Keto 7-Layer Bars
(THM:S, Low Carb, Ketogenic)
Growing up, I LOVED sugar.
I never ever seemed to tire of it.
I would love to tell you that eating Keto and Trim Healthy Mama has completely changed my tastes and I don't even want sugar anymore, but that wouldn't be true. I have an unapologetic sweet tooth, so over the years I've gotten very creative with making up new recipes to mimick some of my old, sugar-laden favorites.
And that's what I want to share with you today!
Magic Cookie Bars were something I used to make with my aunt for special occasions. They were an old Betty Crocker Recipe that involved starting with a graham cracker crust, topping it with chocolate and butterscotch chips, pecans, and coconut, and then drizzling sweetened condensed milk over the whole thing and baking it. Everything melted together and became a dessert that I dreamed about.
Don't forget to visit my Keto Recipe Index!
I'm and SO not kidding.
With the holidays having just passed, I found myself wishing to make those cookie bars,
But I have GOALS for 2018, and sugary cookie bars don't fit into them.
How about you? Are you a New Year's goal-setter? (I am, and if you want a peek my 2018 goals can be found here)
So here we are today, with the most fabulous Keto Magic Cookie Bar recipe I've ever seen!
They're super easy to make, even the crust is simple – it does take 35 minutes to bake – but the Caramel sauce is the easiest one I've ever made. Ever since making the switch to Swerve I've been finding baking even more enjoyable and easier than ever.
**Quick Note: a previous version of this recipe contained my recipe for Butterscotch Chips (keto, of course) but those need a few tweaks still, so I took them out. For now, I'll let them live here without the buttescotch chips!
Here's what you'll need:
For the Cracker Base:
1 cup Almond Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg
2 T Grass-Fed Salted Butter, melted
Caramel Sauce:
1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1 tsp Caramel Extract
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp Salt
Toppings:
2 cups Lily's Chocolate Chips
1 cup Chopped Pecans
1 cup Shredded Coconut
Directions:
First, make the Crackers:
Preheat oven to 300F.
Whisk together almond Flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Beat the egg and stir in along with melted butter.
Turn the dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper or silicone baking mat, pat into a rough square, then place another piece of parchment paper on top. Roll out until it forms a square 1/8″ thick. Remove the top parchment paper.
Place the parchment on a large baking pan and bake for 35 minutes until they start to brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.
To Assemble the Bars:
Increase oven temp to 375.
Make the caramel sauce:
Melt the 1/2 cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then add in Swerve and whisk until well combined. Boil for 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture starts to darken in color. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream, caramel extract, and vanilla.
The sauce will bubble furiously, but mix it and it will settle down.
Take the cooked cracker base off the parchment paper and move it into a square pan. You may have to break some of the edges.
Top the cooled cracker base with 1/2 of the caramel sauce.
Then, layer on the Chocolate chips, pecans, and coconut. Drizzle the other half of the caramel sauce on top.
Bake at 375 for 5 minutes.
I like to cut these into square while they're still warm, but you can also wait until they're cooled to cut them.
To cut these bars: because they're Keto and different than your typical magic cookie bars, cutting takes a little bit of finesse. Don't let that scare you thought! Simply take the bars out of the square baking pan and cut them with a large chef's nice for pretty, even cuts.
Affiliate Links: There are a few special ingredients in this recipe. The links below are affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something by clicking and buying through my link I earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you:
- Swerve Sweetener
- Lily's Chocolate Chips (Thrive Market has the best price, can also buy them on Amazon)
- Caramel Extract
- Silicone Baking mat
- Organic Shredded Coconut
- Almond Flour
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Trim Healthy Mama 101
Trim Healthy Mama Pantry Staples
- For the Cracker Base:
- 1 cup Almond Flour
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Baking Powder
- 1 Egg
- 2 T Grass-Fed Salted Butter, melted
- Caramel Sauce:
- ½ cup Swerve Sweetener
- ½ cup Butter
- ½ cup Heavy Cream
- 1 tsp Caramel Extract
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- ¼ tsp Salt
- Toppings:
- 2 cups Lily's Chocolate Chips
- 1 cup Chopped Pecans
- 1 cup Shredded Coconut
- First, make the Crackers:
- Preheat oven to 300F.
- Whisk together almond Flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Beat the egg and stir in along with melted butter.
- Turn the dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper or silicone baking mat, pat into a rough square, then place another piece of parchment paper on top. Roll out until it forms a square ⅛" thick. Remove the top parchment paper.
- Place the parchment on a large baking pan and bake for 35 minutes until they start to brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- To Assemble the Bars:
- Increase oven temp to 375.
- Make the caramel sauce:
- Melt the ½ cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then add in Swerve and whisk until well combined. Boil for 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture starts to darken in color. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream, caramel extract, and vanilla.
- The sauce will bubble furiously, but mix it and it will settle down.
- Take the cooked cracker base off the parchment paper and move it into a square pan. You may have to break some of the edges.
- Top the cooled cracker base with ½ of the caramel sauce.
- Then, layer on the Chocolate chips, pecans, and coconut.. Drizzle the other half of the caramel sauce on top.
- Bake at 375 for 5 minutes.
- I like to cut these into square while they're still warm, but you can also wait until they're cooled to cut them.
xoxo,
Gretchen
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Wow these look delicious! What are the macros on these?
