If you are a Girl Scout Cookie fan, you need to drop whatever you are doing and make these Keto Samoa Bars. Easier than making individual cookies, these sugar-free cookie bars are topped with gooey keto caramel sauce and toasted coconut. And some rich dark chocolate doesn’t hurt either!
They really do taste like the original Samoa cookies, as confirmed by my husband, kids, and multiple friends. So you won’t succumb to the siren’s call of the popular sugary treats. And if Samoas aren’t your jam, you can make my Keto Thin Mints or Keto Tagalong Cookies instead.
I first published this recipe in 2011, way back in the dawn of my keto baking days. I recently got the urge to make them again and see if I could make them even better. I kept the recipe mostly the same, but created a chewier caramel coconut filling.
You are going to be thrilled with this updated recipe!
Why we love this recipe
I could have made these as keto cookies, but making them as bars has several advantages.
- They are easy to make, and don’t require rolling out dough and cutting individual cookies. Simply press the crust into the pan and bake until golden.
- Less mess! This recipe dirties fewer utensils and you don’t have the messy process of dipping them in chocolate. Instead, the chocolate is spread on top of the easy keto crust.
- They are extra gooey. I used a combination of sweeteners to achieve a caramel topping that was more like the real Samoas.
- Less fragile and crumbly. These delicious bars hold together super well.
And these wonderful low carb dessert bars have only 3.3g net carbs per serving. Compare that to regular Samoa Cookies, which have 19g of carbs per serving. What a difference!
Reader’s Thoughts
“Wow! I would never know these bars were missing the sugar. They certainly are not missing on flavor. Much better than a Girl Scout cookie (and I can have these year round). This is the sort of treat that will keep me keto for the rest of my life.” — Gisele Smith
Ingredient Notes
- Almond flour: I really prefer almond flour for the shortbread crust for both texture and flavor. Other nut and seed flours can work but don’t look as fine and may be a bit more crumbly. Coconut flour really won’t work here.
- Sweetener: You do need an erythritol based sweetener in the crust if you want it to crisp up nicely. For the filling, you want to use some allulose or xylitol to keep the filling a little more gooey and chewy. Please see the Tips for Success for more information.
- Butter: For the shortbread crust, nothing beats the flavor and texture that butter offers.
- Sugar free dark chocolate: Both Lily’s or ChocZero dark chocolate chips will work in this recipe.
- Shredded coconut: Make sure to get unsweetened, finely shredded coconut.
- Heavy whipping cream: This helps create the luscious coconut filling for these samoa bars.
- Pantry staples: Vanilla extract and salt.
Step by Step Directions
- Prepare the crust: Combine the almond flour, sweetener, and salt. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture begins to come together. Turn out the mixture into an 8×8 baking pan and press firmly into the bottom. Bake at 325ºF for about 15 minutes, until just golden brown.
- Prepare the chocolate layer: Melt the chocolate and butter in 30 second increments in the microwave, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Alternatively, you can melt it double boiler style over a pan of barely simmering water. Spread about 2/3 of the chocolate mixture over the cooled crust.
- Toast the coconut. Spread the coconut over a skillet and toast over medium heat, stirring frequently until light golden brown. Set aside.
- Make the caramel: Combine the butter and sweeteners in a saucepan and melt over medium heat. Bring to a boil for a few minutes until deep amber. Remove from heat and add the cream, vanilla, and salt. The mixture will bubble vigorously, this is normal. Return to medium low heat and continue to cook another 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken.
- Assemble the bars: Stir the toasted coconut into the caramel and spread the mixture over the chocolate-covered crust. Chill 1 hour before cutting into squares.
- Drizzle with chocolate: Gently reheat remaining chocolate mixture and drizzle over the bars.
Tips for Success
In the past, some readers had difficulties with the caramel not setting properly. This usually means it wasn’t cooked quite long enough to thicken. I have adjusted this version of Keto Samoa Bars so that you return the caramel sauce to medium low heat until it thickens more. You want the mixture to be bubbling thickly before you remove it from the heat.
