Are you guys ready for this?
I didn’t know if I was when I started but yeah…I’m glad I went through with it.
I did a post on homemade candy corns a couple of weeks back and it was a pretty big success (both on the internet and with my family). So, I thought I’d take on another Halloween favorite – the fun-size candy bar (and this one, in specific, is a copy-cat of the Snickers bar).
Before I go into the recipe, I want to make one thing clear. This recipe contains sugar. As in refined white cane sugar and quite a bit of it. This is not a healthy recipe. This is a recipe to make for your own enjoyment and indulgence. Can you substitute ingredients? Yeah, sure, go for it. Will it turn out right? I have no idea. Go for it and let me know how it turns out. However, the recipe as written? It is freaking delicious. So, go ahead, live a little. Use white sugar. (I should put that on a t-shirt…..)
This recipe is a multi-step process and some of the steps aren’t that precise (sorry). You have to:
– Melt Chocolate
– Make Nougat
– Make Caramel
– Melt Chocolate Again
Step One: Melt Chocolate
I didn’t do anything fancy here. Just use a double boiler (or a glass measuring cup in a pan of water) and melt your chocolate or chocolate chips. I used about 1/2 of a bag of chocolate chips for this step.
While the chocolate is melting, line an 8×8 pan with wax paper. Once the chocolate is melted, pour it into the bottom of the pan and smooth out. Put in the freezer.
Step Two – Make Nougat
Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff (Believe it or not, I used this recipe for homemade fluff)
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup peanuts
Directions
1. Melt butter, then add sugar and milk. Stir until dissolved and combined well.
2. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring often.
3. Remove from heat and stir in fluff (honestly, make it at home), peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until smooth.
4. Add peanuts and stir.
5. Take the pan out of the freezer and pour the nougat layer on. Put back in the freezer.
Step Three – Make Caramel
Here’s where things got interesting (and dangerous! I have the burns to prove it). I used this recipe from the blog Real Food Outlaws as inspiration.
Ingredients
4 tbsp butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
Directions
1. Melt butter and add sugar. Stir and cook for a long time. The sugar will melt and the mixture will turn light brown and the consistency of caramel.
2. Add cream. Because the cream is cold, the mixture will become grainy. Just keep stirring and wait for it to re-melt. (Also, be careful of splatter. This is when I got burned.)
5. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Then remove from heat.
6. Take the pan out of the freezer and pour the caramel layer on. Put back in the freezer
7. Let freeze for 30-45 minutes.
8. Remove from the freezer and cut into “fun-sizes.”
Step Four – Melt Chocolate Again
Melt more chocolate or chocolate chips. You’ll need a little more for this step than you did for step one. I used about 3/4 of a bag. Drizzle and pour over the bars. Use as much or as little as you desire.
These are amazing and yes, they are worth all the work. I think I enjoyed them more than I would a normal, store-bought candy bar because I put so much time and effort into them. Plus, I can pronounce all the ingredients. That’s always a plus.
If you make them, let me know how it goes.
Check out blossomcostumes for more information on Halloween costumes.