These gluten free and keto cheesecake brownies are the best of both worlds! An incredibly fudgy low carb brownie is paired with tangy swirls of creamy cheesecake. The best part? Just 1.5g net carb!
Gluten Free & Keto Cheesecake Brownies
Suuuper Fudgy!
You’ve already met our suuuper fudgy keto brownies right?! They’re intensely chocolatey, fudgy, lightly chewy and good… like really good. Fact is, it’s the most popular recipe in the entire site, so that’s gotta tell you something!
Though, in all honesty, I would’ve never guessed it when I first hit publish. And don’t get me wrong, I love the recipe. I mean, it’s been my go-to brownie recipe for years now (and one of my favorite keto chocolate treats by far). But it’s sky-rocketing popularity still managed to wow me! So thank you guys for enjoying, sharing, and recommending it!
Now, amongst many of your requests, perhaps the most popular has been to adapt it into a sugar-free cheesecake brownie version. So wish granted peeps!
Got more requests? Send them along, I always love to hear (and hopefully grant!) them.
The Chocolate
Cocoa or cacao? Both work great, just know that quality really matters here. My favorite will forever be the Dutch-processed alkaline cocoa Valrhona, known to be one of (if not the) best cocoas in the world.
But feel free to use a raw cacao powder (arguably more nutritional perks here), though keep in mind that your brownies will be lighter in color and more reddish in hue. Both are well and good, as long as they’re unsweetened.
The Keto Flours
This recipe uses almond flour only (!!). Yup, that’s it!
In terms of brands, for the almond either Anthony’s or WellBees work great. Both are super fine grinds.
The Sweetener
You’ve got a couple options here. Xylitol (non corn to avoid tummy troubles!) and allulose (using 30% more) have become my top choice (no aftertaste, best and chewier texture), followed by Lakanto (barely any aftertaste, but thicker texture).
If using erythritol in any form, because it needs a little extra help to dissolve than xylitol (and they vary so much from brand to brand because of different fillers and so on!), you’ll want to be sure to use a powdered form. If you only have granular on hand, don’t sweat it, and simply blend it in your (very dry!) bullet or blender until powdered. Easy-peasy!
And one more thing to keep in mind, is that a few of you who have used erythritol (Swerve in particular) report back periodically that your batter ends up thick. This seems to be improved by microwaving rather than using a water bath, and using powdered rather than regular. Though there seems to be no hard rule here.
Doesn’t seem to affect the taste in the end, so just spread the batter rather than pour it in. But if you’re finding your brownies feel too thick, simply add in an extra egg or a couple tablespoons of almond milk (just don’t over-whisk or they could become more cakey).
Fun fact: it might also be my taste buds here, but I’ve noticed that stevia-based sweeteners (such as Pyure) don’t work so great when chocolate is involved as the aftertaste is accentuated. So I cannot recommend enough that you don’t use stevia-based sweeteners here.
Oh, and if just paleo or gluten free (or not restricted by sugars), simply sub 1-to-1 with coconut or regular sugar.
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup (or kitty!) around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
A Couple (Very Simple!) Rules
I’ll start with the most important one: do not over-bake the brownies! Timing might just be the most important rule when making any type of brownie, so you don’t end up with a dry and crumbly mess. Keep an eye out for them, and take them out once the center is set and a toothpick inserted comes out moist (but not drenching).
I even prefer to slightly undercook them and chill them in the fridge before cutting. That’s the secret for extra fudgy brownies.
I’ve also noticed that when using powdered erythritol rather than xylitol (my favorite), you also need to decrease the baking time by about 5 minutes as they cook faster.
You’ll also want to use eggs at room temp. Reason being that if your cocoa/butter mixture is not hot enough (and your eggs are very cold), they’ll solidify the butter and your batter will be too thick (doesn’t affect the end results, just annoying to spoon rather than pour!).
Looking for more stellar keto brownie variations?! Don’t miss out on our peanut butter brownies (they’re ace!).
Gluten Free & Keto Cheesecake Brownies
These gluten free and keto cheesecake brownies are the best of both worlds! An incredibly fudgy low carb brownie is paired with tangy swirls of creamy cheesecake. The best part? Just 1.5g net carbs!
Oh, and if baking with cups rather than grams is your thing, just click on US Cupsfor an instant conversion.
Ingredients
For cheesecake layer
- 227 g cream cheese softened
- 50-70 g allulose xylitol or erythritol (I do 1/4 cup)*
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For keto brownie layer
- 1 batch (suuuper fudgy!) keto brownies
Serving suggestions
Instructions
See recipe video for guidance on the brownies!
Position a rack in the lower third of your oven and preheat to 350°F/180°C. Line with parchment paper the bottom and sides of a 8x8-inch baking pan. Set aside.
Make the cheesecake layer first. Add cream cheese and sweetener to a bowl and cream using an electric mixer (faster and easier) or whisk until creamy and smooth. Mix in the egg and vanilla extract until fully combined. Set aside.
