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A sugar free Snickers bar recipe that makes delicious low carb candy that can be enjoyed without guilt. Layering in a baking pan makes it quick and easy.
When I posted the giveaway contest asking what kind of low carb recipes people were looking for, I had to ask myself that same question. After thinking about the question, the one thing I wanted was a low carb Snickers bar that wouldn’t give me digestive distress.
Occasionally, I buy the Atkins Caramel Chocolate Peanut Nougat Bar which is the closest low carb substitute I’ve found for a Snickers candy bar. The only problem with the Atkins bars is that I pay for the snack later because of the sugar alcohols used.
I came up with a low carb peanut butter caramel recipe that’s perfect for the inside of a homemade sugar free Snickers bar. It’s sweetened with an organic sweetener blend that’s a mix of stevia and erythritol. Therefore, there’s no stomach pains! But, it is a soft caramel that keeps best in the refrigerator.
How many carbs in a Snickers bar?
The nutrition label on the candy bar shows a significant amount of carbohydrates. There’s about 35 grams of carbs with 29 grams of sugar in a Snickers bar and less than 2 grams of fiber. That’s enough to knock you out of ketosis with a single bite!
That’s why I’m going to show you how to make Snickers healthy with a low carb alternative. And once you taste this creation, it’s sure to bring smiles to all of you who miss those sweet candy bars.
Snickers Bar Ingredients
What’s in a Snickers? If you look at the ingredient list, you’ll find sugar, peanuts, glucose syrup, milk solids, cocoa mass, vegetable fat, cocoa butter, salt, soy lecithin, egg white, and vanilla extract.
For my keto friendly version, I use an egg white, cream of tartar, xanthan gum, vanilla extract, low carb sweetener, vanilla whey protein powder, butter, heavy cream, peanut putter, peanuts, and sugar free chocolate chips.
How to make Snickers bars the easy way
To make the peanut caramel layer, you start with an egg white based marshmallow cream for the nougat. Then, it’s mixed with peanut butter and a sweetened mix of sweetener and cream.
First, the egg white is whipped to a soft peak stage. Then the cream of tartar, xanthan gum, vanilla, and a little bit of sweetener are beaten in. Low carb vanilla whey protein is then added to get the right consistency.
Second, butter is melted in a small saucepan then sweetener and cream are added. The mixture is boiled and simmered.
Next, the warm butter mixture, peanut butter, and vanilla extract are added to the egg white mixture. Then peanuts are stirred in.
Finally, the peanut mixture is spread into a pan lined with waxed or parchment paper and then chilled.
At this time, the chocolate layer is made. It’s just sugar free chocolate chips and peanut butter melted together until smooth. When the peanut mixture has hardened a bit, the melted chocolate peanut butter topping is poured on top and spread evenly to cover.
The candy needs to chill for at least an hour before it can be cut into squares or bars. And, it’s best to store in the refrigerator to keep everything hardened.
How to make chocolate covered bars
I thought about freezing the low carb caramel and cutting it into squares that it could be dipped into chocolate. However, that seemed like too much work for me to make a sugar free Snickers bar.
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I like to keep my recipes simple. Therefore, I just used the same chocolate topping from the Peanut Butter Cup Square recipe I posted earlier.
The caramel layer remains soft so cutting the squares will crack the chocolate a little. Do you have some experience making hand dipped candies? If so, you may want to try coating small rectangular pieces of the caramel in chocolate to get cute little bite size sugar free Snickers bars.
Coating the filling completely in chocolate would give it the more authentic candy bar look and taste. And, it would help hold the shape of the caramel filling as well as be pretty enough for gift giving!
I was pretty surprised at how easy it was to make these low carb peanut caramel candies. If you are a Snickers lover like me, you certainly need to try them!
Sugar Free Snickers Bar Recipe
We hope you enjoy this homemade candy as much as we do. And if you do give the recipe a try, let us know what you think in the comment section below.
