Chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel. I’ve never heard anyone in my life say they don’t like that combination, even people with nut allergies! I try to be pretty honest when I am writing these recipes, if they taste horrible then they taste horrible – I won’t hide it. I think these little angels might just be the best thing I’ve managed to put together in my kitchen for my keto diet. I truly mean it – I actually told my friends to go and try this mock Snickers bar today and that’s saying a lot.
November is national peanut butter lover’s month, and the timing couldn’t be any better. I’m not usually one that keeps track of all these national days and months, they seem to just sprout out of nowhere anyway. But peanut butter is a whole different monster altogether, being that it’s a staple in most of my sweet keto recipes. I think we should just call it peanut butter day everyday, and celebrate it every hour on the hour because it’s so tasty. Who’s with me!?
I’ve had the idea of using peanut butter and caramel sauce together for some time, but it’s all been about the execution. At first I thought I might try some ice cream, but it seemed too simple. I decided that I’d sandwich the peanut butter caramel concoction between some low carb shortbread and chocolate, and never budged after that. It sounded so good that I couldn’t give into the idea of making anything else, and so the recipe was born!
My first attempt didn’t go over the best, but I played around with the ingredients until I got it just right.
This recipe is courtesy of AllDayIDreamAboutFood.
The Preparation
Shortbread Crust:
- 1 1/4 cups almond flour
- 1/4 cup butter, chilled
- 1/4 cup stevia/erythritol blend
- 15 drops liquid stevia
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
Peanut Butter Caramel Filling:
- 1/2 cup stevia/erythritol blend
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Topping:
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 2 1/2 ounces low-carb dark chocolate
- 2 tablespoons stevia/erythritol blend
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa powder
- 15 drops liquid stevia
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
The Execution
Shortbread Crust:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Combine almond flour, butter, granulated stevia, liquid stevia, and xanthan gum in a food processor.
3. Pulse until it is mixed together and resembles a find crumby crust.
4. Press the mixture evenly onto the bottom of an 8-inch baking pan.
5. Bake for 15 minutes of until golden. (While this is happening, make the filling and topping)
6. Set aside and let it cool
Peanut Butter Caramel Filling:
1. Combine the Stevia with 1 tsp. water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Stir frequently until all the Stevia has dissolved and the mixture bubbles. This takes about 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the cream. You should have plenty of bubbling here!
4. Return to the heat and boil it for 1 minute.
5. Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla extract until it’s smooth.
6. Pour over the cooled shortbread crust and spread it out evenly.
7. Let it cool completely.
Chocolate Topping:
1. Melt the butter, chocolate, and Stevia in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Stir occasionally until it has smoothed out and has a little bit of a gloss to it.
3. Add the cocoa powder to the mixture and stir until there are no lumps.
4. Add the liquid stevia and vanilla extract and stir.
5. Pour the chocolate over the cooled peanut butter filling that’s spread on the shortbread.
6. Let it set at room temperature for at least 1 hour. You can put it in the fridge after this, but it hardens up a little bit.
I’ll let the picture do the talking here, because it’s wicked good and you NEED to try it.
