Chocolate pecan pie bars are a decadent holiday dessert, typically loaded with sugar. But this recipe is grain free, low carb, and gluten free, making these chocolate pecan pie bars the ultimate keto holiday dessert! Deliciously gooey sugar-free filling packed with pecans and chocolate. Updated recipe with a how-to video! This post is sponsored by Lily’s Sweets.
So it was time. It was time to give my very popular low carb Pecan Pie bars an update. Most readers love it when I update recipes, although some prefer the older version. But in this case, it was necessary. Not only did I want to do new photos and a fun recipe video, but I also hit upon a new and easier way of making the filling. And it’s even lower carb than the original! Yippee! Now if that doesn’t sound like a good reason for updating one of my keto holiday dessert recipes, I don’t know what does. Simpler, healthier, and just as delicious. WINNING!
How to Make Low Carb Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
I first realized I could simplify the filling and make your life easier when I created a caramel glaze for my low carb Pumpkin Caramel Bundt Cake. It had great consistency and I figured I could easily sub it in as the “syrup” part for sugar-free pecan pie. I test drove this idea when I created my low carb Pecan Tassies earlier this year. I also realized that the crust could be simplified as well, and I could skip the xanthan gum altogether. Once you put all that gooey filling over top, it really doesn’t need the extra structure.
I was delighted when I ran the numbers on this new version and saw that it had almost 3g fewer carbs than my original recipe. At first I thought that might be a mistake but then it dawned on me why. Lily’s Chocolate! Back in the old days (aka four years ago), I had to rely on either 85% cacao chocolate such as Lindt, which still contains some added sugar, or I had to make my own low carb dark chocolate chunks. But discovering Lily’s Chocolate a few years ago has made my keto baking life ever so much easier. For this recipe, I used Lily’s Baking Bar and simply chopped up 2 ounces. But you could use the chocolate chips or the regular dark chocolate bar instead.
I don’t think I need to explain why I chose to make over this classic holiday pie recipe. Who doesn’t love gooey pecan pie at Thanksgiving? It’s long been one of my favourite desserts, with or without a little chocolate. As a kid, I would scan the dessert menu of every restaurant and if they had pecan pie, I would always save room for dessert. It’s that gooey, caramel-like filling with the intense flavour of toasted pecans that has a strong hold over me.
Keto Holiday Dessert Transformation
While I was creating the chocolate pecan pie bars recipe, finding a way to make a gooey, low carb filling was paramount to me. Let’s face it, our low carb sweeteners just don’t behave the way sugar does. And part of what makes traditional pecan pie bars so gooey is the corn syrup. It’s tricky to emulate that. But by creating a caramel sauce with Swerve and using that in place of the corn syrup, you get a rich deep flavour and a gooier texture that is a lot like the real thing.
I also know that people will ask if you can turn this pecan pie bars recipe into a full chocolate pecan pie. I think yes, you will be able to. You will probably need more pecans for the filling and you can use the pastry from my low carb Press-In Pie Crust. Par-bake it for 10 minutes and watch those edges carefully as it bakes. If they are browning a lot, cover them with foil. The baking time will vary.
Looking for more keto sweets? Check out my Keto Desserts Page. All desserts under 7g TOTAL carbs.
Everybody loves pecan pie on Thanksgiving. Here is a low carb, gluten-free version of chocolate pecan pie bars. You don’t have to get off track during the holidays!
This content was originally published here.