Pumpkin Season is here, once again!
It’s Fall again but you won’t feel it if you step outside in NY. Instead of the usual crisp air and crunchy leaves, we’re experiencing temperatures in the high 80’s! Still, you can’t help but try to be seasonal when you walk into grocery stores and their festive squash displays greet you. Plus, when isn’t it the season for dessert?
We picked up a few cans of pumpkin puree and set out to create a few holiday recipes our readers are sure to love. First up, a simple recipe for low carb & sugar-free Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with cream cheese frosting that’ll blow your friends and family away. They’re appropriate for school bake sales, Halloween, an after-dinner family treat or as a Thanksgiving dessert.
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Our favorite part of most desserts is the crust. We don’t know what it is, but crustless pies just don’t do it for us. That’s why whenever we see a chance to add a crust to something – we do! For this dessert, we stick to our tried and true formula of nuts and an oil. We chose pecans (since they go so well with pumpkin) and coconut oil, since it was so unseasonably warm, it was still in its liquid state. Make sure to bake your low carb crusts a bit before pouring in any kind of batter to help it become crisp and, well, crusty!
You can also choose how you’d like to frost these bars. We spread a thin layer of our cream cheese frosting over the entire dessert once it cooled in the fridge. You can also opt to cut them into their 12 servings and then pipe on or add a dollop of frosting, followed by a sprinkle of cinnamon and more pecans.
Here’s to a classic Fall inspired dessert and to making more! We hope you enjoy. 🙂
If you loved this recipe and are looking for more fall-inspired desserts, try this keto pumpkin coffee cake from Keto Cooking Christian. Once you taste the delicious combination of the savory pumpkin and sweet cheesecake, it will be hard for you to believe that it is sugar-free!
| Servings: bars |
- 2 cups whole pecans
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 10-15 drops liquid stevia
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 10 oz. pumpkin puree
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 20 drops liquid stevia
- 1/2 cup So Nourished powdered erythritol sweetener
- 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 oz. cream cheese
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/4 cup So Nourished powdered erythritol sweetener
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine all the crust ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the pecans are a fine crumb texture. Don't over process or you'll end up with pecan butter!
- Line a 9x6-inch baking dish with parchment paper, letting two sides spill over for easy removal. Press the crust into the dish, making one even layer. Bake for 12 minutes, then let cool.
- Meanwhile, using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and heavy cream until fully combined and even throughout. Then, add in the pumpkin puree, vanilla extract and liquid stevia and combine.
- Add in the erythritol, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and a pinch of salt and combine.
- Next, add in one egg at a time, incorporating each before adding another.
- Once the crust has cooled a bit, pour the pumpkin cheesecake batter into the baking dish. Reduce the heat in the oven to 325°F and bake for 25-30 minutes. The middle of the pumpkin cheesecake should be a bit wobbly after baking. Refrigerate for 6 hours or, ideally, overnight.
- To make the frosting, combine all the frosting ingredients and beat with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy.
- Frost the top of the cheesecake bars or add a dollop to each one after slicing. Enjoy!
Loved this recipe? Let us know! Something didn’t quite turn out right? Ask us in the comments below – we respond to comments every day and would love to hear from you and help you out! And check out all our low carb desserts to learn to make more delicious and healthy meals that take no time to prepare!
NUTRITIONAL DISCLAIMER
The content on this website should not be taken as medical advice and you should ALWAYS consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. We provide nutritional data for our recipes as a courtesy to our readers. We use Total Keto Diet app software to calculate the nutrition and we remove fiber and sugar alcohols, like erythritol, from the total carbohydrate count to get to the net carb count, as they do not affect your blood glucose levels. You should independently calculate nutritional information on your own and not rely on our data. The website or content herein is not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose or treat any disease. This website shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on the Website or actions you take as a result. Any action you take is strictly at your own risk.
You’ll Love Our Dessert in Five Cookbook!
We believe that the key to success is simplicity and satisfaction with your diet. That’s why we created Dessert in Five – 30 low carb dessert recipes all using just 5 ingredients and 5 net carbs or fewer!
Enjoy strawberry cheesecakes, brownies, coconut cream pies, raspberry Danish cookies and much more every day of the month.
Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD is an aesthetic medicine specialist whose work focuses on patients who are treated for obesity, metabolic syndrome, and other weight-related issues through nutritional analysis, keto diet programs, and supporting medications.
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What can be used in place of the liquid stevia drop
You can try powdered stevia, powdered monk fruit or the equivalent granulated sweetener like erythritol (though you’ll need to use more to get the same sweetness as stevia, which is an extract).
Can I double the recipe without sacrificing the flavor to use a 9x13x3 pan?
You can definitely double the recipe!
This wa so good, I was about to cry while eating it :)))
Aww, happy tears :D!
My middle came out a bit too wobbly and I should have cooked it longer but I frosted I think. 🙠I popped it in the freezer hoping to set it and make it more like a frozen bar. Here’s to hoping. I used a square pan which I think made the bars thicker and that’s probably why the center didn’t cook enough. ðŸ™
Can almond flour be used for the crust?
Yes, of course! You can use any nut or seed flour you like.
Do you know if powdered Swerve would measure the same?
You’d need to use roughly double the amount of powdered erythritol to get the same sweetness as granular. I think to exact measurement is for every 1 cup granular, use 1 3/4 cup powdered. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much! I made this recipe pretty much to the letter, and it came out so so good!
The only difference was that I didn’t catch in the recipe that you use POWDERED erythritol. I only had granulated on hand, which worked fine in the filling. However, It did NOT, work well in the frosting. Came out super grainy, so I made more frosting again using stevia instead, and it came out great that time.
Also I had to use a 13x9x2 pyrex because the 8×8 was way too small for the amount of crust and filling that I had. This took the filling probably 6-7 minutes longer to bake than was instructed. Anyway. It was awesome. Definitely a keeper recipe!
Could you make this in a spring form pan?
Definitely! Go for it 🙂
Could you use powder stevia?
Yes! It’s quite a lot sweeter than erythritol so use it to taste and expect slightly smaller bars 🙂
In the pumpkin cheesecake bars can you use something other than erythritol? My tummy doesn’t tolerate it so well.
You can use xylitol, if you can tolerate it. Otherwise, you might need to sweeten with stevia alone. You’ll lose a little size in the bars since erythritol adds a bit of bulk.