Pecan Praline Cookie Bars. Buttery crust topped with sweet, candied pecans. Perfection. These Pecan Praline Cookie Bars are great to add to your holiday cookie tray. Or just to eat... any other day of the year. This easy pecan bar recipe is low carb, keto, sugar-free, gluten-free, grain-free, and Trim Healthy Mama friendly.
We spent the last ten days in Minnesota visiting my husband's brother, his wife, and their 4 children for Thanksgiving. Since we flew from NJ to MN I mailed a box of necessities (my sweetener, almond flour, coconut flour, and a few other things) ahead of time.
I wasn't planning on making a ton of new recipes while we were visiting but I knew I'd want some sweets while we were there. I settled on making my Creamy Pecan Praline recipe into cookie bars. I knew that I'd be happy having a couple squares of this instead of traditional pumpkin and apple pie.
These filled my Thanksgiving sweet tooth and I'm planning on making another batch for Christmas. I may drizzle a little chocolate on top of them next time. There is always room for chocolate.
How to Make Pecan Praline Cookie Bars
These have an easy press-in crust topped with a basic pecan praline candy.
The crust only needs almond flour, coconut flour, butter, and water. It is simple but the one trick is to process it long enough in the food processor that the dough comes together in a ball. That is very important!
And then you need to cut the bars, and then chill them. The topping gets too hard to cut if you chill them before cutting. And if you try to take them out before chilling the crust can crumble. It is not hard to cut, chill, remove. Just do it in that order and you are good!
How to make Pecan Praline Topping
My tip here is to stir A LOT and make sure you arrive at a deep golden color before turning off the heat. If it seems to be taking too long turn up the heat a smidge and then keep watch. It is easy to burn cooked candies if you leave them unattended.
While you are at it use the same ingredients to whip up a batch of classic NOLA inspired Pecan Pralines!
More delicious Low Carb Pecan Desserts:
Cinnamon Crumb Cake Recipe w/ Pecans
Homemade Sweetener
One of the best parts of the trip was getting through security on our way home with a baggie of my sweetener in a carry-on. Since I make my own blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia I bring it with me when I travel.
But... that baggie of sweetener bought my husband a pat down and a thorough search of our luggage. The security man thought we were pretty funny. Mom, Dad, and 4 kids armed with baking ingredients needing to be searched. I guess I should've just mailed a box back home too!
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Ingredients
Crust Ingredients:
- 1 ⅓ cups almond flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon coconut flour (TEASPOONS)
- 2 tablespoon cold butter
- 1.5 teaspoon cold water
Pecan Praline Topping:
- 8 oz chopped pecans toasted (I toast nuts at 400 degrees for 4-6 min until they are lightly browned and fragrant)
- 6 tablespoon salted butter divided
- 6 tablespoon heavy cream
- ½ cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Combine crust ingredients in a food processor and pprocess until a uniform dough forms. This can take 2-3 minutes on high. Keep going until it forms a ball of dough.
- Press into the bottom of a 9 x 9 inch baking dish lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
- Combine 5 tablespoons butter, sweetener, and cream over medium heat. Stir until the sweetener is dissolved. Cook until it is a deep golden brown. As soon as it reached that deep color (right before burning) remove from the heat and immediately add the other 1 tablespoon butter. Stir until smooth. Add the vanilla and toasted pecans. Cool for 10 minutes.
- Pour on top of the prepared crust. Refrigerate until firm.
Rae Ann Woodow says
I originally gave this recipe 4 stars, but after tweaking it a bit, it moved up to 5 stars. I simply omitted the crust altogether, prepared the pecans as directed, using Swerve brown sugar, and poured all into a 9x9 metal pan, lined with foil and lightly sprayed with olive oil, and chilled for 2 hours. Then I melted a bag of Lily's semi-sweet chocolate chips with a tablespoon of coconut oil and spread over the chilled bars with a frosting knife. Back in the fridge for an hour to let the chocolate set up, then pulled foil lining out to slice the bars into 16ths. This recipe is MONEY! My mom said they taste like DeMett's Turtles. One square is sweet and rich enough to satisfy one's sweet tooth. I will make these again and freeze the finished bars for the future. EXCELLENT RECIPE!
Rae Ann Woodrow says
Delicious taste, color, and crunch, but my crust was a crumbly mess, even after following your directions to cut them into bars before chilling. I melted 1/2 cup of Lilly's semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 T coconut oil, then drizzled all on top before chilling. Perfect complement to the pecans.
Terri says
This was so good. I used Truvia baking blend, and it worked perfectly. Just be careful not to let the praline mixture sit too long before pouring on the crust.
Kim says
I get so confused with the THM sweeteners. 🤦🏻♀️ I thought gentle sweet was equal to sugar and super sweet was twice as sweet. But gentle sweet is actually twice as sweet? So super sweet is four times? Lol- sorry, trying to keep it all straight. Excited to try these!
Taryn says
Yes to gentle sweet. I'm not positive about the super sweet conversion. You can see their conversion chart here: https://trimhealthymama.com/#usefulinfo
Brenda Ladd says
My sweetner crystallized - did i over cook the sweetener?
Taryn says
Possibly. Which sweetener did you use? Sugar alcohols do tend to crystallize over time.
Kim says
I made these with Lakanto Monkfruit sweetener & they crystallized really bad & very sweet. What can I do differently?
Taryn says
You could try with the sweetener listed. Or cut the amount of lakanto.
TNorvell says
Amazing!!! This recipe is a keeper.
Tammi says
These taste great, but my praline topper crystalized. 😪
Taryn says
Sugar alcohols tend to do that over time. If you warm them up a little it should get better!
Linda says
Made these tonight. Used 1/2 brown Swerve and 1/2 Bocha Sweet for the sweetener, otherwise followed the recipe exactly. The pecan goo was amazing! The only thing that kept me from 5 stars is that the crust was all crumbly and falling off the bottom as you tried to hold it and eat it. If I could perfect the crust, couldn't be beat!
Shari says
These are so easy and sooooo good! My husband won’t leave them alone.
Suzanne says
This looks delicious! Thank you for sharing!