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Low Carb Sugar Free Snickers Bar Candy
Ingredients
Peanut Caramel Layer:
- 1 egg white
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar-free vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon Pyure All-Purpose or 2-1/2 tsp Truvia
- 3 Tablespoons vanilla whey protein powder
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup Pyure All-Purpose or 3T + 3/4 tsp Truvia
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 Tablespoons natural creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar-free vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup salted peanuts chopped
Chocolate Layer:
- 3/4 cup sugar free chocolate chips
- 2 Tablespoons natural creamy peanut butter
Instructions
Peanut Caramel Layer:
- In deep mixing bowl, whisk egg white until soft peaks form. Beat in cream of tartar, xanthan gum, vanilla, and 1 Tablespoon Steviva Blend. Gradually beat in the 3 Tablespoons vanilla whey protein powder. The consistency should be thick and sticky like a marshmallow cream. Set aside.
- In medium heavy saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Mix in ¼ cup Steviva Blend and heavy cream. Once it reaches a boil, cook and stir 5 minutes more. Pour into sticky egg white mixture then add in peanut butter and vanilla. Mix until well combined; stir in peanuts. Spread into a 7×11 pan lined with waxed or parchment paper. Cool in refrigerator.
Chocolate Layer:
- In Pyrex or metal bowl over pot of simmering water, melt chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring until smooth. Pour melted chocolate over peanut butter caramel mixture and spread evenly to cover top.
- Refrigerate for at least an hour before cutting into squares. Keep in the refrigerator for snacking.
Notes
Low Carb Sweeteners | Keto Sweetener Conversion Chart
Nutrition
Additional Info
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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.
Unauthorized use of this material without written permission from Lisa MarcAurele is strictly prohibited unless for personal offline purposes.
Single photos may be used, provided that full credit is given to LowCarbYum.com along with a link back to the original content.
Lisa MarcAurele has been creating keto friendly recipes since 2010. She enjoys experimenting in the kitchen to create low sugar foods that taste like high carb favorites!
MaryAnn Rachas says
Thank you so much for this! Snickers is my favorite candy bar, and I miss it! I can’t wait to try this.
Rachel says
Could you substitute coconut flour for the protein powder?
Lisa MarcAurele says
It’s not going to be a one for one substitute. The protein powder adds vanilla flavor and sweetness and isn’t as absorbent as coconut flour. So it would need some other modifications.
robin says
It seems like the egg white is not cooked fully in this recipe. Is that a concern? Or was the warm butter supposed to cook the egg? This tasted good but i was concerned about getting sick from the egg. Please advise.
Lisa MarcAurele says
There’s very little risk of an egg getting you sick if it’s uncooked. It’s basically the same thing as folding beaten egg whites into eggnog. The warm butter mixture does warm it but not enough to cook it completely.
Lori says
Can’t wait to try these! I can’t have peanuts so I am going to use Almond butter and almonds. I love macadamia nuts, too. These would be decadent with macadamia nut butter and macadamia nuts!
Mandy says
I don’t use Pyure or Truvia because of the additives, but can Swerve be used? It has less aftertaste than the stevia blends.
Lisa MarcAurele says
Swerve is fine to use. You’ll just need to use twice as much as Pyure.
Julie says
Can I substitute sugar free organic cocoa powder for the sugar free chocolate chips and is so how much powder would I have to use?
Lisa MarcAurele says
You really need the cocoa butter for this one which the cocoa powder doesn’t have. It would need more tweaking to use powder. You can always use a low sugar chocolate bar or unsweetened baking chocolate instead of the chips and adjust sweetener as needed.
Brandie says
Just curious if you have ever used the ‘marshmallow’ part of this recipe for a sugar free rice krispie treat? Would that work? We loved this recipe by the way. Totally hit the spot for us!
Lisa says
I think it could work, but I haven’t tried it. Not sure what would be a good low carb sub for the cereal.
Jan says
Is there something that can be used to substitute the whey protein powder (that’s not a protein powder)? Or can it be left out? Thanks so much for all the various things you post! It has really helped me make foods that I can safely eat. I was diagnosed with diabetes earlier this year and so low-carb is a must for me, and so many of your recipes have been wonderful for me. Thank you.
Lisa says
You could try adding in some powdered sweetener and a little vanilla extract.
Roberta says
What about white egg protein, unflavoured or vanilla, or eventually isolate pea protein (saponine& antinutrients removed) ? No whey protein for me too (above all, too insulinogenic for a therapeutic keto diet, and anyway no dairy allowed for me…). Thank you if’ll answer.