Whip up a batch of our (suuuper fudgy!) keto brownies. Please note that your batter with xylitol and allulose will be thinner than with erythritrol (where you can add an extra egg or a couple tablespoons of almond milk to loosen up a bit for cleaner swirls!- see brownie post for more deets).
Pour 2/3 of the mixture into prepared pan, followed by the cheesecake layer. Add the remaining brownie batter in 4 dollops (see pictures in post for reference), and swirl the two batters together using a knife.
Bake for 15-25 minutes (we do 23), or until the center is just set and still jiggly. This really does vary (a lot!!) from oven to oven (think convection etc), so give them a check from minute 15 the first time around.
Allow to cool completely on a rack. Lift brownies using the edges of the parchment paper and cut into desired size (we do 16!). To get extra clean edges, place in the freezer for 10 minutes prior to cutting.
Store in the fridge for 3 days and freeze for up to 3 months (they freeze great!).
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
*The lower quantities are for more keto-adapted palates, while the larger ones will get you more 'traditional' sweetness. Please see section on sweeteners for deets and possible substitutions. Just keep in mind that stevia doesn't work (at all!) for these!
**If measuring the cocoa with tablespoons rather than grams, be mindful of how you scoop as you can end up with a lot more cocoa powder than needed. Drop the cocoa powder into the tablespoon and level it, rather than scooping it out of the bag with the tablespoon (which can lead to overpacked tablespoons!).
***Must use eggs at room temp. Reason being that if you add cold eggs, you'll solidify the batter and won't be able to mix the flours properly.
Please note that we always subtract sugar alcohols from total carbs to calculate net carbs (as is customary).
Oh My God. These are amazing! And I’m not even a big cheesecake person. I love your recipes, please continue to do your thing!
I just bought your books, it’s not much (<$20 for both!), but every little bit helps, right?
Thanks!
Michele
Thank you so much for your support Michele- in all honesty it means A LOT that you guys deem my work worthy of your $ ;)!!!
I never comment on online recipes and this has converted me. 6 weeks into a keto lifestyle and feel SO good…but can’t shake the sweet tooth.
I used powdered swerve and added an extra egg. Following every tip from the blog was all I needed to do. Pulled them out of the oven at 15 min and not set. Checked 3 min later and perfect.
THANK YOU!!!! Your blog is a godsend
I cannot say enough good things about this recipe. Thank you SO much. I saw it a few months ago, but I’m usually really lazy and impatient with keto treats and just make the no-bake cheesecakes. I’m so glad I tried this. I had forgotten how delicious baked cheesecakes are, and with the combination of the fudgy brownies, it’s so decadent! I tasted them a few minutes after they came out of the oven (couldn’t resist) and I’m amazed. They taste better than a cheesecake with a brownie base that I used to order all the time at a coffee shop back when I ate sugar and wheat flour. Thanks for making low-carb/keto so much easier to stick to. With desserts like these, there’s no need to cheat. This in itself feels like a cheat!
These were absolutely delish! I used Swerve (that’s all I had on hand) and they cam out moist and fudgy and just seriously amazing. THANK YOU!! Also- Tips: b/c I used Swerve confectioners I added 2 eggs and needed to cook it for about 25 minutes (based on my oven); I warmed the butter, sweetener, cocoa in the microwave until the butter was melted—- otherwise I followed the recipe to the T.
Holy Wow Batman! These sure are chocolatey goodness. Good texture out of the oven cooled. Can’t wait to try after refrigeration. Thank you so much.
I made these and they turned out beautiful! I took a pic and accidentally deleted it, but they turned out so nice that I wanted to share! The only thing I have a question about is the cocoa. I used Ghiradelli cocoa powder and I noticed my brownies had a bitter taste almost similar to dark chocolate. I didn’t quite use what the recipe called for knowing it might turn out a little bitter after tasting the batter. Is there an alternative cocoa anyone recommends that might have more of a milk chocolate taste? Thank you!
would it be ok to sub coconut flour for the almond flour?
These are SO amazing! I accidentally forgot the almond flour (brain fart!), but they still turned out so yummy! Everyone who tried them agreed they weren’t missing anything. Thanks for such a delicious treat!
This is such a fantastic recipe! I used allulose and cacao, so it was a rich dark chocolate flavor and a hit with everyone (except one person that doesn’t like dark chocolate.) The batter came out very thick, like you described it could with erythritol; but I did not add an extra egg as I really wanted that extreme fudginess. It was impossible to actual swirl the batter, due to that, but I just used tiny dollops of batter on top and then gently leveled the cheesecake layer and it worked just fine. I did put it in the freezer for 15 minutes after cooling for 20 minutes, sliced it as you suggested and then put it into the fridge overnight, so even better the next day and in fact the few leftovers are even tastier each day after being in the fridge. Erythritol gives me stomach cramps, so I cannot use it, but no problems with the allulose, (with a couple of servings at a time only.) I’m just confused about how to figure the net carbs when using allulose. Any guidance on that would be helpful!
Aside from Valrhona, what other cocoa powder do you recommend? Dutch process from Penzey’s or more like a Droste cocoa (my personal fave). I ask because your recipe doesn’t call for baking powder or baking soda, and I know Dutch process reacts better with one vs the other. Thank you!
