Low Carb King Cake Cheesecake Bars
Low Carb King Cake Cheesecake Bars (KETO FRIENDLY OPTION!)
January 10, 2019
Low Carb Granola Cereal Recipe
January 19, 2019
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Low Carb Pecan Praline King Cake Cheesecake Bars

An easy low carb, gluten free pecan praline king cake cheesecake bar recipe with simple, pantry friendly ingredients. Amazing for all of our carnival celebrations.

Before scrolling down to the recipe, be sure to read my easy tips for making your recipes low carb, keto friendly and delicious.

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Mardi Gras 2019 schedules have been released, our calendars are booked with events, and it’s time to eat some King Cake! In my last post of Low Carb King Cake Cheesecake Bars, I posed the question, ‘When and where were you when you had your first slice of king cake?’ For many of us, the first slice is long before we can remember (hello diapers) and for others not so much.  Remember, the Skinny Louisiana house is a split house of Cajun vs. Yankee. My Yankee husband (he insist he is from the midwest) traveled down to my hometown of Houma and tasted the fabulous Canatta’s King Cake!

And his love affair with the king cake was born.

15 years and 2 kids later, they (as in my 2 kids) are searching for the yummy green, purple, and gold cake, and it’s an open playing field. We have amazing locations willing to ship (thank you Randazzo king cakes) to satisfy folks all over the country with this fun Mardi Gras tradition.

Now, let’s pose the where question! Where were you when you had your first slice of king cake? Were you at home? Maw Maw’s house? Or right before the parade? I can always remember having king cake before and after the Krewe of Aphrodite in Houma. I remember this since my mom and several family members belonged to this krewe and while they rode, I enjoyed the king cake!

From good times to present (yes, I am still having good times), I am busy at my drawing board continuing to develop king cake goodies. From my Low Net Carb King Cake Bread Pudding to my Low Carb King Cake Cheesecake Bars the Krewe of Skinny Louisiana is taking over the Mardi Gras 2019 parade schedule.

I posted the question on the Skinny Louisiana Facebook Group, ‘What king cake filling is your favorite?’ Searching through the amazing responses, the pecan praline stood out!

I love King Cake. I love pecan pralines. Having a pecan praline filling? Let’s go for it!

From pecan praline ice cream, to pecan praline cake, this is a huge find in Louisiana kitchens. And while I don’t have the secret Paula Dean peace pralines recipe, this recipe will make her just as happy. I hope you will love it just as much as my family does.

Where to Shop for Low Carb Ingredients

‘Shelly, my store does not carry these products? What do I do! Help!’ I understand. Many of you know my love of Drug Emporium stores. Not only does Drug Emporium have amazing prices (often the cheapest in town), I work with this amazing company in putting on Low Carb Food Demonstrations and product selection for shelves. All my items in the recipes are from Drug Emporium. For a full list of Drug Emporium store locations, click here. No Drug Emporium in your town? No worries, I have the links for where to purchase online!

Low Carb Ingredient Substitutions in our Low Carb Pecan Praline King Cake Cheesecake Bar

Flour

With any dessert, flour is the basic ingredient. It serves several purposes, mainly as a thickening agent and to hold the wet ingredients together.  Flour in the low carb and low net carb world makes us cringe since whole wheat flour has 21 grams of carbs and 3 grams of fiber per 1/4 cup serving. Enter almond flour! Almond flour is made of almonds that have been ground to a fine texture. It is a gluten-free, keto-friendly, grain-free food and contains approximately 5-6 grams of carbs per 1/4 cup. Don’t panic over the carbs, almond flour has approximately 3 grams of fiber giving this flour a net carb of 3 per serving. And please don’t panic over the fat. Remember nuts are the fats we want to include in our diet. I do enjoy cooking with almond flour, but I personally feel due to it’s heavier texture, almond flour works best in bars, brownies, and muffins as well as in my batters for my vegetables and meats in the air-fryer. The type of almond flour does matter. Make sure to use super-fine almond flour from balanced almonds. We used Bob’s Mill Almond Flour in this recipe. You can purchase online here! 

Sugar

Sugar is used to add sweetness to our dessert recipes. While a spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down, at 4 grams of carbs per teaspoon, a low carb sugar alternative is needed. One of my favorite sugar replacer is Swerve. Swerve is a keto friendly sugar replacer and taste amazing. Kick those old blue and pink packets good-bye and pick up this New Orleans product. In this recipe we used 3 types of Swerve, granular, brown, and confectioners.

Swerve granular is an amazing keto sugar replacer in baked goods, while our Swerve confectioners sugar replaces powdered sugar in items such as dips and frostings. Swerve brown sugar replacer is used in our filling.

