These deliciously easy cookie bars will be a treat. They have a buttery low-carb crust that is topped with a decadent chocolate filling. These bars will cure any cookie craving and amazingly come in under 2 net carbs each!
These Chocolate Walnut Cookie Bars are simple and so satisfying. The buttery cookie crust is the perfect vessel to hold the silky smooth dark chocolate topping and the added crunch from the walnuts is perfect.
The recipe is simple and it also stores well in the freezer or fridge for those days you need a sweet treat.
A while back I was thumbing through some of the old cookbooks that my mom has gifted me over the years and the one I was drooling over the most was the Cookies and Bars from Southern Living.
There are some mouth-watering recipes in that book you guys but man they were all full of sugar and carbs. All the yummy but not so good for us stuff.
Why is it always the tasty stuff that is so bad for us? I mean, why couldn’t it be cookies are good for us and turnip greens are bad?
I’ll never know! But one thing I did know was that I needed to set out on a mission.
One that would be the beginning of a new series here on the blog for cookies and bars that are low-carb, sugar-free, and gluten-free.
I have a long list of recipes I want to work on and share with you here (if they are not flops, lol), so I grabbed my apron and mixer and then got busy on this first recipe for Chocolate Walnut Cookie Bars.
It is a hard job baking a lot of treats and tasting them all. But someone has to do it, and I am willing to make that sacrifice for you guys!
Making Keto Chocolate Walnut Cookie Bars
Sometimes baking can keep you in the kitchen for hours, but as busy as I had been lately, I knew I needed this recipe to be simple and relatively quick.
There are only two steps to this recipe and each one only takes a few minutes of prep and oven time. The whole recipe is ready in just about an hour.
Now, like many recipes here on my blog, the hardest part of the recipe will be waiting for these Chocolate Walnut Cookie Bars to cool and be ready to eat.
Isn’t that time just torture? But alas, all good things are worth the wait, and that is true with these bars too.
The processes involved are mixing up the ingredients for the walnut cookie base and baking it to a nice golden brown.
The second step, the rich dark chocolate topping, is prepared while that cookie bottom bakes, so it comes together pretty quickly.
The topping is first mixed over low heat on the stove and then left to cool slightly.
When the cookie base is cooked you simply pour over the creamy chocolate topping, then spread it out evenly, and return it to the oven for the last little baking time.
How to Make A Crust for Chocolate Walnut Cookie Bars
The buttery crust on these easy cookie bars is such a compliment to the chocolate filling. It is just delicious.
I use my favorite baking mix by Trim Healthy Mama brand for the crust. This THM Baking Blend is a mixture of low-carb and gluten-free ingredients.
Here’s a complete list of the baking blend so you can see just how clean this product is: Oat Fiber, Organic Coconut Flour, Golden Flax Meal, Blanched Almond Flour, Collagen Peptides, Glucomannan (konjac extract powder).
I also love that all the ingredients are non-GMO, Gluten-Free, and dairy-free. So as you can see this baking mix would work for even the Keto followers.
If you do not have this baking mix and don’t want to order online through my Store Link, then no worries. You can just use the same amount of almond flour.
Keep in mind that the baking blend is a “thirsty mix” so it takes more butter to make it stick together If you use just almond flour you could add a couple of tablespoons of coconut flour to help absorb the butter.
Or you could reduce the butter and just use enough to make the almond flour stick together when you pinch it between your fingers.
This crust is an easy press-in crust and would work for simple pies as well.
Storing the Chocolate Walnut Cookie Bars
After the bars bake the final time, let them cool completely, before covering them with plastic wrap and placing them in the fridge.
Here comes the test of patience, as you need to let them chill in the fridge for at least an hour. This is an important step in helping the chocolate filing to be set up properly.
Once they have chilled you can pull the Chocolate Walnut Cookie Bars out of the fridge to serve them.
I love topping the cookie bars with powdered sweetener for just a little extra sweetness and a pretty snowfall look, but you can skip this part if you like them less sweet or don’t have any powdered sweetener.
Once you have them sliced into the bar pieces you will need to store them in the fridge. Place the cookie bars into an airtight container with a lid to keep them free longer.
These cookie bars will last up to a week in the fridge but you can freeze them and they will keep up to two months.
