Turn low carb brownies into something special by swirling in a cream cheese mixture on top. These gluten free cheesecake brownies are a delicious treat.
Although I’ve been cutting back on sweets, I decided to make a few treats to enjoy last weekend for Mother’s Day. My kids know that buying sweets for me is difficult and none of them have taken up cooking or baking.
So, if I want a special treat, I usually have to make it myself. I’ve been trying to encourage my older daughter to learn how to make a few simple dishes. She did make the deep dish pizza once and really likes the garlic cheese bread from the low carb dough.
I was really happy when she told me she learned in school today that low fat foods are bad for you. The word is slowly getting out that low fat diets are bad. I hope to convert all of my kids to low carb high fat diets one day, but I know I’ll never convince my husband to give up his sugary snacks.
Since going back to the low carb lifestyle after my last pregnancy, I rarely cheat. I do make exceptions on special occasions, especially when my favorite Filipino foods are on the table.
However, we went out to a Mexican chain restaurant a couple weeks ago and were offered free desserts for all since the kitchen messed up on our order. I wanted to pass on the dessert, but my husband convinced me to make an exception.
I ended up getting the lowest carb option which was a creamy New York style raspberry cheesecake. I know the only bad part of cheesecake is the sugar and crust, but I made sure I enjoyed every sweet bite.
After having that wonderful cheesecake, I’ve been kind of craving cheesecake so I made some raspberry cheesecake ice cream and these gluten free cheesecake brownies. I was originally planning to make these a red velvet type brownie, but changed my mind after adding a bit of natural food coloring to the brownie batter.
You can see the red hue in the picture of the batter. But, it was pretty much non-existent in the finished brownies.
Some may have noticed that I’ve been starting to use more concentrated liquid sweeteners in my sweet recipes. The reason is that erythritol seems to have an affect on me so I’ve been cutting back on bulk sweeteners like Swerve, and Lakanto.
They say that erythritol is the only sugar alcohol that can be completely ignored in the carb count. But, I like to include at least half the carbs from all sugar alcohols.
The more I stay away from sweets, the less I crave them and that’s a good thing for me because I’ve always loved my sweets. There are many times when I would just skip a meal and just eat a sweet snack instead. The problem is that I’ve always been a better baker than cook. I really need to experiment with more savory dishes and limit my sweets.
Since I indulged in quite a few low carb treats this past weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day, I decided to do another five day egg fast this week. Most of the cheesecake brownies I made ended up going in the freezer.
I try to stay away from sweet foods when egg fasting. I’ve really been inspired by the egg fast recipes so I’ll probably making a lot more egg dishes as well as finding additional ways to cut carbs.
I found that these gluten free low carb swirled cheesecake brownies tasted better after being in the refrigerator overnight. I did let them warm up to room temperature before eating as well.
I’ll thaw the frozen ones in the refrigerator a couple at a time over the next several weeks so I won’t be tempted to eat too many at once. When following a low carb diet, particularly a ketogenic one, sweets need to be consumed in moderation if at all.
I’ve realized that I have a habit of overeating, especially when it comes to sweets. So, I’ll be focusing on cutting back this summer and eliminating my addiction to food.
Cheesecake Brownies - Gluten Free
Ingredients
Brownie Layer:
- 1 stick unsalted butter melted
- 1/4 cup low carb sweetener or Swerve sweetener
- 3/4 teaspoon SweetLeaf stevia drops
- 1/2 teaspoon monk fruit liquid extract
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 3 tablespoons coconut flour
Cheesecake Layer:
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 3 tablespoons low carb sweetener or Swerve sweetener
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg yolk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 8x8 baking pan or line with parchment paper.
Brownie Layer:
- In large bowl, combine the butter, sweeteners, cocoa, vanillia extract, and salt until well combined.
- Whisk in the eggs then fold in the flours.
- Reserve about 1/4 cup of batter. Spread remaining batter into prepared pan.
Cheesecake Layer:
- Beat together the cream cheese, sweetener, vanilla, and egg yolk until well blended.
- Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over brownie layer.
Swirl:
- Drop reserved brownie batter over cheesecake layer..
- Swirl in with a knife.
- Bake for about 30 minutes then transfer to a rack to cool.
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Notes
Nutrition
Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
About Lisa
Lisa has been creating low carb recipes for herself and sharing them with others since 2010. She loves to experiment in the kitchen and find new ways to create low sugar foods that taste like high carb favorites! Her recipes have been featured on popular magazine sites including Fitness, Shape, Country Living, Women's Health, and Men's Health. Lisa lives in Southeastern Connecticut. Connect with her and Low Carb Yum at:
Adriana says
How can I make this more of a brownie consistency? The brownie part was very crumbly.
Lisa MarcAurele says
Did you try putting it in the refrigerator? I find chilling for several hours helps keep things together.
Oilboy says
Why give us your life story….just the damn recipe.
Lisa says
I’m sticking to only the recipes in my newest posts. Unfortunately, it’s a big job to change all the older recipe posts.
RC says
Just curious why you have the various types of sweeteners. Why not just one? I’m totally new to keto/ low carb baking. Thanks for all your work putting this site together.
Lisa says
I find blending sweeteners provides a much better taste.
shannon says
I’m just starting and learning Keto, so this is all new to me and I’ve never baked this way so I’m completely clueless. Do you really have to use 3 different types of sweeteners?
Lisa says
You don’t have to. I just find it tastes best that way.
janet says
These came out great! I’ve had so many disappointments with almond flour cakes/desserts but not this recipe! Now added to my favorite recipes and will be a regular treat for me.
Lisa says
Yay! These are one of my forgotten recipes so I’m glad you found them.
Alison says
These look delicious! Can you make them egg-free do you think? Maybe with a flax egg?
Lisa says
I’ve had good luck using psyllium eggs which are similar to flax eggs so I’d give it a try.
Christy says
I have an allergy to tree nuts and cannot use the almond flour. Can anything else be substituted?
Thank you!
Lisa says
Sunflower seed flour is a great alternative and so is sesame seed flour.
Barbara Robilotto says
Hi loved this recipe but the cheesecake and brownie
did not stay together. Why did this happen and how can
I make it better next time?
Thank you for your help.d
Lisa says
Other than swirling it in more, I’m not really sure.
Pilar says
Hi,
I did these brownies but wanted to know how could I do it to replace stevia with tagatose
my family does not like the stevia flavor.
Lisa says
I don’t know the conversion for tagatose, but I’ll give sugar equivalents. For the brownie part, you’ll need about a cup of sugar equivalent or a bit less, and the cheesecake part is about 3 tablespoons.
Jan says
These look yummy! I have Swerve and the Sweet Leaf Vanilla Stevia drops I can use, but wondering if you know if stevia glycerite drops can be used instead of monk fruit? I use stevia glycerite in my coffee. If you don’t know or can’t speculate I’ll give it a try anyway, thanks.
Jan
Lisa says
You can use stevia glycerite which is a bit stronger than the monk fruit so use about half as much.
Shirley Kent says
What can I use as an alternative to the monk fruit extract?
Lisa says
You can just add 1/4 teaspoon more stevia extract. The monk fruit extract is about half as sweet as the stevia extract.