Keep a close eye on the coconut when you are toasting it, as it can burn easily. You want to stir it almost constantly, until it becomes lightly browned. Once most of the shreds are golden, remove the pan from over the heat. Stir it a few more times as it cools, since the heat of the pan will continue to toast the shreds.
Sweetener Options: If you want the crust to be crisp, you need to use an erythritol-based sweetener that contains no allulose or xylitol. But the filling turns out best with a mix of allulose and erythritol. I like to use some of my brown sugar replacement for a rich caramel flavor.
If you can’t access allulose, the next best substitute is xylitol. Do note that if you use all erythritol based sweeteners for the filling, it will harden and recrystallize as it cools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Store the bars in a covered container on the counter for up to 5 days or in the fridge for up to 10 days. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months.
I find the easiest way to toast shredded coconut yourself is in a pan over the stove. Use medium heat so you don’t burn the coconut and stir it very often until evenly golden. Remove from heat before it’s too dark, as the heat of the pan will continue to cook it for a little bit.
This keto samoa cookie bar recipe has 6.4g of carbs and 3.1g of fiber per serving. That comes to 3.3g net carbs per bar.
More keto cookie bars to love
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Keto Samoa Bars Recipe
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/4 cups almond flour
- 1/4 cup erythritol sweetener
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Chocolate Filling and Drizzle:
- 4 ounces sugar free dark chocolate, chopped
- 2 tbsp butter
Coconut Caramel Filling:
- 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1/3 cup allulose, or xylitol
- 3 tbsp brown sugar replacement
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF. In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, and salt. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture begins to come together.
- Turn out the mixture into an 8×8 baking pan and press firmly and evenly into the bottom. Bake about 15 to 18 minutes, until just golden brown. Remove and let cool while preparing the filling.
Chocolate Filling/Drizzle
- In a small microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate and butter in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Alternatively, you can melt it double boiler style over a pan of barely simmering water.
- Spread about two thirds of the chocolate mixture over the cooled crust.
Coconut Caramel Filling
- In a medium skillet over medium heat, spread the coconut. Stirring frequently, toast until light golden brown. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter and sweeteners. Cook until melted, stirring frequently, and then bring to a low boil. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, until deep amber.
- Remove from heat and add the cream, vanilla, and salt. The mixture will bubble vigorously, this is normal. Return to medium low heat and continue to cook another 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken.
- Stir in the toasted coconut. Spread the mixture over the chocolate-covered crust. Chill 1 hour and before cutting into squares. Gently reheat remaining chocolate mixture and drizzle over the bars.
Notes
Nutrition
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Looks fabulous, can’t wait to bake them!
Quick question – how many squares do you cut out of the 8×8 pan or what size squares do you cut? 1 inch, 2 inch?
The serving size only says 1 square. Please clarify, TIA.
These look amazing! I love Samoas! Your blog and recipes are the best! Thank you!
The recipe yields 16 bars. 2″x2″ square if in an 8 x 8 pan.
***UPDATE***
I made these bars with the first batch of caramel sauce I had made and let them sit in the fridge overnight before I cut into them. A little wet but tasted incredible! A keeper recipe for sure!
Hi Carolyn,
I too had trouble with the caramel sauce. The first batch did not boil over medium heat but instead began to smoke so I quickly poured it into a separate bowl, added the heavy cream, and noticed it was very thin so I set it aside and started over. However, my second attempt began to separate as it heated and burned over medium heat, and after 10 minutes had still not come to a boil. Little bubbles began to form on the surface of the butter sugar mixture but it never boiled. I used 1/2c Swerve brown, I couldn’t find the other sweetener, and on my stove I have numbers 10-1 so I cooked both batches over 4. Any other tips or tricks you could offer? I do love Samoa’s and would love to amend this recipe to make it work. Next time should I add the heavy cream to the pan immediately after the sugar melts but before it boils? Do you think that would that help keep the sugar from burning?
Thanks in advance,
Michelle
These bars are fantastic!!! I screwed up the first caramel sauce but immediately redid it and it turned out fine. Too much heat on the first batch. I have to keep these in the far back of the freezer!! lol.