I roughly calculated this, the hardest part was figuring out the chocolate chip content since everywhere gives it in grams.
I have roughly 297 cal, 29.2 fat, 4.5 net carbs, 5.0 protein per one serving.
This is the best Keto dessert I have ever tried!!! (and I’ve tried many recipes so far)
I only used half of the chocolate chips and made my own caramel “extract” but these were simply amazing!!! I noticed they were even better after completely cooled and my friends and family who are not on the Keto diet also love them. I cut them into bite size pieces and it tames my sweet tooth. Thank you SOOOO much for sharing this perfect dessert ❤️
These have always been my favorite desserr! Do you have the macros for this recipe? I did not see them posted. Also, do you have a suggestion for another soy-free choc chip? …I am allergic to gluten and soy.
Is this heaven cream or heavy whipping cream?
Julie, my Carmel sauce did not thicken. I used Pyure blend sweetener since I didn’t have swerve. Maybe this was why it didn’t thicken? Still very good 🙂
I would like answer to this question, I used the same sweetner and it actually burned, it was smoking really bad!!!!
I don’t know about the sweetener part but I slowly worked my mixture to a bubble. And was pretty much whisking is most of the time. Once it was bubbling I slowly worked my temp down just enough to keep it boiling because I didn’t want it to burn. I mainly did this because I have an electric stove which I hate. I miss gas. I used erythriotol- the NOW brand.
I added a little Xanthan gum to my caramel sauce. It set up perfectly.
Love this recipe! Thanks so much. It is definitely a favourite. The only thing I do differently is the method for the cracker. I press the cracker mixture into my baking dish and cook it. No cutting necessary 😊
This sounds much simpler. What size pan did you use?
This is what I do too. I coat my hands in coconut oil so it doesn’t stick and I spread it with my hands a little. Then I use this little rolling pin with a handle- I used to use it for sugarcookie bars. I also coat that in coconut oil and finish rolling it out even. I use a 9×9 Pan. Got it at Walmart. I also like the pan with parchment paper.
“Then, layer on the Chocolate chips, pecans, coconut, and butterscotch chips.” Butterscotch chips? I don’t see those in the list of ingredients?
I haven’t tried this yet, but wanted to check on that ingredient. Thank you.
Hi Adria – a previous version of this recipe contained my recipe for Butterscotch Chips (keto, of course) but those need a few tweaks still, so I took them out. For now, I’ll let them live here without the buttescotch chips! Hopefully I’ll get the butterscotch chip recipe done soon!
I made these today and they are delicious. Well worth the expensive natural caramel extract I purchased. My question is about the caramel sauce. It was really thin – not like caramel at all. What did I do wrong? I used confectioners style Swerve. Perhaps I should have used granular?
Thanks in advance!
Valerie
I made these and I LOVE them! I’m anxiously awaiting your butterscotch chip fix so I can add them in next time. Thank you for the recipie!!!
What is the best way to store these? Frig or not?
I stored them in the fridge, and they didn’t get too hard. They should last on the counter for a little longer than week though 🙂
If you leave them on the counter for a week and they don’t get eaten in my house…I need to question how good they actually are!!!! lol Getting ready to try these yummy’s! I hope they don’t last a week….
I do clean eating so I’m thinking of using raw honey instead of swerve! Would this alter the texture or thickness of the sauce
I made these today. They were very good. I couldn’t find caramel extract so used 1.5 tsp vanilla instead. Froze most of them so I would only eat them once or maybe twice a week.
I added a pinch of cinnamon and one truvia packet to the dough. Made it taste like graham cracker. Perfect recipe for a sweet tooth!
What are the nutritional facts on these? I just started the Keto diet and I didn’t see how many carbs are in these.
The calories on these are about 3200!!! The butter and coconut are super high in calories .. also I don’t see how you make 16 servings! They must be soo small
Yes, that’s correct, they are about 200 calories per serving. High fat foods are naturally higher in calories, and yes I cut them into small bars because it’s not good to indulge in large-size treats each day.
WHAT is the macros on the 7 layer bar ?
What are the macros for the 7 layer bar ?
How many total carbs per serving? sounds too good to be low carb!
I made these today with Splenda and maybe that’s where I went wrong. But, I wasted a lot of money and ingredients. The sweetner turned to a hard rock and separated from the butter. Very disappointed.
LOVE this recipe ! It just turned out amazing and was a great treat over Christmas for us. Thank you !
So glad you liked them!
The sugar alcohols in Swerve upset my stomach. Any suggestions for a replacement?
Just got through making these. May I just say, this is just fabulous. I absolutely loved them. My husband said, “How many can I have?” I am looking at the pan longingly. Yes they are filling, a good thing, with something this decadent, but I could have eaten a whole entire line of these in the pan. I don’t know, maybe half the pan. At any rate, I like them better than the sugar-laden 7 Layer Bars, as they were too sweet for me. I did, although, increase the sugar (and I used powdered Erythritol) to 3/4 cup. I think I will add a tablespoon to that even next time. A reviewer mentioned adding Xanthan Gum to the caramel to have it thicker. Yes, the caramel is a little thin and I hadn’t thought of that, but it is a great idea, as it would thicken in cooling. I bought the caramel extract online and It added to the recipe to make it taste more like a caramel. I would recommend springing for the extract. Again, this was a terrific recipe and I thank you so much Gretchen for sharing. I will make this often.