This makes a total of 16 servings of Low-Carb Mock Snickers Bar. Each serving comes out to be 210 calories, 20.1g fats, 3.2g net carbs, and 4.3g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 1 1/4 cup almond flour | 811 | 70 | 30.8 | 18.2 | 12.6 | 29.4 |
| 1/4 cup butter | 407 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 |
| 1/4 cup stevia/erythritol blend | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 drop liquid stevia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum | 8 | 0 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/2 cup stevia/erythritol blend | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 teaspoon water | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream | 405 | 42.9 | 3.3 | 0 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| 1/2 cup peanut butter | 759 | 64.5 | 25.8 | 7.7 | 18.1 | 32.3 |
| 1 teaspoon vanilla extract | 12 | 0 | 0.6 | 0 | 0.6 | 0 |
| 6 tablespoon butter | 610 | 69 | 0.1 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.7 |
| 2 1/2 ounce low-carb dark chocolate | 276 | 28.4 | 35.4 | 21.3 | 14.2 | 0 |
| 2 tablespoon stevia/erythritol blend | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 tablespoon unsweetened dark cocoa powder | 40 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 15 drop liquid stevia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract | 6 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 |
| Totals | 3368 | 321.9 | 104 | 53 | 51 | 68.2 |
| Per Serving (/16) | 210 | 20.1 | 6.5 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 4.3 |
Low-Carb Mock Snickers Bar
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust:
- 1 ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup butter chilled
- ¼ cup stevia/erythritol blend
- 15 drop liquid stevia
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
Peanut Butter Caramel Filling:
- ½ cup stevia/erythritol blend
- 1 teaspoon water
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Topping:
- 6 tablespoon butter
- 2 ½ ounce low-carb dark chocolate
- 2 tablespoon stevia/erythritol blend
- 2 tablespoon unsweetened dark cocoa powder
- 15 drop liquid stevia
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Combine the almond flour, butter, granulated sweetener, liquid stevia, and xanthan gum in a food processor. Pulse until fine and crumbly.
- Press the mixture evenly into a non-stick baking pan and bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Once done, remove from the oven and let cool.
- Meanwhile, make the peanut butter caramel filling. Combine the sweetener with water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until the sweetener is dissolved and the mixture is bubbling (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream; the mixture should be bubbling. Return to the heat and let boil for 1 minute. Add the peanut butter and vanilla extract and stir until smooth.
- Pour the filling over the cooled shortbread crust and spread it out evenly. Let cool completely.
- To create the chocolate topping, melt the butter, chocolate, and sweetener in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Next, add the liquid stevia and vanilla extract and whisk again.
- Pour the chocolate topping over the cooled peanut butter filling.
- Let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour before cutting. Enjoy!
These were super! The caramel seized up on me, but they tasted like a peanut butter twix bar. Only problem was the recipe was vague about the sweetner. I used homemade truvia (erithrytol and stevia extract.) delicious
Glad you enjoyed them! They are a delicious treat for me too. I try not to make them anymore because I get carried away with how many I eat 😛
In the pic it looks like there was a white fluffy layer. Was that a homemade nougat, maybe?
That was just the shortbread. The lighting might make it look like nougat, but it was just less cooked in the middle compared to the bottom.
No, actually I meant in the pic with the little pumpkin. There is distinctly a white layer on top of the PB layer, under the chocolate. Anyway, they were good, but the chocolate was a little dark for our taste. I think next time I will halve the amount and just drizzle it on. The bottom 2 layers were delicious!
Ah, that one is just some whipped cream under the chocolate 🙂 I think you’ll like doing that if you found the chocolate to be a bit too bitter.
Aha, now you’re talking! :). Thanks for the tip!
Of course! Any time 🙂
Love this recipe. Confused about the “granulated Stevia.” I usedErythritol and Stevia powdered extract. Like homemade truvia. My caramel also see seized, but they were delicious.
I used erythritol instead of stevia because the amounts of stevia sounded like way too much. I thought these were way too sweet and the erythritol cooling effect was very strong. Maybe it’s because I left out the liquid stevia. I think they would be good with no sweetener in the first two layers.
I may be because of the erythritol (for the cooling effect), but I agree that these are quite sweet. I normally make sweeter recipes for people online, but I tend to prefer a slight sweetness or a bitter counter-part in my desserts, too.
I had to come back to this recipe and say that I did end up eating and enjoying all of these (I froze some so I could have my treats spread out :)). The taste really did grow on me and I realized they were quite good!
Just stumbled across this recipe and I want to make it this week! Looks delish! I noticed it is a tad old and it seems your newer recipes don’t use granulated stevia but mostly the combo of erythritol & liquid stevia. Would it be okay if I did this for this entire recipe? I have plenty of erythritol, xylitol, liquid stevia but if I don’t HAVE to buy granulated stevia I’d rather not. Thanks!!
