When I was growing up my favorite dessert was my moms’ zebra brownies. They were always from a box, and it was a treat because it was like two desserts in one: brownie base stuffed with creamy cheesecake filling! I can’t believe it took me this long to make this decadent treat because once I did, I realized it’s so simple.
This recipe is a spin-off from my favorite keto flourless brownie recipe with a few adjustments. Because the cheesecake filling offers a bit more moisture and weight, the brownie base needed to be more substantial. The addition of almond flour gives this dessert just enough structure to stand up to creamy pockets of cheesecake while still being fudgy and a little gooey!
When baking these brownies, keep in mind the heat of your oven. Temperatures and cook times vary a lot depending on your oven so watch these carefully and bake them until they are firm on the edges but just slightly soft at the center. It shouldn’t jiggle much, but the center will not be firm. Once the brownies begin to cool the center will set correctly.
Yields 16 servings of Keto Cheesecake Stuffed Brownies
The Preparation
For the Filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, Softened
- 1/4 cup erythritol, for filling
- 1 large egg, for filling
For the Brownie:
- 3 ounces low-carb milk chocolate, chopped or broken
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 3 large egg, for brownie
- 1/2 cup erythritol, for brownie
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup almond flour
The Execution
1. Heat oven to 350F and line a brownie pan with parchment. Make the cheesecake filling first by beating softened cream cheese, egg for the filling, and granulated sweetener smooth. Set aside.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter at 30-second intervals in the microwave, frequently stirring until smooth. Let cool slightly while you prepare the brownie.
3. Beat remaining eggs and sweetener on medium until the mixture is frothy.
4. Sift in the cocoa powder and almond flour and continue to beat until thin batter forms.
5. Pour in melted chocolate and beat with the hand mixer on low for 10 seconds. The batter will thicken to a mousse-like consistency.
6. Pour ¾ of the batter in the prepared pan, top with dollops of the cream cheese, then finish with the remaining brownie batter.
7. Using a spatula, smooth the batter over the cheesecake filling in a swirling pattern.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center is mostly set. It may jiggle slightly but once you remove it from the oven it should firm completely. Cool before slicing!
This makes a total of 16 servings of Keto Cheesecake Stuffed Brownies. Each serving comes out to be 145 calories, 13.3g fats, 3.6g net carbs, and 3.6g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 8 ounce cream cheese | 776 | 77.1 | 9.3 | 0 | 9.3 | 14 |
| 1/4 cup erythritol | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 large egg | 79 | 5.2 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.4 | 6.9 |
| 3 ounce low-carb milk chocolate | 308 | 28.9 | 45.9 | 11.9 | 34 | 1.7 |
| 5 tablespoon butter | 509 | 57.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 |
| 3 large egg | 236 | 15.7 | 1.2 | 0 | 1.2 | 20.7 |
| 1/2 cup erythritol | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/4 cup cocoa powder | 82 | 2 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
| 1/2 cup almond flour | 324 | 28 | 12.3 | 7.3 | 5 | 11.8 |
| Totals | 2342 | 214.5 | 81.2 | 23.2 | 58 | 59.6 |
| Per Serving (/16) | 146 | 13.4 | 5.1 | 1.4 | 3.6 | 3.7 |
Keto Cheesecake Stuffed Brownies
Ingredients
For the Filling
- 8 ounce cream cheese Softened
- ¼ cup erythritol for filling
- 1 large egg for filling
For the Brownie
- 3 ounce low-carb milk chocolate chopped or broken
- 5 tablespoon butter
- 3 large egg for brownie
- ½ cup erythritol for brownie
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup almond flour
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350F and line a brownie pan with parchment paper. Make the cheesecake filling first, by beating softened cream cheese with the egg and the granulated sweetener called for in the filling, until smooth. Set aside.
- Melt the chocolate and butter at 30-second intervals in the microwave, stirring frequently until smooth. Let cool slightly while you prepare the rest of the brownie mix.
- Beat remaining eggs and sweetener (called for in brownie) on medium, until the mixture is frothy.
- Sift in the cocoa powder and almond flour and continue to beat until a thin batter forms. Pour in the melted chocolate and beat for 10 seconds longer.
- The batter will thicken to a mousse like consistency.
- Pour ¾ of the batter into the prepared pan, top with dollops of the cream cheese filling, then finish with the remaining brownie batter.
- Using a spatula, smooth the batter on top over the cheesecake filling in a swirling pattern, leaving the cheesecake layer below as undisturbed as possible.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center is mostly set. It may jiggle slightly, but once you remove it from the oven it should firm completely. Cool before cutting into squares and prepare for the deliciousness this treat provides!
What cream cheese do you use? Philadelphia is <1 g carbs per serving? Surely it doesn’t add up to that much.
