Low Carb Valentine’s Day Brownies

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Cuteness overload!

Bake these for you hunny or kids to celebrate Valentine’s Day!

At no additional cost to you, I make a small commission for purchases made through links in this post. All items are tools or ingredients I have used myself or I wouldn’t recommend them to you!

At last these these lovely brownies make their debut on the blog!

I’ve been working on a low carb brownie recipe for a long time. Seriously, it’s basically embarrassing how long it took me to perfect. But what timing? Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so I decided to create these adorable Low Carb Valentine’s Day Brownies just for the occasion!

I love the little red hearts. They are so cute!

This is the perfect sugar-free dessert for the little ones. My girls were so excited to see the brownies come out of the oven with the red hearts submerged into the brownies like magic!

I hope you love these brownies too!

What ingredients you’ll need to make these Low Carb Valentine’s Day Brownies

You’ll need cream cheese, powdered erythritol, vanilla, butter, eggs, almond flour, salt, cocoa powder, instant coffee, and red food colouring gel.

Food colouring gel is not the same as the liquid! Ever tried to dye something red with the liquid food colouring? It turns pink. I mean, if you want pink hearts, that’s totally cool too, I just personally really love the bright red hearts!

How to make Low Carb Valentine’s Day Brownies

The brownie

Start by heating your oven to 350°.

Cover the entire outside of an 8×8″ baking pan with tin foil. Make sure the tin foil comes all the way up all four sides. This helps to minimize the possibility of over cooked brownie edges. Spray the inside of the pan and set aside.

Melt the butter and set aside.

Sift the almond flour, salt, cocoa and instant coffee into a medium sized bowl and mix well, then set aside.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, whip the cream cheese until it’s nice and smooth. Sift in 1/4 cup erythritol and mix well, scraping the bowl once or twice. Stir in the vanilla then scoop out about 3 tbsp of the batter and set aside; this will be for the hearts.

Mix in the remaining erythritol then the eggs, one at a time, scraping in between each addition, then stir in the melted butter and remaining vanilla.

Add the flour mixture to the cream cheese and stir just until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan then spread out evenly with a spatula.

The hearts

Mix red food colouring gel into the reserved batter that was set aside until you have a bright red colour, then scrape it into a piping bag.

Pipe 9 hearts evenly onto the brownie batter using a fairly thin layer. During the baking process the hearts will sink into the brownie batter.

Tip – If you have a small heart shaped cookie cutter, lightly press it evenly onto the brownie to use as a guide to make even shaped hearts.

Bake it

Bake the brownie in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Depending on your oven it could be a few minutes sooner or a few minutes later.

How do you know it’s done?

These brownies are fudgy so a toothpick will always come out wet.

You’ll know it’s ready when you see cracks around the edges of the brownie, the edges will begin to pull away from the edge of the pan and the very center will still be jiggly and have a shiny glaze to it.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Keep refrigerated.

Low Carb Sweeteners

There are a lot of choices with it comes to low carb sweeteners.

I have one particular one I like to use, and will only use, for a couple reasons:

• There is no aftertaste
• It is natural and non harmful to furry friends
• Use it in place of sugar in any recipe

It’s powdered erythritol! I like the Swerve brand, but have used other erythritol brands with the same experience.

There are other natural low carb sweeteners like xylitol, monk fruit and stevia. If you find you like a particular one best, you can use that instead of erythritol in this recipe.

Instant Coffee?!

Have you heard about adding instant coffee to baked chocolate goods before? I’ve always added it or cold brewed coffee to my chocolate cakes, so decided to try it with these Low Carb Valentine’s Day Brownies… omg, SO GOOD!

Adding coffee to chocolate desserts doesn’t usually add a lot of coffee flavour, if any at all; it simply amplifies the richness of the chocolate!

In this case, I did add a touch more that I normally would, so you can just barely pick out the coffee flavour, but most likely only if you know it’s there! If you want zero coffee flavour, cut back the 1 tbsp to 2 tsp.

Looking for a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner to go with these brownies?

I love Valentine’s Day!

Since we had children, my husband and I have spent every Valentine’s Day at home. It’s so nice to skip the busy restaurants, create a delicious meal with a decadent dessert, all while sipping a fine merlot in the comfort out our own home.

This year, for the main entree, I’ll be making Prosciutto, Pesto and Feta Stuffed Flank Steak. I am OBSESSED with this dish. Juicy meat loaded with all my favourite things? Yes please!

For a side that is just as yummy I’ll be making some seriously delicious Green Beans with Bacon and Almonds. This is definitely my favourite way to do green beans. Sweet and salty with a little bit of toasty? Yes please!

Love this recipe? Try these low carb desserts next:

No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Freezer Cookies

Chocolate Almond Truffles

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5 from 9 votes

Low Carb Valentine’s Day Brownies

Dive into fudge heaven with these deliciously adorable Low Carb Valentine’s Day Brownies. There’s not a lot better than guilt free indulgence!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Canadian, Low Carb

Keyword low carb brownies, low carb dessert, Valentine’s Day

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 9 brownies

Calories 241

Author Aleta

Ingredients

• 1 x 8oz full fat cream cheese room temperature
• ¾ cup powdered erythritol divided
• 2 tsp vanilla extract divided
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ½ cup almond flour
• ½ tsp coarse sea salt – grey or pink himalayan
• ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp instant coffee
• 2 eggs
• Red food colouring gel

Instructions

Equipment Needed

• 8×8 Baking Dish with Tin Foil
• Olive or Avocado Oil Cooking Spray
• Stand Mixer
• Medium Bowl
• Icing Spatula
• Piping Bag

Directions

The Brownie

• Heat oven to 350°.
• Cover the bottom and side of a 8×8” baking dish with tin foil and spray the inside with olive or avocado oil, then set aside.
• Melt the butter and set aside.
• Sift the almond flour, salt, cocoa and instant coffee into a medium sized bowl and mix well, then set aside.
• Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, whip the cream cheese until it’s nice and smooth. Sift in 1/4 cup erythritol and mix well, scraping the bowl once or twice. Stir in the vanilla then scoop out 3 tbsp of the batter and set aside; this will be for the hearts.
• Mix in the remaining erythritol then the eggs, one at a time, scraping in between each addition, then stir in the melted butter and remaining vanilla.
• Add the flour mixture to the cream cheese and stir just until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan then spread out evenly with a spatula.

The Hearts

• Mix red food colouring gel into the reserved batter that was set aside, until you have a bright red colour, then scrape it into a piping bag.
• Pipe 9 hearts evenly onto the brownie batter using a fairly thin layer.

Bake It

• Bake the brownie in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until the edges have begun to pull away from the sides and started to form cracks. The center will still be jiggly but have a shiny glaze to it.
• Cool completely before cutting into squares and keep refrigerated.

Notes

If you have a small heart shaped cookie cutter, lightly press it evenly into the brownie to use as a guide to make even shaped hearts!

Nutrition Facts

Nutrition facts are an estimate only! The ingredients you choose could have different nutritional values than the ingredients I have used.  

 * Net carb count excludes both fibre and sugar alcohols, because these do not affect blood sugar in most people.

Deduct fibre (1.7g per serving) and sugar alcohols (16g per serving) to get 2.7 g net carbs per serving.

Nutrition

Serving: 1square | Calories: 241kcal | Carbohydrates: 20.4g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 24g | Sodium: 230mg | Fiber: 1.7g