Chelsea, I have no doubt that it would work 🙂 It is an older recipe, so feel free to sub in erythritol and stevia blend (or your favorite blend of sweeteners)!
Just how delicious are these? I’m about to make my third batch in as many days. My husband can’t stay away from them!
Hahaha, glad you like them Leah!
Just how delicious are these? I’m about to make my third batch in as many days. My husband can’t stay away from them!
Hahaha, glad you like them Leah!
These are absolutely delicious, I can’t thank you enough for the recipe, but why doesn’t the nutrition information contain anything about protein?
This is a pretty old recipe, Meredith – so I probably was not calculating protein at the time for the recipes.
I have just made these and I wish I had looked at the breakdown in calories etc first as I used quarter of a cup of stevia but that was definitely more that 6 tablespoons which is what it says in the breakdown. Also I am in the UK and not sure if our cup measurements are the same. I also used erithritol as did not have any stevia. Sadly they are far too sweet and have a weird taste (probably due to the amount of erithritol) and will have to go in the bin. I will start again tomorrow and tweak the recipe!!
Sorry to hear about it Cath. It’s possible that it’s too sweet from the erythritol (if it has a bit of a cooling effect then it’s definitely the erythritol). You could easily reduce the amount of erythritol by cutting it all in half. Though I will say that 1 US cup = 0.83 UK cup (from what I read online). If you want to, you can always add just a bit of sweetener at a time. You can microwave something for 20-30 seconds and taste it to gauge sweetness. Generally speaking, this replicated the cooking process (and sweetness is usually cut down from the raw batter once baked). Hope you’re able to find a more suitable sweetness for you!
Thanks for the reply. Very odd but after a couple of days in the fridge the sweetness seemed to lessen and they were delicious. I am going to make some more today but cut down the erythritol a little .. overall though they are fab!!
This is crazy. What’s going on in your house Craig: who eats all this stuff?
Do you have a spare room you wanna rent out?
Ha – we give away a good chunk of food to friends and family, but lately I’ve been holding off on making more recipes (I have around 15 to post still) so I can start getting ready to pack the freezer full again 🙂
Holy crappppppp. These are delicious!! I miscalculated and put a little extra PB and less cream in my caramel so it wasn’t very pourable, but it spread well and barely uped the carb count. They taste like the best craving fix!!! keeping this recipe close as I have a feeling I’ll be making them frequently.
Really really happy to hear 😀
Would these be better or worse if you subbed in Erythritol for the stevia?
Erythritol has a very distinct flavor, almost a bit cool and minty. It also performs a little differently because it can caramelize and brown, so you do have to watch it carefully when cooking. Those are the only issues I can think of!
These are so great! Definitely making again. I followed the recipe exactly and brought them in to work – everyone loved them. Only thing I might change next time is adding some crunchy peanut butter to the peanut butter layer. Thanks for the recipe!!
Thanks Mariah. That sounds great.
I made these and the shortbread crust tasted great, the peanut butter filling tasted great, but the chocolate layer didn’t turn out right taste wise. The stevia powder was just too overpowering and too bitter. Can I change out the stevia powder for Swerve powder? Do you know what the conversion might be if any? I want to make these again!
Made these a few weeks ago, came out really really good. I’ve been cooking keto for about 8 months and i find its so easy to adjust the sweetener based on taste. I realize i didnt need the stevia so next time i will use swerve only.
Can I use monk fruit and baking chocolate?
Yes, I don’t see why not 🙂
I cannot thank you enough for this recipe! It is so simple and most of the ingredients I already had around home. I tweaked it a little bit (no xanthan, used crunchy peanut butter and added whole peanuts – I also only used Lindt 85% and butter for the top just so it wasn’t as sweet). The peanut layer was PERFECT – I couldn’t believe how similar it was to an actual snickers. I am so, so, so happy with how they turned out. Thank you for sharing! <3