Lisa says
A powder is just needed to get the right consistency so any of those should work. But, if you don’t use a powder that’s sweetened, you might need more sweetener.
LaToya says
I made these Christmas of last year and they were a HIT! Everyone I gave them to was in heaven. I’m making them again but was wondering, am I able to just double all the ingredients to make more? Last time, everyone wanted more.
Lisa says
Doubling the recipe should be fine.
Monique S. says
Can you substitute coconut flour for the almond flour for nut allergy concerns?
Lisa says
There isn’t almond flour in this. However, sunflower seed flour is a better sub for almond flour than coconut flour.
Heather says
Hi! i commented last time and I just have to say that i made this recipe again only this time i tried a smaller pan because the last time i used the 9×13 and i didn’t get to fill the entire pan. I could not find a 7×11 baking dish so i bought a 9×9 thinking that it wouldn’t fill out completely but it would be a lot better then the 9×13 pan. Although I’m confused because your pan seems way bigger and your pan is completely filled so my question is did you double your recipe? or do you just spread the mixture out really thin? i know it says we only used one egg white which is what i do but one i cook down the cream, the splenda and the butter it reduces way down (which i’m sure is the point to create the caramelly mixture) i followed all the directions but it still won’t fit in the entire pan. Unless you do spread it incredibly thin. I’m just curious if you double the batch or not.
Could you offer some advice?
thanks 🙂
Heather says
Hi! I made these today and I just wanted to let you know some things that i did a little bit differently! By the way mine came out wonderfully! I keep them in the freezer though because if i hold them in my hands too long they melt (which is why you mentioned keeping them in the fridge) So i think i added a little too much vanilla but it still came out great! also i used splenda instead of whatever sweetener you suggested. it still came out great! i’m finding that i’m getting lucky with the recipes i’m using because splenda seems to be working wondefully. so if anyone wants to use splenda you totally can! thanks for the recipe and i’m glad i got to make these. Also i didn’t have the right size pan so mine were put in a glass baking dish of 9×13 but it all worked out well 🙂 thanks again 🙂
Lisa says
Thanks so much for letting us know how these worked out for you Heather! I’m glad they came out well using Splenda and a 9×13-inch pan.
Esther says
Hi. This recipe looks great, but I have a question. I have both pure stevia extract, and erythritol. But… I usually follow recipes that give instructions on how to blend these together, rather than recipes that utilize pre-blended sweeteners (trying to use up what I already have).
Do you know how much of pure stevia extract and erythritol I would have to blend in order to achieve the equivalent of the steviva blend that you mentioned?
Oh, and if it helps, I have both the liquid and powder form of pure stevia extract.
Thank you so much! I have recently started eating mostly-grain free, and completely sugar free, and have been hunting down recipes like crazy. 🙂
Lisa says
Sorry took so long to reply, we were preparing for tropical storm Irene then lost power and internet for a while after the storm. The recipe needs about 1/2 cup of sugar substitute. You can try 1/4 tsp of stevia powder mixed with 1/3 cup powdered erythritol.
Freed Willie says
Any way to use powdered erythritol, xylitol and/or liquid Splenda in place of the Steviva and Truvia in this recipe? (Those are the only LX sweeteners I have on hand…)Thank you!
Lisa says
You can use any of the other sweeteners you mentioned in this recipe. Steviva is half as sweet as sugar so it’s really easy to convert. For example, 1 Tablespoon of Steviva is equal to 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Based on this, I would use about 3 drops liquid Splenda with about 1 Tablespoon erythritol or xylitol as a substitution for 1 Tablespoon of Steviva. For the 1/4 cup of Steviva, just use 1/2 cup of sugar substitute. Hope this helps.
Jillian says
Oh, my what an awesome looking candy bar! great recipe!
gharkness says
I was so sure this was going to be one of those recipes that wouldn’t work at all – either it would have some weird ingredient I couldn’t find….or it would cause, as you say, “intestinal distress”…but NO! This looks totally doable!
I have every ingredient (or will, when my Steviva comes in – thank you)! And I can’t wait to make these!
Lisa says
Just be careful with the sugar free chocolate you use as some have sugar alcohols. I only use ChocoPerfection which doesn’t cause the digestive problems, but it is pretty expensive.