Packed with protein, collagen and an (ooey gooey!) caramel layer, these keto snickers bars take on a deliciously healthy twist!
Keto Snickers Bars 🍫
Healthy (‘n packed with protein!)
OK so here’s the deal you guys, I’ve tried tackling a *legit* keto nougat over the years… but while not too shabby, none were like actually good. Not worth-your-while good.
And so I took a little different route here, and turned these keto snickers bars into what might just be my favorite protein bars. You see, I like to make ‘the nougat layer’ mixing either salted almond or cashew butter (depending on how many carbs I want to consume*), with a serving of egg white protein, collagen powder and a touch of sweetener.
All topped off with roasted peanuts and my (15 min!) keto caramel, and bundled up with a thin chocolate layer. Mmmh *chef’s kiss*.
p.s. I’ve also tried these with an ice cream layer and they’re absolutely ridiculous.
p.s.s. you can use a standard 8×8 mold to make these, but since I’ve been making them fairly regularly as of late I bought these candy bar molds and they do simplify the job quite a bit (particularly with the ice cream!).
*So I’ve essentially been using these bars pre hikes (or frozen and packed as a snack!), and I’ve consistently noticed that I perform best on longer trails if I consume a good nmix of complex carbs, with fats and protein. I suppose I want to call it a sort of Keto 2.0, where we learn to consume (good!) carbs the right way and use ketosis as the metabolic state that it is. But we’ll begin to go truly in depth into this later on this week, as I’ve been working on a special project around this for you guys ;).
The Sweetener
OK, so since we have the ooey-gooey caramel sauce and the chocolate coating, I actually don’t really like to sweeten my nougat (i.e. nut and protein layer) too much. In fact, I like to use salted almond or cashew butter to turn it into a bit of a sweet ‘n salty situation. It’s up to you!
For the keto caramel layer, you’ve got a couple options here, and know that the recipe was thoroughly tested with allulose (my favorite sweetener by a mile really), xylitol (try and use non-corn to avoid tummy problems), and erythritol. And these are the findings!
1. Allulose and xylitol work equally well. The resulting keto caramel is luscious and sticky, with no thickener required. Plus, both sweeteners keep your caramel ultra smooth, and I didn’t experience any crystallization whatsoever with either.
Note: I’ve been testing different brands of xylitol and have noticed Health Garden and XyloSweet are two solid ones (particularly if you tend to get occasional tummy pangs with the NOW brand).
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! 
2. Now, erythritol is a bit tricker guys as it tends to crystalize once cool (you can always reheat it?). I did notice that doing about 1/2 erythritol and 1/2 of allulose or xylitol seemed to keep it smooth all the way through.
So if you’re not into the blackstrap molasses, try using of the brown erythritol sweeteners (say Lakanto Golden or Swerve Brown). Just keep in mind that you may need to add a touch of xanthan gum to obtain the thick ‘n sticky results (say 1/8-1/4 tsp, depending on desired thickness).
How much sweetener? Now this is the question. Traditional caramel uses about 1 cup of sugar, but in my opinion 1/3 cup of sweetener for keto palates is more than enough. As allulose is 30% less sweet than sugar (and xylitol), I did 1/2 cup (but you can probably do with just 1/3 cup for a lightly sweetened caramel). With xylitol I tried with 1/4 and 1/3 cup and they both worked great (just depends how sweet you like it, and what you’re using it for). Keto sweet buds are all over the place guys, but the neat thing here is that you can adjust to taste!
And… the keto caramel video story!
(Healthy!) Homemade Keto Snickers Bars
Ingredients
For the caramel peanut layer
- 1/4 cup grass-fed butter salted or unsalted*
- 1/4-1/2 cup allulose or xylitol**
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4-3/4 teaspoon kosher salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses optional**
- 2/3 cup roasted peanuts
For the 'nougat' layer
- 1 1/2 cups (salted!) almond butter or nut butter of choice
- 1/2-1 cup egg white protein to taste
- 1/2 cup collagen powder
- 1/4-1/2 cup powdered allulose or sweetener of choice, taste
For the chocolate layer
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
Instructions
For the caramel peanut layer
- Add butter to a small saucepan over medium/low heat and simmer, stirring every so often, until fully browned (about 5 minutes). Add in the sweetener, heavy cream and salt (lower amount, see notes), stirring until fully combined. Add in the molasses (optional), and stir briefly until just combined.
