Today’s fun you guys.
Homemade Chocolate Candy BarsEasy Take 5 Layer Bar RecipeTips and Tricks on Take 5 Bars:Get the Recipe
Actually this whole week is a lot of fun…You like candy, right? Dumb question…
Homemade Chocolate Candy Bars
So this week Kristan from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen, Bridget from Bake at 350 and I are doing a whole week of Candy Bar treats. Otherwise known as the best week ever.
Easy Take 5 Layer Bar Recipe
For my first installation I decided to play around with a Take 5 Bar. You know the ones, right? They are possibly the most perfect food ever invented. You’ve got pretzels, peanut butter, caramel, peanut and chocolate. Most. Perfect. I wanted to mess with the ingredients in a Take 5 and make them into bars. Because that’s what I do. Let’s take about these ok…you’ve got a buttery, pretzel crust, topped with a peanut butter filling, topped again with the most delicious homemade caramel sauce mixed with honey roasted peanuts, topped AGAIN with a milk chocolate layer. Dying yet?
Tips and Tricks on Take 5 Bars:
Start with the crust: Crushed pretzels, brown sugar and butter. I used the back of my measuring cup to help press the crust firmly into my pan…This helps it not crumble so much.Bake that til it’s golden and set it aside to cool.Then make your peanut butter layer.Peanut Butter, Butter and powdered sugar.It keeps getting better.Spread it all up on your cooled crust. Pop that in the fridge while you’re making your caramel.Yes, I said making your caramel. Now, if you’re really just not that into making your own, go ahead and buy a 14 oz bag of caramels and melt them with 1/4 cup heavy cream.But.Really. Try making your own, just this once. It’s beyond worth it.This is coming from someone who gives the candy thermometer the stink eye every chance I get…so trust me. All you do is add some sugar, corn syrup, salt and water into a heavy pot…Pop your thermometer on the side…And then let that boil away until the thermometer reads 340°.Remove it from the heat and stir in butter, heavy cream and a leetle bit of sour cream…again, just trust me. Let that stuff cool for a while. Mine actually sat for about an hour and a half. I got sidetracked with life stuff, like feeding my family and Downton Abbey on my iPad. Anyway, it’ll look like the most beautiful caramel when it’s cooled…Right? Then chop up some peanuts…And stir those in…Spread that on the peanut butter layer. It’ll be a tad hard to spread, but just be patient, you can do it.Then you can go ahead and get your chocolate out.I used milk chocolate on top. Because, well…it’s the best. Melt that with a little heavy cream and spread it all over the caramel.And then smooth it all over…Pop this back in the fridge for about an hour or so, enough time for the chocolate to set and the caramel to firm up. Also, I served them chilled…they hold together a bit better that way! And yeah, so that’s what you do. *Warning, these bars are insane, and also a bit messy.So what, who cares? Eat.Now, you MUST go check out what Kristan and Bridget stuffed candy into. I hear there’s Heath Bar Salted Caramel Brownie Trifles, or something ridiculous like that happening… And maybe Snickers Scones, which basically makes it ok to eat Snickers for breakfast and pretend that I live on Downton Abbey all at the same time. Win.
You’ll also sign up to get new recipes in your inbox. Δ If you don’t want to make your own caramel layer, you can melt 14 oz unwrapped caramel pieces together with 1/4 cup heavy cream instead.