Can’t find Swerve at your store? It’s always available online! https://amzn.to/2VGTosz

Cream Cheese

While my fabulous keto friends will keep the full-fat versions of cream cheese (please do if you are following keto), I used a light cream cheese to keep the calories down in this dish (yes, I look at calories). No fear, light cream cheese does not have any added sugar. Light cream cheese is a healthy alternative to cream cheese with 35 calories tablespoon compared to 51 calories in 1 tablespoon of cream cheese.

Eggs

We love eggs in the Skinny Louisiana kitchen. Eggs offer us an amazing source of protein. No replacement needed in our eggs.

Butter

Yes, the recipe does call for butter. Under any circumstances, we do not use margarine in the Skinny Louisiana kitchen. We are quite mindful of the amount of butter we use, never using more than we need.

Milk

A low carb milk alternative is Fairlife milk. Fairlife milk not only taste amazing, but is ultra-filtrated thus taking the carb count from twelve to six and is lactose free. The ultra filtration process increase the protein in the product. Taste? Amazing! Fairlife milk is a staple in the Skinny Louisiana house and works amazing in all our low carb recipes. You can find Fairlife milk in the milk section of most supermarkets.

Pecans

Not all nuts are created equal! I am thrilled to report our amazing Louisiana pecans are a low carb nut. 1 ounce of pecans has approximately 3.8 grams of carbs, while our friend the cashew has 8.5 grams of carbs. Stick with this nut in your king cake desserts.

How to Make Low Carb Pecan Praline King Cake Cheesecake Bars

Start with a Hand Mixer

While I used my Kitchen Aid Mixer, you can easily use a hand mixer.

Steps for Dough Layers.

In a large bowl (or in mixer bowl), combine water, butter, sour cream, vanilla, egg, egg yolk, and butter. Beat with mixer on low for 2 minutes. Turn mixer on low and slowly add almond flour, Swerve, salt, and baking powder. Beat on low until combined, about 2 minutes. Place aside.

Steps of Pecan Praline Cheesecake Layers.

In a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in Swerve brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Combine. Remove from heat. Let cool for 5 minutes and stir in light cream cheese. Place to the side.

Steps for Baking.

Preheat oven to 325. Line 8 x 8 pan with non-stick aluminum foil. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Using a spatula, scoop 1/2 flour mixture and spread in pan. Layer with cream cheese. Layer with remaining almond flour mixture. Bake in oven for 35-45 minutes or until set. Remove from oven and cool.

Glaze

Once our dish has cooled, we can make our simple glaze frosting with Swerve confectioners sugar and Fairlife milk. For fun we made purple, green, and gold colored Swerve sugars and sprinkled on top. To make this, place a tablespoon of Swerve granular sugar in a ziploc bag. Add 1-2 drops of food coloring. Mix.

Low Carb King Cake Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sour cream

1/3 cup water

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

3 tbsp. butter

3 1/4 cups almond flour

1/3 cup Swerve granular sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

 

2 tbsp. butter

3/4 cup of chopped pecans

1/2 cup of Swerve brown sugar replacer

1 tbsp of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 pkg. light cream cheese

 

1/3 cup 2% Fairlife milk

3/4 cup Swerve confectioners sugar

Green, gold, and purple Swerve colored granular sugar

 

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Line an 8 x 8 pan with non-stick aluminum foil.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, combine sour cream, water, vanilla extract, eggs, egg yolk, and butter. Beat with hand mixer on low for 2 minutes.
  4. Turn off mixer and slowly add dry ingredients – almond flour, Swerve granular sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine with spatula. Beat for 2 minutes on low or until all ingredients are combined. Place aside.
  5. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Stir in Swerve brown sugar replacer, vanilla, and cinnamon. Stir until combined. Remove from heat. Let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in cream cheese until combined.
  6. Layer 1/2 flour mixture, pecan praline cream cheese mixture, and 1/2 flour mixture in pan.
  7. Place in oven and bake for 40-50 minutes OR until set.
  8. While cooling, mix Fairlife milk and Swerve confectioners sugar. Pour glaze on cheesecake.
  9. Sprinkle with colored sugars.
  10. Serve!

YIELD: 24 bars

Nutrition Facts per Serving:

Calories: 200. Fat: 18g. Saturated fat: 4g. Cholesterol: 35mg. Sodium: 25mg. Carbohydrate: 5g. Fiber: 3 g. Sugar: 2g. Protein: 6g.

NET CARBS: 2g.

Carb count exclude sugar alcohols. New carb count is determined with the equation total carbohydrate – total fiber – sugar alcohol.

This recipe was developed and copyright by culinary dietitian Shelly Marie Redmond. She is the author of Skinny Louisiana…in the Kitchen and upcoming Skinny Louisiana…in the Slow Cooker. She practices out of Eberhart Physical Therapy which she co-owns with her husband Greg. In her spare time, she watches Snapped and Investigation Discovery (let’s be honest!)

You can purchase her book at the following link.

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