, 2019 at 11:29 amPlanned to make your Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake this weekend then – THESE happened. May have to make both as I honestly can’t decide between them right now.
Carolyn says
June 7, 2019 at 1:00 pmTough choice! I’d probably make them both too. 🙂
Chantal Vasile says
June 8, 2019 at 10:12 amI love all your recipes but often struggle to find ingredients as I live in Europe. Would you have a suggestion for Swerve and Bochasweet replacements?
Carolyn says
June 8, 2019 at 1:56 pmI believe Natvia is similar to Swerve. For the Bocha Sweet, you can use xylitol.
Cynthia Reed says
June 9, 2019 at 5:30 amHi! I live in Sweden and find that the SUKRIN products from Funksjonell Mat AS, Norge (Norway) work well. There are several varieties–one a brown sugar replacement, one a granulated sugar replacement, and another a powdered sugar replacement. The granulated product is a lot like Swerve, which I used to bring back from the US.
I often mix the granulated sweetener with something like powdered Canderel, Hermesetas (UK products, I think) which I can get in the supermarkets because I sometimes think the Sukrin is too strong (but I thought that about Stevia as well).
Originally, I ordered the Sukrin products on-line, but now find them in ‘health food’ stores (Life, Holland & Barret, etc) in the local malls, and sometimes in the larger supermarkets.
I can hardly wait to try this recipe! I am another caramel lover…as was my father and his father. So I give up and keep a bottle of Walden Farms Caramel Sauce around at all times.
MC Felicidario says
June 9, 2019 at 2:54 pmThese turned out UH-MAZE-ING! My new fave ADIDAF bars, for sure! Oh and I laughed out loud at this: “Try not to just pour it straight into your mouth. That would defeat the purpose of making salted caramel butter bars.” SO TRUE!
Carolyn says
June 9, 2019 at 9:55 pm🙂 Glad you approve!
Jo says
June 12, 2019 at 12:27 pmQuestion – due to a nut allergy what could substitute for almond flour?
Carolyn says
June 12, 2019 at 2:09 pmYOur best option is sunflower seed flour, since it resembles almond flour in consistency.
Ashley says
June 10, 2019 at 6:32 pmCould I use choczero Caramel syrup in place of making the caramel sauce?
Carolyn says
June 10, 2019 at 7:26 pmNo, I don’t think so. It isn’t thick enough and it won’t bake well. I suspect it will just disappear into your bars.
Ashley says
June 10, 2019 at 7:52 pmDarn.. I already attempted it lol. Some of it set and some disappeared. I’m letting it cool and hoping that it will at least taste ok ,even if it doesn’t cut like a bar I may just us a spoon hahahahah. Next time I’ll definitely make the caramel sauce.
Carolyn says
June 10, 2019 at 8:57 pmI am sure it will taste fine. But FYI my caramel sauce is better than theirs and easy to make! 😉
Andrea says
June 11, 2019 at 12:17 pmOh Goodness Carolyn! Not that I have been waiting for you to keto-ize this recipe but I have the “traditional” full sugar version and have been a little apprehensive about making it keto-friendly since I am new to the low-carb baking world and don’t fully know what to expect with some ingredients. That being said, I want to thank you, profusely, for this, as I cannot wait to make your version!
Carolyn says
June 11, 2019 at 12:31 pmEnjoy!
Melissa says
June 15, 2019 at 7:52 pmThank you so much for this!!! It is fabulous! How should I store these?
Carolyn says
June 16, 2019 at 7:36 amThey will be fine on the counter for a few days but in the fridge for longer.
Amy says
June 16, 2019 at 1:14 pmOh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh. My. Gosh. These were SO yummy! The salted caramel sauce is seriously to die for. Thank you for this recipe!
Ashley F says
June 17, 2019 at 10:01 amThanks for all the tips and tricks, it really helped making these bars!! It was so good
Allyson Zea says
June 17, 2019 at 10:14 amThis is such a perfect dessert! I love it!
Sara Welch says
June 17, 2019 at 11:16 amWhat a fun dessert for summer! I know what I will be having after dinner tonight; these looks delicious!
Toni says
June 17, 2019 at 11:35 amThese quickly disappeared at my house! Such a delicious treat!
Becky Hardin says
June 17, 2019 at 10:32 pmThese could be my new favorite go to dessert! Yum!
Jennifer Welliver says
June 19, 2019 at 5:14 amThese are delicious! I followed the recipe and it turned out well. I’m a salted caramel nut so was wondering, will the sauce turn out ok if I double the recipe for making the sauce?
Carolyn says
June 19, 2019 at 1:20 pmShould be fine but it will take longer to cook.
Lisa Rad says
June 20, 2019 at 2:30 pmI cannot believe how amazing these are!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you!
Carolyn says
June 20, 2019 at 8:53 pmSo glad you like them!