Some of our nutrition is based on the standard nutrition as per USDA nutrition database. That’s possibly why the carbs are a little bit higher than what you are using. If you have a lower carb version, you can always account for that in the macros.
What would you substitute Erythritol for is the store doesn’t have?
There aren’t that many substitutes for erythritol unfortunately. You could use something like Swerve, but it’s mainly an erythritol base.
What about Allulose? I’ve been converting most recipes to Allulose since it is so close to sugar in taste.
Allulose should work well (though I have yet to try it out yet). It has about the same sweetness as erythritol, so try using a 1:1 substitution ratio anytime you see pure granulated erythritol as an ingredient.
I used Splenda naturals, stevia with erythritol. its in every basic store I shop
Not sure who you are…. but thank you. I have tried several of your recipes now and they have all been fantastic, including this one. The serving size must be pretty small to only be 1.9 net carbs. But still a great treat. Thanks again!
What kind of low carb milk chocolate are you using? I typically use Lily’s chocolate chips but they are closer to a dark chocolate. Also, did you use an 8″ or 9″ brownie pan? Thank you!
Chocorite was used in this specific recipe, but any low carb chocolate will work. There are many brands available now. An 8×8 pan was used for this recipe.
Can I substitute the almond flour with something different? Say coconut flour Allergies to almonds, no other nut though. 😏
Coconut flour is much more absorptive than almond flour so it’s not really a good substitute (you’d have to add more liquid if you used the same amount of coconut flour). You could use sunflower seed flour or pumpkin seed flour at a 1:1 ratio of almond flour, though.
This is one of our favorite ruled.me recipes. For some reason, I have to bake it about 10 minutes longer than recommended. We use Lily’s dark chocolate chips. I prefer the brownies out of the fridge because the chocolate chips resolidify resulting in a nice, fudgy texture.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c… This is an incredible recipe. Made as described except I added 1.5oz of unsweetened dark chocolate. The best keto dessert 🍮 have made in the past year! Thank you so much!!!!
That looks so delicious – thank you so much for the glowing review!
Question. Can these be stored in the freezer?
Yes, I think they’d do fine in the freezer.
i was going to ask this myself…if i leave them out i’ll eat them all myself!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glad you liked it, Claudia! Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
I made this. It is pretty delicious. The texturevis amazing. Next time I will add vanilla and salt to bring up the flavors, and a bit more sweetner to satisfy my insane sweet tooth. I found it lakes flavor https://uploads.disquscdn.c… .
Glad you enjoyed it, Viviane! You can also try making our strawberry chia seed jam to put on top. It would go wonderfully with these brownies:
https://www.ruled.me/strawb…
Just made this recipe for 4th of July and looks and tastes amazing! One question, should it be stored in the refrigerator because of the cheesecake part or it
should be stored in airtight container on counter?
Hey Jeannine,
Thanks for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed them 🙂
It is best to store them in the fridge.
I have made these over and over– I absolutely love this recipe! I am curious about why the recipe calls for granulated erythritol in the filling, instead of confectioner’s… and wondering if maybe the powdery consistency of the confectioner’s would make for a more creamy texture to the filling (?) Your recipes are so great that I don’t want to deviate without first asking the question, in case there is a definite reason to use granulated for the best outcome. Thanks for all you do!!!
You could definitely powder the erythritol before adding it to the mixture. I’m sure it would make the texture a bit creamier if you get some of the grittiness from the granulated erythritol. Thank you so much for the kind words! You can pretty much use confectioners in all instances that granulated is used. You can even powder your own using a bullet blender or spice grinder (I find it’s a lot cheaper that way).
How much chocolate is required to melt with the butter?
Hey Glenel,
You’ll need 3 ounces.
I just made these for the 1st time and it’s my 1st time since May 2020 of having anything “sweet” tasting.
Omg, oh my god.. tastes amazing and so simple to make, thank you guys. I used 100% dark chocolate, with Erythritol as per recipe and oh wow. I also used ground almonds as was on offer and it didn’t taste too badly at all!
Just a couple of things though. In the UK are cheese cream isn’t very solid, so when I whisked it, it went running, which meant I couldn’t get the good swirls – can you put the cream cheese back in the fridge or when you put the cream cheese on top, put it in the fridge for abit then take it out so it gets abit solid then add the brownie mix in dollops, so hopefully it will swirls better and have a nice cheese cake centre?
Thanks!
I’m so happy to hear you liked them overall!
Typically in the US we store our cream cheese in the fridge, so that could have been the reason for it being a little bit runny. I’d recommend next time having it a little cooler to try to get a harder consistency which will help with the swirling. Let me know how it goes if you end up trying it again!