Summary:
These bars have a sweet, crunchy pecan topping over a crisp almond crust. To bring out an ultra nutty flavor, the pecans are given the full treatment: first toasted on a baking sheet, then soaked in sweetened browned butter. These bars only have 0.5 grams of net carbs apiece, forgoing traditional ingredients like corn syrup or honey. To keep the recipe simple, there are only 2 layers (crust and topping) and 5 unique ingredients.
INGREDIENTS
Crust:
- 1 cup
almond flour (Note 1) - 4 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons
confectioners swerve sweetener (Note 2) - 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
- Toast Pecans (Note 4): Position oven rack in lower half of oven, and preheat to 350 F. Spread out pecans in single layer on baking
half sheet . Bake at 350 F for 4 minutes, stir pecans and spread out again in single layer, and bake until fragrant and toasted, another 4 minutes. Set aside baking sheet to let pecans cool. Leave oven on. - Make Crust: Stir melted butter, sweetener, and vanilla in mixing bowl until well-mixed. Stir in almond flour until incorporated; should be dough-like and possibly crumbly. Transfer dough to
8×8 inch baking dish lined with foil. Spread dough out and use back of solid turner spatula to press down, forming thin flat crust (Note 5). Set aside. - Make Topping (Note 6): Stir sliced butter in saucepan (Note 7) over medium heat until melted, about a minute. When butter starts simmering, stir nearly constantly to avoid burning. Within a few minutes, sizzling should cease and caramel color should quickly develop with brown flecks at bottom, underneath foam. Immediately reduce to medium-low heat and stir in sweetener until dissolved, about a minute. Turn off heat. Stir in vanilla extract and toasted pecans until well-coated.
- Assemble & Bake: Transfer pecan topping to prepared almond crust, spreading out evenly so crust is not visible. Lightly press down with back of solid turner spatula to flatten topping against crust, forming even surface. Bake at 350 F for 20 to 25 minutes; pecan bars should be sizzling a bit and darkened on top.
- Cool & Serve: Keeping pecan bars in baking dish, cool at room temperature for 1 hour, ideally on wire rack. Cover, and refrigerate overnight or at least 6 hours to harden. After chilling, lift up foil to transfer pecan bars from baking dish onto cutting board. Use sturdy knife to cut into 16 bars — some crumbling is expected. Serve chilled and store leftovers (Note 8).
NUTRITION
| Makes 16 Servings |
| Amount Per Serving (1 bar): |
| Calories 170 (95% from fat) | |
| Total Fat 18g | 27% |
| Saturated Fat 5g | 24% |
| Cholesterol 17mg | 6% |
| Sodium 50mg | 2% |
| Net Carb 0.5g | |
| Total Carb 2.5g (Note 9) | 1% |
| Dietary Fiber 2g | 7% |
| Sugars 0.5g | |
| Protein 3g |
PHOTOS
Wonderful recipe Julia. I’ve made this three times within a month already, adding small variations each time. My household loves it. Thanks for keeping it down to 5 ingredients. The variations are endless!
The latest mods which turned out great was adding an egg to the crust, sub coconut oil for butter (in the crust only) and it was less crumbly. Flavor wise, adding salt to the crust and cinnamon to the topping….Sooooo good!
Thanks again 😋❤️
I’m making this for the second time right now. This is by far the best keto pecan bar I have ever tasted. It really tastes like a regular pecan bar! I used the 100% erythritol but it turned out so good. I did increase the sweetener amount in the crust to 4.5tbsp but didn’t increase for the filling. Even so, it turned out so good! Thank you so much for the great recipe.
this is what i will make every time i’m craving pecan pie. it’s perfect with coffee and my non-low-carb parents love it as well. thanks for a great recipe; it’s a keeper!
I did make these twice. My oven must run hotter than Julia’s as the first time I made them they were a little more done, almost burned, but still tasted good! I followed her directions to the letter so I’m sure it was difference in oven. Made them again last night instead of toasting the pecans 4 mins then 4 more, I did 4 minutes stir and then 2 more mins. Putting the finished product in the 350 oven recipe says 20-25 minutes, I cut that down to 15 minutes. They came out perfect! Yummy! They are so good!
Just a side note I really like using the weight measuring method instead of volume. 🙂
Thanks for your comment, particularly about the temp. My pecans are a little overdone at 8 minutes, but I think it’s probably my oven. Gonna be careful with the baking time.
Same here ladies~ and I think altitude plays a part as well. I am at 4,500 ft. and have had to adjust even more than usual with low carb cooking- not that I mind a bit- just that I remember to BE mindful of this factor! =) Samantha in NM
These are absolutely GREAT!!!
Thanks so much for the recipe. I did add a small amount of toasted cocoanut.
