Coffee lovers rejoice!!!! These Keto Espresso Chocolate Cheesecake Bars boast a decadent chocolate cookie crust, topped with a creamy espresso cheesecake layer and a dusting of cocoa powder – and they taste exactly as amazing as you’re imagining right now!
Before I go any further I really must warn you that these keto espresso chocolate cheesecake bars are super addicting. I mean seriously, it is almost impossible to stop at just one. Do do yourself a favor and budget in a couple of them – for example, use them as a breakfast meal replacement like I did. ?
Keto espresso chocolate cheesecake bars AND my morning cappuccino eaten together trumps bacon and eggs any day. I mean, C’mon. This is not a hard concept to sell to my fellow coffee people. You know you want to. And you totally should.
As with all my favorite keto dessert recipes, these low carb espresso cheesecake bars are super easy to make. The press in crust takes literally 2 minutes to throw in a bowl and stir together with a fork. Then while that spends a couple of minutes baking in the oven to firm up, you throw the filling ingredients in your blender and blend until smooth. Pour it over the crust, bake, remove, slice and eat.
The worst part is waiting for these keto espresso chocolate cheesecake bars to cool and chill before slicing – but fortunately because these are in bar form, it only takes an hour or so, unlike a big cheesecake that should really chill overnight. Though I will say I do prefer these bars nice and cold, so the longer you can stand to wait, the better they will be!
You can absolutely make these keto espresso chocolate cheesecake bars in big cheesecake form if you want – you’d just need to double the cheesecake layer ingredients and bake it for about an hour in an 8 inch springform pan. Then chill overnight before slicing.
Doubling the espresso cheesecake filling is NOT a bad idea – in fact I might make it this way next. I’ll report back with exact cooking times when I do, but in the meantime if you beat me to it, be sure to inform us how it went in the comments!
These keto espresso chocolate cheesecake bars are so delicious, that while I made them last week to post in early December, I bumped them up to today just because I couldn’t wait to share them!
I am beyond excited for you to try them and report back!
As an added bonus, if you’re suffering some pumpkin fatigue already, this is a nice break in the pumpkin flavored everything trend that is likely going to be around through all of November. Though if you’re NOT yet sick of pumpkin, I highly recommend these keto pumpkin cheesecake cookies that I posted recently!
Keto Espresso Chocolate Cheesecake Bars – Low Carb
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
Description
These keto espresso chocolate cheesecake bars are not only delicious, but easy to make in just minutes using your blender! Low carb, gluten free, Atkins friendly.
Ingredients
For the chocolate crust:
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7 tablespoons butter, melted
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2 cups superfine, blanched almond flour (I used Honeyville)
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3 tablespoons cocoa powder
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1/3 cup granulated erythritol sweetener
For the cheesecake:
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16 ounces full fat cream cheese
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2 large eggs
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1/2 cup granulated erythritol sweetener (I used Swerve)
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2 tablespoons instant espresso powder (I used Cafe Bustelo)
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- additional cocoa powder for dusting over the top if desired.
Instructions
For the chocolate crust:
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Preheat the oven to 350° F.
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Combine the melted butter, almond flour, sweetener and cocoa powder in a medium sized bowl and mix well.
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Transfer the crust dough to a 9 x 9 pan lined with parchment paper or foil (this will make removing the bars much easier.)
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Press the crust firmly into the bottom of the pan.
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Bake the crust for 8 minutes.
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Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
For the cheesecake filling:
- Combine the cream cheese, eggs, sweetener, espresso powder, and vanilla extract in a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour over the par baked crust and spread out evenly in the pan.
- Bake the cheesecake bars at 350° F for 25 minutes, or until set.
- Remove from the oven and cool.
- Dust with optional cocoa powder if using.
- Chill for at least 1 hour, preferably longer, before cutting into four rows of squares to serve.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Net carbs per bar = 3.5g
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Keto desserts
- Method: Baking
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 232
- Fat: 21g
- Carbohydrates: 5g
- Fiber: 1.5g
- Protein: 6g
Mellissa Sevigny says
Your comment wasn’t deleted, it hadn’t been approved yet because I’m on vacation in Rhode Island right now. Your one star review is there for the world to see. The reason there are a lot of 5 star reviews on this recipe is because it’s good when made correctly. I suspect there was an issue with your ingredients quality or execution if you found it to be so terrible.
Susan Lang says
Big hit! Loved by all
Karen says
Will any instant espresso work? I can’t find anything called espresso powder but I have instant espresso.
Thanks!
Alison says
NO!!!! That was the mistake I made!!! It is a very different thing.
Jen says
This is a wonderful dessert that’s so easy to make. The flavor is wonderful. I used Starbucks instant coffee and it was so good. Crust is great too.
Fran Turney says
i love chocolate and coffee together and this was a big hit with everyone, even the person who doesn’t like coffee. I mistakenly used an 8×8 pan, so it had to cook longer, but came out perfect. thank you.
Barbara says
I made this for Mother’s Day and it was a big hit with everyone-even the kids. My only problem was the bottom was too hard and dry. Tasted great but it was too hard. What would you recommend?
Mary says
I baked my crust longer than instructed, but it is not crusty. It left fingerprints when i touched the middle! What is the crust supposed to feel like?
Mellissa Sevigny says
You are only par-baking it before the filling, and because of all the butter it will be soft when warm – it firms up when chilled. Follow the instructions as written and it will come out just fine.
Chris says
So how did you get that nutrition info on this dessert? The carb count for this should be much higher, as you add erythritol sweetener, which has 4g of carbs per teaspoon. Considering there are about 48 tsp in a cup this easily adds up to quite a few carbs from the sweetener alone. Adds up to about 384 carbs in two cups, divide that up by serving size (16) and it comes out to 24 carbs a bar.that’s not even including the almond flour and other ingredients. I was making this recipe while I calculated nutrition info before deciding this wasn’t even close to low carb enough to keep one in ketosis and promptly gave the desert to my roommate after it finished baking. 1 bar is enough to put you past 25g of carbs daily limit.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Erythritol carbs are a sugar alcohol and aren’t counted in the total because they don’t impact blood sugar or ketosis.
MissElaineous says
Re the above comment from Chris: Erythritol is a sugar alcohol which is indigestible by humans. Since we don’t have the necessary enzyme, it is passed through the body without the negative effects of sugar. Most of it is actually released unaltered through our urine! It has a glycemic index of 0 (meaning it does not spike blood sugar) and it’s not metabolized by oral bacteria so it doesn’t cause tooth decay. It is, effectively, 0 net carbs.
Jana says
This is my new go to dessert recipe!! The last time I made it I took to work to share and everyone loved it, and they are all non-Keto. Must try recipe! Easy to make and soooo very sinful tasting.
Mellissa Sevigny says
That’s fantastic Jana, thanks so much for letting me know they were a hit with the work crowd too!
Jennifer Peyton says
Oh my goodness. My husband just sent me this recipe and even though I’m not keto it looks delicious! I can’t wait to make it!