Samoas and Caramel D-lites are two different cookies. One did not replace the other. They co-exist. Samoas are baked by the “real” bakery (with exciting, exotic names like tagalongs, do si dos, and trefoils) and have dark chocolate. Caramel D-lites are baked by the “fake” bakery (with bland, generic name like peanut butter patties, peanut butter sandwich cookies and shortbread cookies) and are made with imitation kiddie candy “milk” chocolate. If all you can get is the unsatisfying Caramel D-lites, you need to patronize another troop.
I have never had a dessert fail until now! This sauce smoked like crazy and had s burnt taste. I followed the recipe exactly so I’m not sure what went wrong but such a disappointment
You clearly had the heat too high… easy to do if you have an electric stove and not very good saucepans. Also… did you use different sweeteners?
Has any one used coconut flour instead of almond flour?… if yes how much do I use?..
It won’t work very well. Coconut flour doesn’t make a nice shortbread crust.
Wow! They do taste just like the Samoa Cookies! Thanks for the low sugar version. One is filling and just perfect for a sweet treat.
Oh wow! These bars are amazing. I can’t wait to make them again!
So glad you liked it!
Really love a keto recipe. This one is totally delicious. Thanks.
Low carb and gluten free – amazing! These were gone off the counter top in flash!!!
Super bummed. Made these for Christmas and the caramel coconut layer never formed up. Shortbread and chocolate were yummy but caramel was superb runny even after putting in fridge. I put in freezer hoping but would help but 5 minutes out and the caramel layer starts melting. Shortbread was great. Not sure how to firm up caramel as recipe was followed exactly
You didn’t cook the caramel long enough, then. OR you used different sweeteners than I specified. Because this is my standard caramel sauce and it works for almost everyone who tries it.
I made these today ad they are yummy and very filling. One small one is plenty. Mine do seem a little soft, but I am going to put them in the fridge so that will make them sturdier. The crust is very sturdy just the filling seems soft. This recipe is definitely a keeper! Thanks.
These are hands down the most delicious bars, keto or not, that I’ve had probably ever! Checks every box for me, chocolatey, gooey, sweet, just perfect! I cut my pan into 24 squares, because they are so rich (and it’s easier to share that way, because believe me, everyone who tries them loves them!), and with such a low net carb count, I don’t even feel guilty if I eat more than 1! THANK YOU FOR THESE, YOU NEVER CEASE TO PLEASE!!
So glad you liked them!
I am making these as I post. I have a question, I used ghee with the brown sugar sweetener. The two never really combined and it got very hot, smoking in fact, but did not boil. I carefully added the cream and it behaved as described. [I’ve made lots sugar based caramels and I’m desperate to find a good substitute] I’d post a photo if i could.
Do I need to use butter, not ghee, for the caramel? I’m thinking there needs to be some milk solids to get the right chemical process?
Although they taste good, I’m feeling the carmel-y love I was expecting. [I used finely ground coconut rather than flaked, and I think it absorbed the caramel. I was excited to try the recipe and used what I had on hand.] I’ll make them again, but with butter and flaked coconut.
Thanks for all your great recipes! I’m going to hunt down your caramel recipes too!
It’s the ghee, probably. Coconut oil does the same, where it never boils but smokes. Butter is not just oil, it has water and milk solids in it. So yes, it makes a very different caramel than ghee or coconut oil.
I just discovered your website. Wow! This is the first recipe I’ve tried. Soooo yummy! My filling didn’t set up as much as I would’ve liked, but totally able to eat it as a bar. My husband loves them.
Thank you, thank you! Enjoy these so much, along with the Tagalongs! I love the shortbread dough. I’m wondering if you have a similar shortbread recipe for thumbprint cookies? I miss those being in the low carb world :). thanks so much, really appreciate all you do!!!
This were absolutely amazing. These are my fave Girl Scout cookie so I was so excited to try this. I was Keto for year before getting preggers and now I’m back post baby. After countless Keto recipes being made and my non Keto husband being forced taste tester he declared these were thd best of anything I’ve ever prepared. They are delicious and pretty foolproof. By far the best dessert recipes I found are on your site. Thanks!
The absolute BEST sugar-free dessert we’ve tried since going low-carb. This was a hit at the potluck party we attended tonight. Even the non-low-carbers loved it. Thank you thank you thank you!!