Low carb and grain-free, these keto chocolate fudge crumb bars are my healthy answer to Starbucks’ oatmeal fudge bars. A delicious sugar-free dessert you won’t want to miss.
I first published this recipe for keto fudge bars back in 2015 and they have remained a favorite ever since. I decided it was time to revisit the recipe and make them even lower in carbs. At less than 6g total carbs, you can enjoy them any time!
Keto Starbucks Copycat Recipe
I used to be such a Starbucks aficionado. It’s funny but I don’t go at all anymore unless I am traveling somewhere and in desperate need of a decent coffee. I much prefer to make my own coffee and specialty coffee drinks at home.
Or maybe I have just become THAT anti-social.
I also used to love quite a number of the Starbucks baked goods, and for obvious reasons, I don’t eat any of those anymore. I do love to make my own ketofied versions, however. They give me plenty of inspiration!
I do believe that the first keto Starbucks treat I ever made were my Maple Pecan Scones. Those were one of my all time coffee shop favorites, but the real ones used to leave me with a bit of a stomach ache. I’ve also got keto versions of the Mini Vanilla Bean Scones and the famous Cranberry Bliss Bars. All just as delicious and not nearly as likely to cause tummy aches or blood sugar spikes.
And who didn’t love the oatmeal fudge bars, with their delicious crumbly crust and rich chocolate filling? These Keto Chocolate Crumb Bars are just the thing to satisfy that craving.
How to make Keto Crumb Bars
Of course, those of us following a keto diet aren’t likely to be using oatmeal in any of our baked goods. So how does one replicate that same crumbly, buttery crust?
You will be happy to hear that it’s not that hard. Done right almond flour can make a great crumb crust for keto baked goods. It really comes down to the right ratio of almond flour, sweetener, and butter. I always like to add in a bit of coconut flour too, to dry out the mixture and make it more crumbly.
The filling is simply keto chocolate ganache with a little added thickener. It’s like chocolate sauce when you pour it over but it becomes a thick, delicious fudgy layer as it bakes.
Can you make these dairy-free?
You can indeed! Simply swap out the butter for some coconut oil or palm shortening.
For the filling, you can make the ganache with coconut milk but do know that it’s thinner that way and you may want to add a bit of cocoa powder or additional glucomannan to help thicken it up a bit more.
Then simply proceed as directed in the recipe.
More great keto Starbucks copycat recipes
- Keto Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
- Keto Gingerbread Loaf
- Keto Salted Caramel Cake Pops
- Keto Lemon Loaf
- Sous Vide Bacon Egg Bites
- Keto Pink Drink
Keto Fudge Crumb Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 cups almond flour
- ½ cup Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tablespoon coconut flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoon butter melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling:
- ¾ cup whipping cream
- ⅓ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon glucomannan (or xanthan gum)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F and grease an 8x8 inch metal baking pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, coconut flour, and salt. Stir in the butter and vanilla extract and toss until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Press ⅔ of the mixture firmly into bottom prepared baking pan. Bake 8 minutes, until just golden on the edges and then remove (it will not be baked through).
- In a large saucepan, heat the whipping cream and powdered sweetener over medium heat, stirring to combine. Bring to barely a simmer and remove from heat. Add the chopped chocolate and let sit 5 minutes to melt.
- Whisk filling until smooth, then add the vanilla. Sprinkle with glucomannan and whisk to combine. Pour the filling over the crust and spread to the edges.
- Sprinkle the surface with the remaining crumb mixture. Bake 22 to 25 minutes, until topping is golden brown. Remove and let cool completely.
Video
Ashley says
I changed the recipe up by using coconut cream, coconut oil, stevia, and a little xylitol. It was a very thick, rich, dark chocolate, that tasted great. It set up well so next time I’ll add more coconut cream to turn it into a pie.
Debra Jacobs says
Hi I know it late in the peace to be asking a question do you think it would work replacing the Almond flour with oat flour? in NZ Almond flour is $65.00 per kilo just cant afford to buy it .
Carolyn says
Ouch, yikes! That is expensive. Oat flour is finer, and not as fatty, so you will need to compensate for that, possibly with more butter. Also…oat flour will raise the carb count.
Debra Jacobs says
Yeh I know expensive I just cant afford to use it, I dont worry to much about the carb count I just try to keep to healthy wholefood diet I use organic buckwheat flour quite a bit and make a flour out of ground up seeds ( seed flour ) my thoughts being that its protein Im consuming not carbs thinking its healthier for me, just need to change things around to what we can get and afford, but hay girl I just love your recipes. :0)
Carolyn says
Okay so my thoughts are…sub the almond flour with oat flour and be ready to add more melted butter as needed.
Maribel says
Is it ok to use gentle sweet? If so, how much?
Carolyn says
I am not sure that the filling will firm up properly but it’s worth a shot. Use the chart to tell you how much Gentle Sweet in relation to sugar, since Swerve measures like sugar.
Anne, Texas says
You are awesome and so are these bars!! I love your recipes 🙂
Lori Kaumans says
Carolyn, I made these this weekend and THEY ARE SO GOOD!!! So easy to make and so delicious. These saved me from getting a Swig sugar cookie this weekend (a local soda shop here in Utah; their sugar cookies are a huge weakness for me). Thank you so much for all you do in developing these recipes for low-carb eating.
Carolyn says
So glad I could help!
Jeri says
I made these for (diabetic) DH yesterday and I would defy anyone to guess they are sugar-free. They were a bit crumbly coming out of the pan, but firmed up fine after refrigeration. Am always looking for nice treats to share for family dinners, etc so DH doesn’t feel left out. These were amazing. Thank you Carolyn.
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it!