These little bars remind me of a dark chocolate pie slice, just in a small cookie bar form. It is so easy, and so delicious you guys!
Trust me, these may not look impressive, but they are a surefire way to cure a chocolate and a cookie craving in one bar!
Let me know if you give these Chocolate Walnut Cookie Bars a try.
Also, for more excitement, don’t forget to join me on my social media pages as My Table of Three and look me up on YouTube for video recipes.
Chocolate Walnut Cookie Bars
This rich chocolate filling is baked on a buttery walnut filled crust that is crispy and sweet.
Ingredients
Chocolate Topping
- 1/3 cup of water
- 1/3 cup Trim Healthy Mama Super Sweet (or 1/2 cup Erythritol Blend of choice)
- 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 2 eggs beaten
Cookie Base
- 3/4 cup Trim Healthy Mama Baking Blend (see notes for substitutions)
- 1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped
- 6 tablespoons of softened butter
- 3 tablespoons Trim Healthy Mama Super Sweet Sweetener
- 1 tablespoon powdered sweetener of choice for dusting (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper and spray the paper with cooking spray. Set the pan aside and prepare the walnut cookie base.
- Add the dry ingredients for the cookie base to your mixing bowl and add the softened butter.
- Mix in the softened butter until the mixture comes together into coarse crumbs and stays together when pinched between fingers.
- Add in the chopped walnuts and mix them into the cookie base mixture.
- Next press the cookie mixture into the bottom of your paper-lined baking pan. Make sure you spread the mixture evenly and press it into the pan well. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
- As the base is baking add the water, sweetener, cocoa powder, vanilla, and butter to a saucepan over low heat.
- Cook the mixture whisking until all the cocoa has been mixed in and the chocolate mixture is smooth. Do not boil.
- Take the chocolate mixture off the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes then add in the two beaten eggs. Set the chocolate aside.
- Remove the cookie base from the oven after it is baked and pour the chocolate mixture over the base.
- Spread the chocolate mixture out evenly over the base and return it to the oven. to bake for 20 minutes.
- When the cookie ars are baked cool them on a wire rack completely then place them in the refrigerator to chill for at least one hour.
- After chilling slice the bars into 12 to 14 pieces. If you would like to dust the tops of your bars do so before cutting them.
Notes
Notes: If you do not have the THM Baking blend you can use your favorite low carb baking mix or almond flour just remember when you sub the almond flour you may need to reduce the butter since the baking mix I use is thirstier than almond flour. You can also sub the THM Super Sweet that I use for your sweetener of choice (like Swerve or Pyure). Again, you may have to adjust how much you need to fit the sweetness you desire using other sweeteners.
Nutrition Information
Yield
12 BarsServing Size
1 barAmount Per ServingCalories 90Total Fat 11.5gTrans Fat 0gCholesterol 49.2mgSodium 78mgCarbohydrates 12gNet Carbohydrates 1.25gFiber 3.84gSugar .63gSugar Alcohols 7.09gProtein 3.5g
I am not a nutritionist. If you have strict dietary needs I always recommend using an online nutrition calculator to calculate your totals using your exact brands you're using in this recipe as values may vary per brand.
I am a southern girl through and through that loves to laugh, cook, read and spend time with family. My passions outside of home schooling my son are ministering to those in need and creating art in the kitchen! Every day is an adventure in our little house and I wouldn’t trade it or the chance to share here with you for anything!
Question? Do the bars need to be refrigerated for storage? These look great to send to my THDaughter at college, but not sure if they will make the journey. Either way, they generally look great, BTW.
I do keep them in the fridge, so not sure how they would ship since there are eggs in the filling.
so, i posted this comment yesterday, and now i don’t see it at all… 🙁
1- when do you dust the sweetener on top of the bars?
