Gooey Keto Cheesecake Brownies (Low Carb & Gluten-Free)

These marbled keto cheesecake brownies are the perfect fix for a chocolate craving.   They melt in your mouth, are bursting with chocolate flavor, and the cheesecake swirl adds creamy goodness.  They are GOOD. Both the brownie batter and the cheesecake are effortless recipes.  The whole thing comes together quickly and easily without a whole lot of fuss. 

No grains or refined sugar in these brownies, they are:

• Keto 
• Low carb
• Gluten-Free
• Refined Sugar-Free

Low Carb cheesecake brownies – a perfect sweet treat For Your Keto Diet

These brownies are dense, rich, and stick to the top of your mouth like peanut butter.  They satisfy.  

This low carb brownie recipe is midway between a gooey brownie and a cakey brownie, not entirely one side or the other; they reside somewhere in between.  

Is Cheesecake Keto?

You bet it is! There are fewer than three net carbs per serving. The serving size is substantial and will satisfy your craving for something sweet and gooey without spiking your blood sugar.

A bit about the brownie batter & cocoa Powder

This brownie batter recipe is no fuss, nothing fancy unless you count the optional espresso powder.   Although the espresso powder is optional, it does add an extra flavor punch, and I always feel that a small bit of coffee enhances anything chocolate. 

The cocoa powder you use in this recipe will make a difference. 

I like an extra brute cocoa powder for baking.  The price difference is negligible compared to a small tin of grocery store cocoa powder, but the taste difference is off the map.   If you like chocolate and you use a lot of cocoa powder in your baking, I highly recommend you pick up a bag of Cacao Barry Extra Brute.   It has no added sugars or anything at all; it’s just 100% cocoa powder.   

What sweeteners work best in this recipe?

This brownie recipe requires a full cup of sweetener to offset the cocoa powder. If you bake a lot with erythritol, you know that the sweetener tends to become grainy at high concentrations, especially under cold conditions.  That is the case with this recipe. 

Which sweeteners worked best?

I like to use Besti monk fruit allulose blend – The blend of the two sweeteners reduces the graininess.   I’ve tested all the Besti sweeteners and really like the monk fruit allulose blend for brownies, square, and cakes.

When stored at room temperature, these brownies had the tiniest bit of graininess when made with the erythritol monk fruit blend.   The brownies became a bit hard when stored in the fridge, and the graininess became more pronounced. 

Allulose worked perfectly in this recipe and had zero grain even when refrigerated. 

WHICH sweeteners work well in this recipe?

100% granular erythritol was very grainy. If you can use a powdered version instead of a granular version, you will have better results.   If you use 100% granular erythritol sweeteners, don’t refrigerate the keto cheesecake brownies.

Xylitol has the same graininess issue as erythritol, but it does work in this recipe. 

** Remember that Xylitol is poisonous to dogs and cats, and if you have wee furry little ones about, be cautious**

WHICH sweeteners to avoid

I wouldn’t recommend stevia in this recipe at all.  There are a few things I do not like blended with stevia–coffee is one, and chocolate is the other.

Low Carb brownie baking tips

There are a few things to know before going into this recipe.  For the batter to turn out glossy and pourable, you have to work with warm ingredients.  If you toss cold eggs into a chilled bowl with your melted butter, you’re going to have a thick un-pourable batter. 

1. Melt the butter in the microwave in the bowl you are going to use for your brownie batter.
2. Work with room temperature ingredients.   The eggs, especially, need to be at room temperature. 
3. If you forgot to pull your eggs out of the fridge in advance, you can add them to a small bowl and cover them with the hottest tap water.   It only takes a few minutes for the water to warm the eggs for this recipe. 
4. Sift all your dry ingredients to avoid lumps in your batter; this will also help prevent overbeating. 
5. Add a piece of parchment to the bottom of your pan; it creates a sling and makes pulling the brownies out of the pan much more manageable. 
6. To marble the cheesecake and brownie batters, drop the brownie batter into the pan’s bottom, leaving room and space for the cheesecake.    Dollop the cheesecake batter between the brownie batter blobs.  Use a skewer or knife to swirl the brownie batter into the cheesecake batter.     

Serving suggestions and storage 

Don’t store these keto cheesecake brownies in the refrigerator if you used any erythritol or xylitol sweetener. The brownies will become grainy and hard.

If you used allulose, you could store them in the fridge without any issues.

With the powdered, erythritol monk fruit sweetener, the brownies had a tiny bit of graininess the next day when left out on the counter.  It wasn’t unpleasant; it felt like sugar.  These brownies were great left covered at room temperature for three days.  

If you want an over the top serving suggestion, add a small scoop of low carb vanilla ice cream and top with a dollop of sugar-free caramel. 

Everyone always ask me if cheesecake is keto-friendly. It seems hard to believe that something so creamy, so sweet and tasty can actually be ok for your keto diet. With only 2.4 net carbs per serving, go ahead and have two.

Are you looking for more low carb square recipes? We have you covered

Check out our list of low carb bar and square recipes that work great for keto and gluten-free diets:

• Low Carb Blueberry Cheesecake Squares
• Keto-friendly Raspberry Slice Bars
• Creamy Keto Cheesecake Bites Covered in Milk Chocolate
• Sugar-Free Millionaire Bars
• Low Carb Maple Pecan Blondies
• Gluten Free Sugar-Donuts