Remember those carefree summer days as a kid, hanging with your friends, riding bikes, running through sprinklers, and making s’mores by the campfire? Well, I can’t take away your adult responsibilities, but these Keto S’Mores Bars will make you feel like a kid again!
I’ve had this delightful recipe on my website since 2016, and it’s always been a fan favorite. I created it after coming across a recipe in Cooking Light Magazine and I thought it was ripe for a keto makeover.
While I do have recipes for keto graham crackers and sugar-free marshmallows, I don’t use those in these bars. That would require several extra steps and a lot of extra waiting. Who has the time or energy for that?
Instead, these delectable Keto Smores Bars rely on a shortbread style crust with a touch of cinnamon, a rich chocolate ganache filling, and a lightly browned meringue topping. They have all the flavor of that classic summer treat with none of the sugar!
★★★★★
Andrea says: I just made these tonight and even the picky non-Keto hubby loved them!! Thank you so much! I followed your recipe exactly!
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Almond flour: The base will work best with almond flour, but you can use any nut or seed flour as long as it is finely ground. Try sunflower seed flour for nut-free!
- Sweetener: I recommend an erythritol-based sweetener for the base. The topping requires a powdered sweetener. Please see the sweetener options for more details.
- Whipping cream: For a non-dairy option, you can use full fat coconut milk.
- Sugar-free chocolate: I recommend using ChocZero or Lily’s.
- Egg whites: Fresh egg whites will work best, as they beat better and hold their shape better than those from a carton.
- Cream of tartar: This baking aid helps whipped egg whites hold stiff peaks. You can skip it but I recommend it for any kind of meringue!
- Kitchen staples: Butter, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt.
How to Make Keto S’Mores Bars
- Prepare the crust: Combine the dry ingredients, then stir in the melted butter until well combined.
- Bake the crust: Press into the bottom of a parchment lined baking pan and bake until the edges begin to brown. Remove and let cool.
- Make the filling: Bring the cream to just a simmer. Remove from heat then add the chocolate chips and whisk until smooth. Spread over the cooled crust and refrigerate until firm.
- Prepare the topping: Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar and salt until frothy. Slowly add the sweeteners and vanilla extract and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
- Assemble and bake: Spread over the cooled filling then bake until topping is golden and just barely firm to the touch.
- Chill: Refrigerate until firm then gently lift out by parchment paper edges and cut into squares.
Carolyn’s Tips for Success
When making a chocolate ganache filling, be sure to bring your cream to a full simmer. You want to see bubbles around the edges and a few breaking the surface in the center. Then quickly remove it from heat and add the chocolate.
Do not attempt to broil this topping, unless you want to set off your smoke alarm! Simply bake for 20 minutes and you should get some beautiful browned peaks and swirls, just like toasted marshmallows.
Sweetener Options
The crust works best with erythritol so that it firms up properly. Allulose and xylitol will make it overly soft and fragile. If you wish to cut back on erythritol, you can try using a highly concentrated sweetener like stevia or monk fruit extract.
The topping works best with mostly erythritol, for structure, with a tablespoon or allulose or xylitol to give it a slightly gooier consistency. Some readers have tried using allulose by itself and it’s a big mess. I definitely do not recommend that!
More Keto Recipes for Summer
Keto S’mores Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/4 cup granular sweetener, erythritol recommended
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Filling:
- 3/4 cup whipping cream
- 4 ounces dark chocolate chips, sugar-free, ChocZero or Lily's recommended
Topping:
- 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- Pinch salt
- 1/3 cup powdered sweetener, erythritol recommended
- 1 tbsp allulose, or xylitol
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF and line a 9×9 square baking pan with parchment, leaving an overhang for easy removal.
- In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, sweetener, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt. Stir in the melted butter until well combined.
- Press into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until just beginning to brown on the edges. Remove and let cool while preparing topping.
Filling
- In a small saucepan, bring the cream to just a simmer. Remove from heat.
- Add the chocolate chips and let sit 5 minutes to melt, then whisk in until smooth. Spread over the cooled crust and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
Topping
- Preheat oven to 300ºF.
- In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar and salt until frothy. With the beaters going, slowly add the sweeteners and vanilla extract and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
- Spread over the cooled filling, swirling with a spoon to make peaks. Bake 20 minutes or until topping is golden and just barely firm to the touch.
- Refrigerate at least another hour to firm up, then gently lift out by parchment paper edges and cut into squares.
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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These are fantastic!!!! 3 steps, but they are all easy! The cooling and refrigerator time gave me freedom to work on the rest of the birthday meal!
Non-keto loved these as well.
This is worth making over and over again.
Very much enjoy your recipes!!!
These were absolutely scrumptious! I will never miss s’mores again!
So glad you enjoyed!
Perfect for the 4th!
I made this recipe and it was very good, The directions and recipe were easy to follow. Except on the meringue I only seen in the recipe powdered swerve I did not see the regular swerve and then I watched your video and realized I had left that out but it still turned out wonderful. I will definitely make this again.
Hi, Carolyn. I am not a fan of Swerve, and prefer Lakanto monkfruit. Is that a viable 1 to 1 replacement for the Swerve in this recipe?
Thanks so much,
Randi
As long as the main ingredient is erythritol, it’s a good replacement cup for cup.
I know it changes the macros but have you tried ChocZero marshmallows on top and let them melt over the chocolate?
I have not.
I made this for my treat on my son’s July birthday. While it may be a bit selfish to make my own dessert for my son’s birthday like that, if you think about it, my body is the one that did all the work to make that b-day possible, so I deserve a treat too. In any case, it was delicious and very rich. Many guests wanted a piece of both the high carb birthday cake he requested and these s’mores bars I made. I didn’t have an 8X8 pan, so I used a round pan and cut it into 16 wedges. I did notice that there was a little bit of moisture from the egg whites on the bottom after it cooled. This didn’t affect the taste or the texture, really. They were sooo good. The meringue topping is almost marshmallow-like, but it’s not exactly the same type of gooey as a marshmallow. I knew that when I read the recipe before I made them, so it was fine with me. However, someone who really wants the gooey marshmallow texture might not enjoy the meringue topping as much.
I feel like the instructions need to be clearer on this recipe.
I made the meringue topping when the recipe said to, but I feel it was too early – since it ended up separating while the chocolate was chilling.
(Since I’m slightly disabled, I also couldn’t manually whisk the egg whites back into shape – thankfully my husband overheard my dilemma and helped.)
That and, I took the dessert out of the oven and put it in the fridge directly afterwards since that’s what the instructions said to do. According to the comments, that was incorrect.
I won’t officially rate the recipe at the moment, since I know the recipe *should* be excellent… but I am not proud of the soggy dessert I made – of which only vaguely tasted like s’mores.
(The chocolate layer tasted pretty good, though.)