Delicious Low Carb Pecan Pie Bars, Perfect for the Holidays

If you need a sugar free delicious dessert for the holidays, these pecan pie bars are perfect.

Back before I started eating sugar free, I preferred making pecan pie bars over pecan pie. The main reason is because they are easier and cheaper than pecan pie. I also find pecan pie overly sweet (that doesn’t mean I didn’t indulge sometimes). I haven’t had pecan pie bars in years and felt it was time to remedy that.

They turned out great!

I wanted to make a holiday dessert that was easy and used no special ingredients. I try to make my recipes where a beginner with low carb or trim healthy mama could easily come and make them. This is recipe fits those requirements. If you like pecan pie or pecan pie bars, this will be a great sugar free alternative.

Having a healthy holiday is possible.

The holidays are often filled with off plan, sugary filled treats. If you want to make it through the holidays on plan as much as possible, making some goodies is going to be a big part of it for you. It is for me! I make up a few things a few weeks before the holidays and freeze them. This way I can always pull some out and have a treat that won’t derail me.

Let’s talk about sweeteners.

Some sweeteners are better than others but honestly, my local stores don’t always have on plan sweeteners in stock. I used Swerve in this recipe. It is my go to. I used 1/2 a cup of powdered Swerve. You can powder your own granulated with a coffee grinder. You also might want to increase the sweetener up to 3/4 a cup. I pulled back a little for 2 reasons. These sweeteners are expensive and the cost of everything has gone up, so to save a little money, I used 1/2 a cup. My hubby doesn’t care for the cooling affect that can sometimes happen with these sweeteners.

Blackstrap molasses and tempering eggs

I use a tiny bit of blackstrap molasses in the recipe. If you can’t find blackstrap molasses, you can use whatever your local store has. I bought a gallon jug a while back from bountiful baskets. That is what I have been using. If you have never tempered eggs, don’t freak out, it’s really easy.

Tempering eggs is easy.

You temper eggs so you don’t end up with partially scrambled eggs in dishes. Basically what you are doing is carefully heating up the eggs with a little of the hot liquid. You are warming up the eggs without dumping them into the hot liquid. It really is easy. In the above picture I used a teacup and a whisk. Just whisk in about 1/4 cup of the hot liquid for about 30 seconds and then whisk the egg mixture into the liquid in the saucepan, it’s that easy! Now, on to the recipe.

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Low Carb Pecan Pie Bars

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C Almond Flour
• 1/4 C Melted Butter
• 1 T Sweetener, I used granulated Swerve
• 1/2 t Vanilla
• 1/3 C Butter
• 1/2 C Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1/2 C Powdered Sweetener, I used powdered Swerve
• 1/2 t Salt
• 1 t Vanilla
• 1/4 t Maple Extract
• 1/4 t Blackstrap Molasses
• 2 Med Eggs
• 1 C Pecans, can use pecan halves or chopped

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper. Mix together the almond flour, melted butter, 1 tablespoon of sweetener, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla together. Press into the prepared pan. Bake 10-15 minutes.
  
• While the crust is baking, place the pecans on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
  
• While the crust and pecans are baking, make the filling. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
  
• When the butter is melted, add heavy cream and salt. Whisk and allow to cook for a few minutes. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and maple extracts, and the molasses. Follow the directions above on tempering the eggs. Whisk eggs in a small container. Once eggs are whisked add about 1/4 cup of the filling and whisk for 30 seconds. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the filling, whisking while pouring.
  
• Remove the crust and pecans from the oven when their time is up. Pour pecans on top of the baked crust.
  
• Pour filling on top of the pecans. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Don't overbake. You want their to be a little filling that is just undercooked.
  
• Allow to cool, you can place in fridge if desired. Since I used pecan halves, cutting into bars was a little tricky. I had to use a serrated knife (I used a bread knife). I basically sawed through the pecans. If you chill the pan completely in the fridge, it shouldn't be too hard. Serve with or without whipped cream.