Hi Jen! That’s why you can use either cocoa or cacao for these (check out the section on chocolate). Having said that I do favor dutch processed cocoas, so yup on Droste (its a great one too!) xo!
OMG these are so good. Even measuring the weight of the cocoa, they came out very dark, which I LOVE but some might want to use less. The batter is thick for sure, but I didn’t want to add an extra egg and have them come out cakier. The texture is perfect…really fudgy and the cheesecake part is perfect, especially in contrast with the very dark chocolate brownie. This is a winner for anyone who loves dark chocolate!!
Oh nuts, I’m making this right now and not sure if the batter goes in the frig over night as your amazing brownies do or straight into the oven?? Since I didn’t read that the whole thing goes in the refrigerator for 24 hours, I’ll just bake them up now! Though now I’m curious
Thanks!
Accidentally left out the almond flour altogether… guess we’ll see what happens 😭
Edit: so it turned out to be like a very thick and very soft chocolate cheesecake. Not the best thing I’ve ever eaten, not the worst. If I had used more sweetener, I think I would have liked it despite it not having much of a bite. I won’t be forgetting the almond flour next time lol
Hi, I’d love to try these as they sound delicious! I was just wondering which sweetener the nutritional info is based on. I have xylitol and erythirol but I haven’t used the xylitol yet in my keto baking as the carb content is so much higher. I’ll use it if the brownies still come out at 1.5g carbs though!
I made half the recipe and baked in a small loaf pan because that is what I had. I messed up a bit and made added too much egg to the cream cheese mixture along with my raspberry purée. So, I only used half. For the chocolate mixture. It was pretty thick and I only had swerve, but I followed some recommendations from the comments like melt the butter and add cocoa etc while it’s hot and add a bit of almond milk. I was pretty scared because my runny cheesecake cake part was weighing everything down and spilling over (even just using half of the mixture). Took it out the oven , let it cool then put in the fridge overnight. I cut it up this morning and warmed it a bit. Absolutely delicious! My only advice is to the commenters that bash the recipes, READ through the comments. I read trough all of them because I knew I was gonna use swerve and all the tips and tricks helped a lot. Big thanks to Paola for all these amazing FREE recipes.
This sounds really amazing, just ran into a little problem now and hope someone can help me out:
I don’t have any almond flour on hand and since it’s Sunday, all shops are closed here in Germany, so I was wondering if I could somehow substitute almond meal for the flour?
You’d really be saving my day, so thanks in advance 🙂
Best,
Su
Hi this comment is very late but almond meal is almond flour just not ground up enough… If you have a blender, blend it up more and it will turn into almond flour.
My husband and I LOVE these brownies! I made them for a work potluck and nobody could tell they were sugar free! Today is our anniversary and we had brownies at our wedding so decided to make this but knew my husbands favorite thing is chocolate and peanut butter I added some natural PB to the cheesecake part and OMG they are amazing!! Made the cheesecake part thicker so might add a little cream next time but the taste is amazing! Thank you for keeping my sweet tooth satisfied while on Keto! 😊
Just wondering if I can use Monk Fruit for my sweetener instead?
Hoping you get an answer as I also like Monk Fruit. I prefer the Monk Fruit in the Raw as it doesn’t contain any sugar alcohols – which can upset my tummy.
Could I swap out stevia as the sweetener? I just happen to have that one on hand and not the others.
Nevermind looked through again and saw the now very obvious it does not work 🙂 I do have some golden monkfruit though, will that work that same as the non golden?
Hi
I really want to make your recipes but I cant find Xylitol in Australia 🙁 I have stevia, natvia, and coconut sugar. I am not sure if I can use coconut sugar for the recipes. I would appreciate if you help me with this.
Hi there Mahshid! I wouldn’t use coconut sugar if keto, but it’s my understanding that you guys do get erythritol? xo!
Hello! I would really love to try this recipe. I just have a question, what’s the difference in taste of the cacao vs cocoa. I would prefer something not too bitter tasting as I would want to gradually introduce a healthier option to my kids but if it will already be too bitter or dark for their liking then I’d already fail on my first attempt. Hope someone can answer. Thanks in advance!
Xylitol is available in bulk food/health food type stores in Brisbane.
These are the bomb dot com!!!! What a true treat for a keto dieter. I made them with the lowest gram amounts of sweetener (xylitol) and it came itperfect, not too sweet, which was exactly what wanted. I do feel the cocoa was a bit overwhelming in taste so 9n the future I’ll cut it down a bit but honestly I really enjoyed these and so did the rest of my non keto family and friends.
I uses
Navitas Organics Cacao Powder which is— Organic, Non-GMO, Fair Trade, Gluten-Free
Made these yesterday to take to a party tonight. As there are dogs in the family I used Swerve confectioners, which isn’t my favourite. However I have to say they are absolutely delicious! The batter went weird at first but once I added the second egg everything smoothed out. Thanks Paola for all the great recipes. Your bread recipe is going in the oven soon. Love the fact that I can actually make a sandwich with it.