This delicious low carb Peppermint Bark is made with sugar-free chocolate, cocoa butter, and coconut oil. A fun and easy keto recipe and it’s dairy-free too. In partnership with Lily’s Sweets.
Don’t mind me, I am just munching on some sugar free peppermint bark. I might be eating a lot of it over the course of the next few weeks. It’s so easy to make and the perfect keto holiday dessert. And with only 3 grams of carbs, it makes a perfect fat bomb snack!
I am so glad Thanksgiving was early this year. Now that it’s come and gone, I can succumb to my Christmas baking urges wholeheartedly and without guilt. To be honest, I started baking low carb holiday cookies way in advance of Thanksgiving this year.
You might think to yourself “oh, well she’s a food blogger, of course she has to get out ahead of the curve”. And that would be part of it. But the other and perhaps the more influential factor is that I just really, really love Christmas cookies and Christmas candy. And Christmas cake and bread and tarts and loaves and all the other treats you can think of.
I really love everything about preparing low carb goodies for the holidays and sharing them with friends. You might say I am obsessed. And I have no plans on changing this obsessive behaviour any time soon. You love me for it…you know you do!
Really, this year alone I have already made:
Slice and Bake Cranberry Shortbread
And I have the dough from my low carb Butter Pecan Cookies rolled into individual balls and frozen, ready for baking whenever I need them. These cookies might be the most popular recipe thus far in The Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen. Which, by the way, would make a fabulous Christmas gift for your loved ones…or yourself. May I suggest you grab a copy now?
How to Make Sugar Free Peppermint Bark
I love making over the holiday classics, and Peppermint Bark is a classic. For a while now, I’ve seen the super cute peppermint bark shapes made inside holiday cookie cutters and wondered if I could pull it off with my keto ingredients.
For the chocolate layer: Lily’s Chocolate makes my job 10 times easier in that regard, because the dark chocolate layer is pretty much done for me. I used one of the Baking Bars and it was perfect for melting with a little peppermint oil.
Because sugar free chocolate like Lily’s doesn’t always melt as easily as conventional chocolate, I always use a bit of cocoa butter to coax it into a smooth consistency. You can use coconut oil as well. I don’t recommend butter, as dairy tends to make it thicker and harder to spread.
For the white chocolate layer: The white chocolate presented more of a challenge. I keep trying to convince the folks behind Lily’s to make a white chocolate bar, because they do sugar-free chocolate so darn well. No such luck yet, but I will keep trying.
For this keto peppermint bark, I melted cocoa butter with coconut oil and added powdered Swerve sweetener and a little more peppermint extract. It was quite liquid-y but it tasted great.
To make Christmas shapes: I used some little metal Christmas cookie cutters that are only about two inches tall and simply poured the layers in. I did find I had to push the dark chocolate layer to the edges of the cookie cutters. If you don’t do this, there may be gaps and your “white chocolate” layer will seep through because it’s much more liquid when melted.
Make sure to freeze or refrigerate your dark chocolate layer first, before adding the white chocolate.
Other fun ways to shape the peppermint bark: I only had a handful of small cookie cutters like this so I did the rest of the bark in silicone mini muffin cups, which is also pretty adorable.
If you don’t have either of these things, you can simply line an 8×8 inch pan with some parchment and spread your chocolate layers there.
For the garnish: To really make them look festive, crush a few sugar-free peppermint candies and sprinkle them on top. You really don’t need more than two because they shatter nicely and give you just enough to sprinkle a few bits on top.
Admittedly, I just used the sugar-free Starlight mints that I find at Walgreen’s but if you want a healthier option, you can use these Xylitol Peppermints from Dr. John’s.
So there you have it. Keto Peppermint Bark is pretty simple to make and is a fabulous sugar-free candy alternative. Enjoy!
Low Carb Peppermint Bark
Ingredients
Dark Chocolate Layer
- 4 ounces Lily's Dark Chocolate chopped (I used Lily's Baking Bar)
- 1/2 ounce cocoa butter
- 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
White Chocolate Layer
- 2 ounces cocoa butter
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 3 tbsp powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
Garnish (optional)
- 2 sugar-free peppermint candies crushed
Instructions
Dark Chocolate Layer:
- In a microwave safe bowl, combined the chopped chocolate and cocoa butter. Heat on high in 30 second increments, stirring until smooth. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate on the stove-top double-boiler style. Stir in the peppermint extract
- If using cookie cutters, set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and spoon a little of the melted chocolate into each. Use a toothpick or other small pointed utensil to push the chocolate into the corners of each cookie cutter. If using silicone mini muffin cups, use about 24 and divide the chocolate between them (you could also use 12 larger muffin cups). Freeze the chocolate layer for at least 30 minutes to set.
- You can also line an 8x8 pan with parchment and simply pour the chocolate in. Freeze before continuing to the next step.
White Chocolate Layer:
- In a microwave safe bowl, combined the cocoa butter and coconut oil. Heat on high in 30 second increments, stirring until smooth. Alternatively, you can melt them on the stove-top double-boiler style. Whisk in the powdered sweetener and peppermint extract until smooth.
- Divide the mixture among the cookie cutters or muffin cups or spread over the chocolate layer in the pan. Freeze about 10 to 20 minutes, until just starting to set, then sprinkle with crushed peppermint candies, if using. Return to the freezer until completely set, another 20 minutes or so.
- Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
Many thanks to Lily’s Sweets for partnering with me to bring you this recipe.