Luam says
Holy cow…I love this recipe. And my friends aren’t eating Keto or LC love these delicious chocolate squares too. My cousin (11years now) has diabetes- I’ll definitely surprise her with a batch. Maybe you have a recipe as well kids can easily make themselves. Thank you Carolyn! I love your blog!
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it. Hope your cousin loves them!
Erinn says
Just made these! Pretty good! The only thing I did different was use Half and Half and a little more Xanthan Gum – turned out fine 🙂
Erica says
I accidentally put in baking soda instead of xantham gum and they came out perfect! Ha 🙂
Jackie k. says
Made these this weekend. I agree very rich and amazing after refrigerated . I’ve been putting a bit of sugar free raspberry jam on them and some whipped cream or some of that halo top ice cream and man are they even more amazing! Thank you so much for such a great recipe!!!
Andrea says
I made these last night. At first I was nervous with how runny the chocolate filling was. The filling firmed up a bit after baking it. My son tried a spoonful hot and said he didnt like the taste. We put them in the fridge overnight and now half the pan is gone haha. Great dessert. The great part is that one or two bars is just enough. They are pretty rich. Thank you for the recipe!
Carolyn says
The chocolate on its own can be intense for kids! My littlest doesn’t like it either. 🙂
Jeannie says
Looks delish! Please tell me your suggested conversion for swerve to super sweet or to gentle sweet. I can never seem to get it right even with that chart when I make your recipes. Thank you!!
Carolyn says
I don’t really use those. Work with it as if it’s sugar…because swerve is formulated to be as sweet as sugar.
Erica says
SO the rest of the virtual shower contributions are not low carb? They sound delightful and full off old favorites 🙁
Ginny says
These were absolutely delicious. My parents visiting from Canada had no idea they were low carb. I got 30 squares out of my pan for 2 grams per square, a nice amount for my kiddo who is on MAD. The crust was quite crumbly – we mostly are eating it with a spoon. I’m not complaining, cuz it’s still so dang good – but I’m wondering if an egg might help to keep it together more?
Carolyn says
What brand of almond flour did you use? If it’s not the finely ground Honeyville, it may become more crumbly.
Ginny says
It was Wellbee’s super fine blanched almond flour. They did set up a bit more after cooling (OK, I admit I couldn’t wait for them to cool initially because they’re so good) and I think I’m going to freeze about 1/2 of them. Hopefully that’ll be ok. I think I might make the chocolate filling as a pudding separately also. Thanks!
Carolyn says
That one should work as well as Honeyville. Glad they set up a bit more!
Emily R. Smith says
These look so yummy, cannot wait to try them!
Thanks.
Pam says
Made these for Bunco last night, and they are FAB! Will definitely make them again! I may have to try to freeze because I will eat the ones I have left in one sitting 😉
Angela says
Just wondering if anyone has tried subbing coconut flour for almond flour and if so what adjustments are needed? I just cannot afford to bake with almond flour so I am trying to learn how and when I can use coconut flour instead. Thanks.
Carolyn says
Coconut flour would not work here, it’s too absorbent and it would be not very tasty. Your best bet is a different nut flour.
Jan says
This a great treat to take to any gathering because it will be just as appealing and tasty as any sugary/starchy dessert on the table.
Mid-preparation I discovered I did not have enough cream. Instead I used 1 cup heavy cream + 4 ounces light cream cheese + 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk. It takes extra time to dissolve the cream cheese into the cream and I used an electric whisk to smooth out the final lumps. Also added extra sweetener to make up for the tartness of the cream cheese versus cream. The fudge layer using cream cheese looks just like your pictures. Using light cream cheese saves some fat over all heavy cream. I did not have much erythritol on hand, and am happy to report for those who might be curious about subbing sweeteners in this recipe, that sucralose works just fine (no need to grind it to a powder as it dissolves readily). Guar gum subbed okay in place of the xanthum as well.
As always, thanks Carolyn for your research and experimentation that results in such fine recipes. You are acquiring many fans out there!
Carolyn says
Thanks for all the feedback, Jan!
Donna says
I know this sounds crazy, but I don’t do sugar sub. How much sugar would this recipe call for in place? I can’t have aspertame. That is why I can’t use the substitute. Thank you.
Carolyn says
Just FYI, Swerve is not an artificial sweetener and it’s certainly NOT aspartame! Ick. It’s a naturally occurring sugar alcohol called erythritol, found in fruits and fermented foods. However, you can replace the Swerve in this recipe cup for cup. So it should still be great.
Donna says
I didn’t know that, thank you for the info. I have to make these….soon!
Carolyn says
No worries, not many people outside of the “low carb world” really know their low carb sweeteners. 🙂
Ainsley says
Absolute noms. I had to freeze half to avoid eating them all in one day and added blueberries to one half and blackberries to the other. I know it increases the carb count but the random bursts were very worth it. Thank you for another excellent recipe.
Question though, I just got quite a few extracts in and was wondering if extracts would come through in a recipe like this one and if so how much would I use?
Carolyn says
What kind of extracts? Fruit flavours?
Ainsley says
Yes. I have a raspberry, orange, key lime and lemon ready to be used.
Carolyn says
All those flavourings will definitely come through nicely, depending on the recipe.
Jenny says
Everything I make from your site always turns out absolutely wonderful, and these are no exception. Next time I think I might try to add in some hazelnut extract or something for a little twist.
Thanks for working so hard to develop all of your low carb recipes! I know I certainly appreciate coming to your site for meal inspiration and low carb treats – it’s so hard to find GOOD recipes that actually turn out, and Swerve is a total revelation.
Carolyn says
Thanks, Jenny!
Judy Menting says
Just found your site and tried the “slow cooker dark choc. Cake” OMG it’s fantastic. Going to try fudge crumb bars next. Thank u so much, needed to get back to low crab & sugar free.