These keto mint chocolate cheesecake bars have a rich cocoa crust, a creamy cheesecake filling and a dark chocolate shell. A fresh and colorful dessert to celebrate your St. Patrick’s Day.
If there’s a holiday with my name in it, you know I have to show up. Green beer and cocktails really aren’t my thing, but sweets, well that’s a different story all together. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Irish pride than with a dark chocolate and mint green dessert. The perfect combination.
These keto chocolate cheesecake bars are a variation of the full cheesecakes that I enjoy making. The only difference is these can be made in a sheet pan and portioned into more sensible bite-size pieces. Moreover, I add dark chocolate chunks within the cheesecake batter and top it with a chocolate shell for a change in texture.
As far as keeping things low carb, you should stick to low glycemic sweeteners and chocolates. I didn’t specify the specifics below in the recipe but I generally prefer to use Lakanto brand monk fruit sweetener for the granulated option and Swerve confectioners sweetener for the powdered option. An easy tip if you don’t want to purchase both is simply adding granulated sweetener to a blender and blasting it into powder. It works well and is super easy to do. I also stick with Lily’s chocolate chips and baking bars as I find they melt well and are generally more compatible in baking. They are sweetened with stevia so they are also keto friendly. If you’re looking to find all these ingredients in one place, my favorite store is always Sprouts. They have all the ingredients to make these bars plus lots of other keto friendly options. Definitely recommended.
Cheesecake batter tips
A common complaint when making cheesecake is that it inevitably cracks as it cools. This can certainly ruin the presentation but it has no effect on its taste. When you’re doing a chocolate shell on these keto chocolate cheesecake bars, it will mask any imperfections. But if you want to drizzle chocolate over the top for an alternate presentation, check out these tips to ensure a great outcome.
don’t over mix your ingredients
It’s easy to throw all your ingredients into a mixer and crank it to high thinking it’ll just mix everything better. Well what you’re doing is incorporating air into the batter which then makes it too fluffy. You’re wanting to have a dense batter so it doesn’t crack from all the trapped air. So be sure you keep your mixer speed on low to medium and only mix for long enough to incorporate all the ingredients.
cooling too quickly
The second tip I have to prevent cracking is to cool your cake as slowly as possible. I do this in three steps
- After baking for about an hour, turn the heat off in your oven and open the door to cool for an hour
- Remove the cheesecake and set on a cooling rack for an additional hour
- At that point you can store the cake in the refrigerator to cool overnight.
This cooling process gives the cake time to drop in temperature slowly, further helping it from developing cracks.
bonus tip
So what if you do both these tricks and still get a few cracks?! Well you can take an offset spatula and warm it under hot water. Then simply press the metal over the cracks to smooth them over. This will cover them up for a smooth top. And if all else fails, cover the entire thing with chocolate!
There are certainly other tips that help like water baths and quality ingredients, but I’ve found if I stick to the above steps, I get a prefect cake every time. Just remember, with great power comes great responsibility, just don’t go making too many of those perfect cakes.
Keto Mint Chocolate Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Cocoa Crust
- 1 ¾ cup almond flour
- ⅓ cup granulated sweetener
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Mint Cheesecake Filling
- 16 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 4 tbsp sour cream
- ½ cup powdered sweetener
- 1 large egg yolk separated
- 1 large egg whole
- ½ tsp peppermint extract
- green food coloring to desired color
Mint Chocolate Shell
- 9 oz dark chocolate (such as Lily's Dark Chocolate Baking Chips)
- ½ oz cocoa butter can substitute 1 tbsp of Coconut Oil
- ¼ tsp peppermint extract
Optional
- 1 oz dark chocolate baking bar crushed into small pieces to mix into the cheesecake filling
Instructions
Cocoa Crust
- Preheat oven to 300°F and grease a 9×9 baking pan with butter or coconut oil.
- Mix almond flour, sweetener, cocoa powder, baking powder & salt in a large bowl until incorporated. Add butter and vanilla and mix until dough forms.
- Transfer dough to baking pan and press to form a crust. Bake for 20-30 minutes until firm. Let cool completely.
Mint Cheesecake Filling
- Combine cream cheese, sour cream and powdered sweetener into a mixing bowl. On low speed, mix the ingredients until incorporated. Add whole egg & egg yolk and beat to combine. Finally peppermint extract and green food coloring and mix until desired color is reached. If using crushed chocolate pieces, add at the end and mix gently to incorporate.
- Pour filling over crust and flatten with a spatula.
- Raise oven temperature to 350°F and bake for 20-25 minutes until cheesecake layer is set. Let cool for 30 minutes
Mint Chocolate Shell
- Using a double boiler method, fill the bottom of a pot with one or two inches of water, add the top pot and turn on your burner to a simmer. Melt your chocolate and cocoa butter/coconut oil until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the peppermint extract.
- Pour over cheesecake and cool in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
Hi Patrick the chocolate crust ingredient list doesn’t mention eggs. However the directions do. How many eggs? Thank you!
Eeek! Thanks for pointing that out Stacey. You shouldn’t need an egg for the crust. If you are wanting a more cake-like texture, you can add a single egg, but these were created without one. I’ll update the recipe to remove it from the instructions, thanks!