Keto Cheesecake Butterscotch Bars

Mouth-watering keto cheesecake butterscotch bars are the perfect addition to your low carb holiday cookie spread. Buttery cinnamon almond butterscotch layers sandwich around a cream cheese filling with a hint of lemon.

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Keto butterscotch chips

Not long ago, someone in a Facebook group I’m in posted that she found sugar-free butterscotch chips at her local Wal-mart. What?! Butterscotch chips? Sugar-free? And at Wal-mart of all places.

I’ve found more and more keto-friendly products at the big stores and even local grocery stores. Lately, it’s made a keto way of eating so much easier, and I don’t have to special order ingredients all the time.

I was a little skeptical about butterscotch chips, what the ingredients would be, and how they would taste. As I haven’t found any in the past I would even consider putting in a recipe, I wasn’t very optimistic. However, I added several bags of these new Lily’s Butterscotch Chips to my online pickup order to give them a try.

Taste test results

And do you know what? They’re pretty good!

Now, I’ve seen quite a few reviews of them, good and bad. Obviously, they’re not going to taste exactly like the original. But, they do have that butterscotch chip flavor and the right texture I remember and need for this recipe.

I often use Lily’s chocolate in recipes and have had a lot of success with it. The ingredients are keto-friendly, although I wouldn’t eat them much except for a treat. This makes them perfect for one recipe I’ve long missed since starting a keto diet.

(If you can’t find butterscotch chips, sugar-free white chocolate chips are pretty delicious too and can be substituted.)

I am a creature of habit.

Once I find something I really like, it often becomes a tradition. For many years I made a sort of an oatmeal cream cheese butterscotch bar recipe to have around the Christmas holidays. It was one of several recipes, including English toffee, caramel apple pie, and butter spritz cookies, I always made.

While I had to make many changes to my original recipe, I’m super-happy with this new Keto cheesecake butterscotch bars recipe. It’s delicious and has the flavors and textures I remember about my old favorite.

So now we have a new tradition for the winter holidays. Keto cheesecake butterscotch bars! Now, what do you need to make them?

🍽 Equipment

• large and medium-sized bowls
• whisk
• a spatula
• measuring cups and spoons
• food processor (or patience chopping and mixing!)
• blender or stand or hand-held mixer
• 9″ x 13″ baking dish
• parchment paper (or foil)

🥘 Ingredients

• ¾ cup butter (12 tbsp) cut in pea-sized pieces
• 2 cups finely ground blanched almond flour
• 1 ½ cup chopped almonds
• ¾ cup brown sweetener (Brown Swerve)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 11 oz sugar-free butterscotch chips (Lilys or sub white chocolate chips)

Keto cheesecake filling ingredients

• 12 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• ½ cup powdered sweetener (Note: this is pretty sweet, if you prefer less sweet, cut this in half to 1/4 cup. Everyone’s sweetness preference is different!)
• ½ cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 large eggs
• zest and 2 tbsp juice from one lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

🔪 Instructions

To begin, get out the equipment and all the ingredients so they’re close at hand.

First of all, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then line a 9 by 13-inch pan with overlapping pieces of parchment paper, or you can also use foil. After the bars are chilled, this makes it much easier to get them out of the baking dish.

Now, butter the paper or foil, and set aside.

Second, it’s necessary to prepare the almonds. I usually use whole almonds and chop them down to about pea-sized pieces. However, you can chop them to whatever size you prefer to get in a bite of a keto cheesecake butterscotch bar!

I find it easiest to use a food processor and add the almonds and pulse until they’re chopped into small pieces. Next, measure in the brown sweetener and almond flour and pulse to combine.

After that, add the small pea-sized cubes of butter, the cinnamon, and the butterscotch chips. Again, if you can’t find a good sugar-free butterscotch chip, white chocolate chips can be substituted and taste amazing as well.

Continue to pulse until the mixture forms clumps when you press it between your fingers. Then transfer the mixture to a large bowl.

Now, divide the mixture in half and press half of it into the bottom of the prepared pan. Try to make it an even layer, and reserve the other half for the topping.

⏲ Bake time #1

There are two bakes to this dessert. For the first, bake the pressed in crust layer in the preheated oven just until slightly golden, about 13 to 15 minutes. Remove it from the oven to cool while you prepare the cheesecake filling.

Keto cheesecake filling

To make the filling, I prefer to use a blender, but a stand or hand-held mixer can also be used.

Blend together the cream cheese, powdered sweetener, heavy cream, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract until no lumps of cream cheese remain. Then spread it evenly over the baked and slightly cooled almond butterscotch mixture.

After that, it’s time for the topping! Sprinkle the remaining half of the almond butterscotch mixture evenly over the cream cheese. If you’d like to sprinkle on extra whole butterscotch chips, that can be done as well.

⏲ Bake time #2

For the second bake, bake the bars for about 40 minutes or until the top is golden.

💭 Top tip

Don’t skip this step! When you remove the bars from the oven, let them cool for at least 15 minutes. After that, cover the dish with foil or a lid and chill for 3 hours or overnight before cutting.

Usually, I just stick them in the fridge and come back to them the next day. If you try to cut them immediately, they will be too hot and fall apart. They need to set in the refrigerator.

When ready to take them out of the dish, run a knife around the edge, and transfer the bars to a cutting board. Cut them into 24 bars with a sharp knife and serve!

Yum! 😋

🥣 How to store keto cheesecake butterscotch bars

If the glorious bars are not eaten immediately, they can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to about five days.

Also, it’s nice to keep them wrapped individually in freezer bags or other air-tight freezer storage. Then they can be kept frozen for a month, I don’t like to go longer than two, and pulled out one at a time for a treat.

🎄 Keto treats

I have a notorious sweet tooth. Sugar used to always get me into trouble, and even still with keto treats, I have to save them for special occasions. Portion size, so not eating the whole pan, is key!

However, as I truly love and appreciate good traditional recipes, sometimes you don’t have to leave them out. Simply, find a good recipe with altered ingredients to make it healthier and enjoy your Christmas and holiday traditions!

It is possible to not only get through the holidays without cheating but to love the keto food recipes just as much or more!

And while you bite into that amazing keto cheesecake butterscotch bar, why not check out my list of Cozy Christmas Books for books to read in winter and around Christmas. I’m always on the lookout for a new good book!

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If you LOVE this recipe please consider giving it a five-star rating in the review area below! Sour cream and onion keto chips are a great snack to have around too or try these other desserts!

🧁 More keto dessert recipes

1. Easy Keto Pecan Pie Bars
2. Keto Chocolate Mousse Cake
3. Keto Berry Trifle
4. Best Easy Keto Pumpkin Cookies
5. Keto Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Nutrition Disclaimer

Please be aware I am not a medical specialist or nutritional professional. On this blog, I share recipes and what works for me. Please do not take anything on this blog as medical advice and always consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program.

I use MyFitnessPal.com to calculate nutrition facts as a courtesy to my readers, and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count because does not affect my own blood glucose levels.  

This is as accurate as possible, but it’s best to independently calculate nutritional information on your own with the specific ingredients you use. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.