- Simmer over very low heat for 15 minutes (don't stir at all!), taste for seasoning and pour into a glass container of choice. Your caramel should be sticky and thick, but still totally pourable. Use warm or allow to cool completely, and refrigerate for roughly a week. The caramel will thicken up in the fridge (as does regular dulce de leche), so either bring it back to room temperature or heat it up with a little more heavy cream (or say almond milk!) to thin it out a bit.
- Note: if your caramel splits (too high temperature is usually the culprit!), you might still be able to save it. Remove it from the heat, allow the mixture to cool down for about 5 minutes, bring it back on the stovetop over low heat, and gently whisk in a tablespoon of water until it comes back together (should happen almost instantly).
- Line an 8x8 mold with parchment paper (or use a candy bar silicon mold), and pour the caramel while still warm. Allow it to come to room temperature and sprinkle the toasted peanuts (if you mix them in while warm, your peanuts will lose a bit of crunch!).
For the 'nougat' layer
- Mix all the ingredients thoroughly in a medium bowl, adjusting the amount of sweetener and egg white protein to taste (i.e. to fit your macros). Transfer to the freezer until fully set.
- My top tip: this is a layer where you can play around a bit! Say, I like to use salted almond or cashew butter to turn it into a bit of a sweet ‘n salty situation. It’s up to you!
For the chocolate layer
- Melt the chocolate chips with the coconut oil over a water bath (being super careful to not get *any!* water in)... or simply doing short bursts in the microwave.
- Dip your snicker bars into the chocolate and place in the fridge to set.
- Store in the fridge for about a week or freeze for up to 3 months. The later is my favorite storing method, as I make a large batch and the caramel stays ooey-gooey even with frozen if made with allulose or xylitol. i.e. you can make these into keto snickers ice cream bars too ;0
I made these with some Rebel vanilla ice cream I had and WOW. LIKE WOOOOOW!
If you’re hesitating to make these because it sounds difficult, don’t! I’m a dude with no skills and other than my chocolate looking a bit dodgy they were awesome. Caramel was super easy, cannot believe it! Looking forward to trying the protein version with some whey.
Excellent flavor, and love the high protein! My caramel layer did not set, but we didn’t care. Keeping them in the freezer, cutting as needed, and flipping it over into a bowl. So now the nice drippy caramel is on top. ☺️ I think I’ll need to simmer the caramel longer next time, but this recipe is definitely a keeper! Thank you, Paola!!
Yes, just simmer it a tad bit longer next time (also allulose is the sweetener that tends to set best imo). Thanks so much for taking the time to report back 🥰
Refrigerate for a WEEK? Did I misunderstand?
Donna this isn’t a baked good that goes. bad in three days, it’s standard for caramels and there’s nothing really in the nougat layer that wouldn’t hold on the fridge (for even longer). Xo!
Is ‘egg white protein’ just egg whites or something else please?
Yes! It’s pure egg whites that have been dried in a dehydrator and powdered up. You can even do it at home 🙂
It’s like the RX Bars you know? I’m guessing this is what they mean by ‘egg whites’ as its not like they can use raw egg whites. Brilliant idea to up the protein, like what you’ve done here
Yes exactly! 🙌🏼
Oh, wow, this recipe was looking sooooo good until I came to “egg white protein”! I am allergic to eggs. Is there a sub for the egg white protein?
Oh thats ok Patricia, since this isn’t a baking recipe I added the egg white protein to turn this more into a ‘protein bar’… you can either leave it out (nut butters still set in the fridge), add twice the amount of collagen, or even sub with another protein (though I know something like pea protein is likely to leave an aftertaste, so be mindful!).
I hope this helped :-/