These easy-to-make Keto Tagalong Bars taste just like the original Girl Scout Cookie! You won’t believe they are low carb and sugar-free.
Way way back, in the early days of dreaming up low carb recipes, I created some peanut butter shortbread bars. And it took me by surprise, how good they were. Everything came together just perfectly.
My husband took one bite and said they tasted like his favorite Girl Scout cookies, Tagalongs. I was absolutely thrilled with such a comparison. And we made them frequently for a few months.
But as a recipe creator is wont to do, I moved on to make many other wonderful keto cookies and cookie bars. I perfected my Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I created some gorgeous Salted Caramel Bars. And I conquered the perfect texture for Keto Shortbread Cookies.
I all but forgot my lovely Tagalong Bars in the meantime. Until now!
Why you need these in your life
If you find it difficult to resist the siren’s call of Girl Scout Cookies, then this recipe is for you! They are a delicious sugar-free copycat of the famous Tagalong Cookies.
But unlike individual cookies, these bars are remarkably easy to make. You press the crust into a pan and bake it. You make an easy peanut butter filling and pour it over. Then you melt some sugar-free chocolate and spread it on top. Done, finished, finito!
I actually have a recipe for Keto Tagalong Cookies as well and I love them. But they are definitely more time consuming.
And these bars have just a fraction of the carbs compared to real Girl Scout Cookies. Only 4.1g net carbs per serving!
Ingredients you need
- Almond flour: A good fine almond flour makes the best shortbread crust. I do not recommend coconut flour here. But if you can’t eat almonds, you can try sunflower seed flour.
- Sweetener: I recommend an erythritol based sweetener for the crust, such as Swerve Granular. Don’t use allulose or BochaSweet, as they will prevent the crust from crisping up. You will need a confectioner’s style sweetener for the filling.
- Butter: Good shortbread crusts always use butter!
- Peanut butter: I use a good creamy natural peanut butter like Santa Cruz. They have a no-stir version that means you can just scoop it and measure it out.
- Heavy cream: Heavy cream helps create a delicious peanut butter filling with a frosting-like consistency.
- Caramel or vanilla extract: Vanilla extract is an easy pantry staple. But if you can get your hands on some caramel extract, it adds amazing flavor!
- Sugar free chocolate: ChocZero is one of my favorite brands and you can use the dark chocolate or milk chocolate chips for these bars. Also use FOODDREAMER for 10% off your order!
Step by Step Directions
1. Prepare the shortbread crust: Combine the almond flour, sweetener, and salt in a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Sprinkle the butter pieces overtop and continue to pulse until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
2. Bake the crust: Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of a greased 8×8 inch baking pan and bake at 350ºF for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove and let cool.
3. Make the peanut butter filling: In a microwave safe bowl, combine the peanut butter and butter and cook until melted and it can be stirred together. You can also do this in a pan on the stove over very low heat. Stir in the powdered sweetener until well combined and then whisk in the cream and the extract.
4. Spread over the crust: Pour the mixture over cooled crust and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Refrigerate until set, about 20 minutes.
5. Make the topping: In a microwave safe bowl, combine the chopped chocolate and the butter. Heat on high in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until smooth. Be careful not to overheat and make your chocolate seize.
6. Spread over the filling: Spread over the chilled filling. Return to the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set the chocolate.
Expert tips
While almond flour makes the crust more like real shortbread, you can use other nut or seed flours for these bars. It won’t be as fine looking, and you may need a little additional butter to help it hold together better. I do not recommend coconut flour for a crust like this.
Many natural peanut butters don’t contain any salt. If you use unsalted butter and unsalted peanut butter, you may want to add 1/4 tsp fine salt to the filling. It will bring out the sweetness more.
Melt the chocolate carefully in the microwave, in short increments. But you can also do it in a pan over very low heat. I like to use the same bowl or pan I did the peanut butter filling in so there are fewer dishes to wash at the end!
Frequently Asked Questions
Tagalong cookies are a popular treat sold by American Girl Scouts. They feature a shortbread cookie covered in chocolate, with a sweetened peanut butter filling. They are also known as Peanut Butter Patties.
Conventional Tagalongs have 13g of carbs per serving. These Keto Tagalong Bars have only 6.8g carbs and 2.7g fiber per serving. So they have a net carb count of 4.1g.
You can store the bars on the counter in a covered container for up to 4 days, or in the fridge for up to 8 days. They can also be frozen for several months.
More Girl Scout Inspired Recipes
Keto Tagalong Bars Recipe
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/4 cups (140 g) almond flour
- 1/3 cup (60.67 g) Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
- 1/4 cup (56.75 g) butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
Peanut Butter Caramel Filling
- 2/3 cup (172 g) creamy natural peanut butter
- 1/4 cup (56.75 g) butter
- 1/2 cup (91 g) powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 cup (59.5 g) heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) caramel extract, can use vanilla extract
Chocolate Topping
- 3 1/2 ounces (99.22 g) dark chocolate chips, sugar-free
- 2 tbsp butter
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and lightly grease an 8×8 inch metal baking pan.
- Combine the almond flour, sweetener, and salt in a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Sprinkle the butter pieces overtop and continue to pulse until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
- Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan pan and bake 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove and let cool.
Peanut Butter Filling
- In a microwave safe bowl, combine the peanut butter and butter and cook until melted and it can be stirred together. You can also do this in a pan on the stove over very low heat.