I just made these and they are so delicious! I added a sprinkle of cinnamon and only had brown sugar Swerve so I used that, and I am guessing that made them even tastier. I took them out at 20 minutes and they looked a little dark but still tasted great. I think I would bake them for a few minutes less next time.
Hi there, I’m wondering if you think this would work with walnut pieces instead of pecans? Thanks!
I haven’t tried this recipe with walnut pieces, but I think it could work since they’re similar to pecans. The baking time might be a little different, so you might want to monitor them carefully. If you give it a try, please let me know how it turns out for you!
These pecan bars are DELICIOUS! I made a couple of minor modifications that were mentioned by some other commenters. I will definitely make them again. Two thumbs way up!
Can I use stevia for the sweetener?
I love these bars. However, my crust is very crumbly. What am I doing wrong? I’ve made them several times.
I added 1 egg to the crust and my crust was sooo much better and tasted much better and manageable
Would an egg yolk tempered, make the pecan portion a little more gooey like a pecan pie?
That sounds like a great idea, and I’ll try that next time I remake these bars. If you give it a try, please let me know how it turns out for you.
My husband was just diagnosed as a diabetic. He is on a low carb healthy fats diet and so far has been able to avoid resorting to medication. Curious about the sweetener used in this. I have never heard of swerve? Would that be compliant on this sort of thing. Or another artificial sweetener that you could recommend?
Many people on a low carb or keto diet use erythritol or erythritol-based sweeteners. Swerve is one of many brands that use erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol that is considered non-impact in terms of blood sugar and insulin. I like Swerve because it measures the same as sugar and can be easily found online or in large supermarkets like Kroger if you’re in the US.
Hello Julia! I realize I’m late to this pecan-bar party… but I am so excited to try this! The only sweetener my husband can tolerate is monk fruit (not mixed with erythritol). Do you think I can use the Lakanto monk fruit extract? The volume would be significantly less than their granulated monk fruit/erythritol product. Not sure if that will make it too runny? THANK YOU for this wonderful site/community!
I think it will be a bit runny, but you can replace the 1/2 cup of dry sweetener with almond flour, ground flaxseed meal, finely ground pecans, or protein powder (or a mix of them). Anything that’s fine and dry would likely work, as long as its flavor isn’t overpowering. Hope that helps 🙂
Can this recipe be doubled and made in a 9×13” pan/dish?
I haven’t tried making this in a 9×13 pan, but that should be fine.
Is there another flour that I can use? My mother is allergic to almonds (not too seriously, though).
Yes, I made them, so delicious!
If gluten is not the problem and I want to eat lower sugar, can these be made with regular flour?
Almond flour and regular all-purpose wheat flour are usually not 1:1 interchangeable, so I would advise against making a direct substitution. I would look up regular pecan bars, not low carb ones, and use their recipe for the crust portion.
Just wondering if anyone has drizzled some melted Lily’s chocolate on top??!
Can I freeze these?
I haven’t tried, but I think these pecan bars would freeze well. After cutting them into bars, transfer them to a zip-top bag and freeze. Should last up to a few months.
Do you think I could use coconut oil instead of butter? I need to make some dairy free desserts for someone with allergies to gluten and dairy.
I’m leaning towards no. Using coconut oil is fine for the crust, but the topping relies on the browned butter to provide a lot of the flavor and richness. You could try it, but I don’t think it’ll be anywhere near as good.
I’ve tried with coconut oil. The “browned butter” effect can actually be achieved if you add a touch of coconut butter/manna (I did a 1 to 4 ish ratio coconut butter to oil). It browns up very similarly!
The problem is that when coconut oil solidifies, it becomes hard. So the topping becomes candy-like when the bar is straight out of the fridge. Butter or a similar melty oil is best for the topping, but coconut oil’s solidifying ability makes it excellent as a crust. It holds the bar together really well!
My family loved these also! They said it tasted just like a pecan pie. I however, liked them best warmed up. These were wonderful!
Hi Danielle~ just wondering if they fell apart when you warmed them? Not that I would mind, myself =) but am curious if I might be looking at an ice cream topping at that point? Thanks, in advance~ Samantha in NM
Delicious! I did have an issue with the crust being too moist? Measured everything on my scale, will add extra almond flour if necessary next time. There will definitely be a next time.
Do they have to be refrigerated? I would prefer them at room temp.
They hold together better when refrigerated, and are easier to cut into neat shapes.
Love this pecan bars… only one thing… I entered this recipe in Carb Manager, and it’s saying there is 7.5 grams of carbs?? Why?
Are you including Swerve? Swerve and other erythritol blends are non-impact, meaning their carbs are sugar alcohols that should be subtracted when calculating net carbs.
I don’t mean to belittle any of these applications but I have found they do not calculate carbs correctly. You might want to run that thru another app just to double check.