Gluten Free Pecan Praline Cheesecake Bars
These Gluten Free Pecan Praline Cheesecake Bars will be your new favorite dessert! The super creamy cheesecake filling has a sweet + crunchy pecan praline topping.
Ah, the holidays. They turn December into a rowdy, festive, fast-paced swirl of a month, don’t they? It’ll be past in a blink. Before you know it, we’ll be entering 2017, and with the start of the new year, embarking on quests to fulfill our New Years Resolutions.
That may mean a few less desserts in our futures, so we better get in our fill while the holidays are still here, right?! Let’s talk candy and all things sweet.
Pecan pralines are one of my favorite holiday candies, and I’ve always loved pecan praline ice cream too, sooo I was shocked to realize I had exactly zero pecan praline-flavored dessert recipes. That, obviously, needed to be remedied ASAP, just in time for the holidays.
These Pecan Praline Cheesecake Bars have a super smooth, creamy, and tangy cream cheese filling, topped with a delicious sweet and crunchy pecan praline topping – trust me, it’s hard to stop nibbling on these scrumptious squares!
The crust is made with almond flour, so it’s gluten-free and grain-free. It’s a nutty, firm crust that holds up well to the thick filling, and the touch of cinnamon works well with the caramelly pecan topping.
The filling is a basic cheesecake filling, made with cream cheese, milk of your choice, a couple eggs, and vanilla extract, and it’s sweetened with T-Sugars Belgian Cassonade Sugar. The Cassonade sugar gives a sweet, caramel-like flavor to the filling, like a more intense version of brown sugar.
The T-Sugars Belgian Cassonade sugar is also used in the pecan praline topping, helping to add even more of that warm caramel flavor. The ingredients for the topping are melted together to form a quick caramel sauce before adding the pecans and pouring the topping all over the cheesecake.
A slice of these Pecan Praline Cheesecake Bars will satisfy any sweet tooth, and a batch just might end up being the star of your next gathering. You’ll have to give them a test run to find out! Enjoy :)
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PrintGluten Free Pecan Praline Cheesecake Bars
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 65 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 cup (120g) almond flour
- 2 tablespoons Cassonade sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
For the filling
- ½ cup Cassonade sugar (or brown sugar or coconut sugar)
- 16 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
- ¼ cup milk of choice (I used almond milk because it’s what I had on hand)
- 2 eggs (room temperature)
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
For the pecan praline topping
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup Cassonade sugar (or brown sugar or coconut sugar)
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1¼ cups pecans (toasted and roughly chopped)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8″x8″ square pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil and grease with butter or non-stick cooking spray.
- Stir together the almond flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and melted butter until fully moistened and combined. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Bake the crust for 8 to 10 minutes, until set and golden brown around the edges.
- Remove the crust from the oven and let cool. Lower the oven temperature to 300°F.
For the filling
- Beat together the Cassonade sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Add in the milk, eggs and vanilla and mix well. Spread filling mixture evenly over baked crust.
- Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes at 300°F, or until the middle is no longer jiggly. Take care not to over bake. Let cool on wire rack.
For the pecan praline topping
- Combine the butter, Cassonade sugar, cream, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring mixture to a slow boil and cook for 3 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved and it’s a smooth caramel sauce. Remove from heat and stir in the toasted pecans and vanilla extract.
- Let cool for about 10 minutes, and then pour the warm pecan praline mixture over the cooled cheesecake bars and let it cool. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before cutting with a sharp knife into 16 squares.
- Store leftovers sealed in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
- Calories: 304
- Sugar: 9
- Sodium: 183
- Fat: 26
- Saturated Fat: 10
- Carbohydrates: 14
- Fiber: 1
- Protein: 4
- Cholesterol: 71
This post is sponsored by T-Sugars. Thanks for supporting the brands that support Bakerita!
I love your thinking…we definitely need to get our fill of desserts in before the healthy resolutions pop up next year! And I’ll take ALL of these cheesecake bars, please! Love the pecan praline flavor, Rachel! My dad would love these too…so perfect for the holidays!
Thank you so much Gayle!!
I can’t even stop looking at that luscious cheesecake filling, Rachel!! These bars are exactly what my weekend and the rest of the holiday season NEEDS! Seriously in love with all those layers!
Everyone needs a cheesecake bar! :) Thanks so much, Sarah.
The holidays are a whirl! The praline pecan topping looks fantastic!
Thanks Laura!
These cheesecake bars are perfection, from the crust to the top! That crunchy praline topping is an added bonus :)
Thanks so much Bethany! The praline topping is my favorite part :)
Mmm, praline! I cannot tell you how good these look to me! I want a HUGE one right now!!
Haha, wish I could share one with you! Thanks Amanda!
What dreamy bars! I love the pecan praline topping :)
Ugh sign me up that pecan praline topping looks to die for!!! Seriously, against the creamy cheesecake I would have no self control!
Hey there the bars look amazing. How much tapioca flour is needed please.
Am in the middle of making the paleo chic chip biscuits.
Tania
Hi Tania – whoops, there isn’t any tapioca flour actually! The first test of the recipe included tapioca flour and it looks like I forgot to adjust the directions. It’s fixed now!
Hi Rachel,
I’m so glad I found your blog. I am gluten free and have missed many old favorites. I have been trying to find the Cassonade Sugar with no success. Can you please tell me how I can get some? It sounds just up my alley.
Hi Ellamae, I believe it’s available on Amazon, but you can also use dark brown sugar or coconut sugar too :)
Is nutrition information available for this recipe? Thanks!
Hi Natalia, you should be able to see nutritional info now. Enjoy!