- Stir in the powdered sweetener until well combined and then whisk in the cream and the extract. Pour over cooled crust and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Refrigerate until set, about 20 minutes.
Chocolate Topping
- In a microwave safe bowl, combine the chopped chocolate and the butter (you can use the same bowl or pan from the peanut butter mixture).
- Heat on high in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until smooth. Be careful not to overheat and make your chocolate seize.
- Spread over the chilled filling. Return to the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set the chocolate.
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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One of my favorite cookies in a low carb form! SO EXCITING!
Aka peanut butter patties! (Vs Tagalongs) I don’t recall their having a caramel taste but this sounds good!
They don’t but my original recipe was caramel and pb and my husband was the one who told me they tasted like tagalongs!
Congrats on the success of “Everyday Ketogenic Kithchen” – I preordered it and have used many of the recipes already! A question on the the peanut butter caramel shortbread bars recipe here – is the 1 tsp of water the correct amount when making the caramel? Seems like it’s so small an amount that it would clump and not dissolve -just checking before I try this – photos look great!
It just helps it start to caramelize. Like sugar, it will begin to melt when heat is applied.
I made these and took them to a company Christmas party. I didn’t tell anyone they were sugarfree, low carb or anything else. I set them down with the other deserts, thinking I would have some to take home, but they were all gone when I went back. What was left was the full sugar, high carb stuff!
I am making a cake where the topping is chocolate chips and peanut butter mixed together. Do you think I could make this chocolate topping and add the 4 tbsp of peanut butter without it affecting the consistency? I love the taste and texture of this topping!
It’s hard to say because PB can get kind of clumpy at times. It might work!
*please reply to this comment as i forgot to click notify me of response by email on the other!*
hey these looks awesome!
im low carb low sugar so its amazing not to see maple syrup filled recipe for these
unfortunately im dairy free so what would i sub for whipping cream? cooconut yoghurt, coconut lumpy butter cream i made (dessicated coconut blitzed with water)?
als im sensitive to almonds and wondering what i can sub for
i used ground up hazelnuts once but they never get to the real consistency of flour…is there anthing i can do with coconut flour?
hope to hear back! olivia x
Full fat coconut milk could sub for the whipping cream. Coconut flour would not be good here but you can get hazelnut flour from Bob’s Red Mill.
These look fantastic. For those with peanut allergies, can you replace the peanut butter with butter and get the same result?
With butter or with another nut butter? It won’t work with just regular butter. But almond or sunflower seed butter could work.
Thanks for your quick response. Yes, I was thinking regular butter so it’s good to know that won’t work. I just found your recipe for low carb Twix bars and that’s what I was going for with these, thinking I would eliminate the peanut butter. Now I’ve got to great options! 🙂 Thank you!!!
Oh good, glad you found that one!
Can’t wait to try both of these. I’m going to make the Twix bars with my sister when I visit her in Denver. She’s wanting to start a low carb way of eating and I’ve raved about your website. Thanks again for all of your work! 🙂
Lovely to hear, thanks!
I saw this last night and heard the call of “make me, make me” and had all the ingredients available. I made them and they are scrumptious, and pretty too!
Thanks!
Question: the erythritol smoked terribly and filled the house with smoke. It never came to a boil either. Any ideas?
The erythritol does indeed smoke but it shouldn’t fill your house with smoke and it should boil. I wonder two things…what kind of pan were you using? Maybe it wasn’t heavy duty enough? And also…what kind of erythritol? What brand?
These are amazing!! I made them this afternoon and couldn’t wait to try them!! I cut into them after about 50 minutes…just couldn’t take the suspense any longer! The chocolate was set, but still soft. They will be even more amazing when the chocolate layer is completely set! I will be making these again (assuming I can behave myself and not eat too many servings) and next time might add 1/4 – 1/2 tsp almond extract to the shortbread layer. I love almond extract in shortbread and think it would add a great flavor to this dessert! A little goes a long way though, so I will be careful not to over power the other amazing flavors! Thanks for posting this recipe!
love the idea of the almond extract!
if you just have stevia in Bulk what would that compare to drops.
Do you mean powder? Or stevia that is made to measure like sugar (Stevia In the Raw, that sort of thing)?
I meant stevia powder or truvia
Stevia powder would be about 1/8 teaspoon. But Truvia is only a tiny bit of stevia and the rest is erythritol. Use 1/4 cup of that.
Hi there.I want to make these but doubt that I can buy agave nectar.I live in new Zealand and doubt that we have this here….unless I can buy it online.what else could I use?
Just use a little honey.
Omg – these look so good. I would have to stumble upon this recipe while in out of town for work, and can’t bake anything. The suspense is killing me! Lol I think I will make these and top the with a little bit of coconut. Sounds divine!! If the fairy hobmother visits me, I would like a vitamix! Life would be so much easier with a vitamix.
Thanks for the great recipe(s)! Can’t wait to try this one!
I would love a visit from the Fairy Hobmother. I could really use a new single burner cast iron stove. Mine is about to go out. I do all of my cooking on a single burner or in my toaster oven. It’s all the room we have because we have to travel so much with my husband’s job.
These look soooo yummy!! my wish would be for a Vitamix…I have been trying to reverse some major health issues & there are so many healthy recipes I could use the Vitamix for…I’ve been learning over the past year or so that putting healthy things in my body makes a HUGE difference on how I feel & how much pain I have!!
wow will try this soon. would love to have a quality immersion blender,since you asked