2- what do you do with the walnuts? chop them? finely grind them in the food processor? i’ve read through the blog post and recipe twice and somewhere, somehow, i’m missing that info
Hello Joyce. I have all my comments set to be approved by me before they show on the blog because spammers and people can be so nasty at times. I am sorry that I am just now getting to your comment as I was out town for a few days for my full-time day job and was unable to approve comments or respond. The walnuts are chopped or whole just mixed into the cookie base, kind of like adding nuts to any cookie dough. The dusting is entirely options but if you want to do it you would do it last before you cut them into bars. I went back and added all these steps so you can see them laid out if needed. Enjoy.
thanks keri! sorry you have to work against the nasty comments and rude people 🙁 but i appreciate you taking time to answer my questions. i might get a chance to make these tomorrow or the next day. i’m in need of a good chocolate fix! 🙂
You’re so welcome Joyce I hope you enjoy them when you give them a try. I appreciate you stopping by, let me know how you like them!
After adding the chocolate do you cook it 20 more minutes? It says cook time is 20 minutes but says to cook bars 15 then add chocolate and cook 20 minutes. Thanks for clarifying for me.
You cook the base for 15 minutes then add the chocolate and bake again for 20. I manually went in and adjusted the recipe card to reflect the full 35 minutes now for the ase and chocolate topping.
Um …. Where are the walnuts?
Sorry Courtney, this recipe card has been giving me fits today lol, I have corrected the glitches and the recipe is showing up correctly now (including the walnuts). 🙂
Oh good! Thanks
I know the recipe is chocolate walnut cookie bars, but since we are in stay home orders, I was wondering if I could chop up almonds instead?
Thank you.
Yes absolutely! You can use any nut really, or leave them out all together if you don’t have any in your pantry. 🙂
I don’t see recipe part for the bar base..
Can you tell me where the crust ingredient list is? I’m sorry, but I’ve looked and looked and don’t see it or a link listed anywhere! Thank you for your incredible recipes!
I’m sorry Kathy, I made some updates to this recipe card this morning and for some reason it caused a glitch but it has all been corrected now and the crust ingredients are now showing as they should.
I’m looking at this but I don’t see the ingredients for the cookie base, just the chocolate topping?
Just now finding this but not seeing the ingredients to the cookie part.
Sorry, Tanya. The recipe card glitch has been fixed and the complete recipe is showing now.
There was some glitch this morning when I updated to a new recipe card, but all have been corrected now and the recipe is showing correctly now. So sorry about that!
Where are the ingredients for the cookie bas?
Sorry Grace, the recipe card glitch has been fixed and the complete recipe is showing now.
The recipe card had some issues after I updated it this morning, but is has been corrected now. Sorry about that!
Do they eggs in the topping safe to eat? (Do they get thoroughly cooked when you only add them at the end)?
The eggs are fully cooked because they bake completely in the oven. The mixture is thin so it cooks quickly.
Keri, I’m wondering which sweetener you sprinkled over the top of your bars. I know that some of our choices are sweeter than others, some may be bitter if using too much, etc. And I certainly wouldn’t want to ruin my bars after doing all of this work by sprinkling on the wrong or too much topping!! Thanks so much!
Hi Mary Elizabeth! I used a very little bit of the same sweetener I used in the recipe. You are correct to say they can be bitter. I powder it and only use a very lite dusting, too much can be bitter for sure. It also mellows out as it sits in the fridge on the bars.
What is thm??
THM is short for a diet plan that switches up fuels for meals. Some meals are higher fat and low carb, and others are low fat and 20-40 carbs. It stands for Trim Healthy Mama. The diet was created by a pair of sisters and you can find out more about it on their website Trim Healthy Mama (.com) or there are tons of groups on Facebook about the diet as well. Hope that is helpful. 🙂
Just made and can’t wait to try!!! I taste tested both before each baked and it was awesome! I did add mineral salt to my cookie since my butter was unsalted. I wish I could add my picture…
Hi Kelly! I hope you like them as much as we did. I would love to see your picture. You can send it to me at [email protected] or share it over on my Facebook page if you would like. Thanks for trying them!
Looks good, can’t wait to try out.
This has THM but what category? I’m new to the THM way so not real familiar with the S, E, FP and all that.
I just found your blog, looking forward to seeing more of your recipes. Good work. And thank you for making the effort to create the wonderful food, I would love to spend a day in each of you THM bloggers kitchens what fun that would be ; ) Thanks.
Hi Mary Ann! It is so nice to meet you here and I agree that would be a wonderfully good time. These will fall into your THM “S” category since there is the fat from the butter and eggs in the recipe. 🙂 I hope that helps and thank you so much for visiting!
These look really great!