Book Update: I began reading “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers” by Robert Sapolsky. The writing style is very easy to read and he inserts some humor. There is a lot of information and a lot of notes in the back as well. This is a great book for anyone who stresses about anything. It explains a lot. Though if you are a parent, want to be a parent, or have parents, you may want to skip the chapter about parenting… because it might stress you out. Basically, some of the points are that despite your environment and other factors, your life as an infant really does affect you physically for the rest of your life. For example, women that are pregnant during a famine will have babies that have “learned” there isn’t a lot of food around… therefore, the body will start to hold on to calories. These people tend to have increased chances of obesity and diabetes regardless of what happens later in life. Isn’t that crazy?? And speaking of calories… 🙂
Recipe Update: This recipe is AWESOME!!! Make it now!!! There are so many yummy things about it: It tastes just like snickers bars. You could change it up to meet your tastes or get creative! Use salted cashews instead of salted peanuts. Or add a layer of softened vanilla or caramel ice cream in the middle. Or use ice cream instead of nougat to fold in the nuts. Or instead of milk chocolate, you could use dark chocolate. You could chop these up for Snickers Salad or chop them up and sprinkle them on some apples. Or cut them small and put them inside a crescent roll with apple slices. Or add crisp rice cereal (a.k.a. Rice Krispies) to the bottom layer! Or make your own Snickers concrete! Or put a layer of pretzels inside to make it like “Take 5”. Ooh, I do love those Take 5 bars!
Homemade Snickers Bars
Print the Recipe!
yield 9×13 pan
First Chocolate Layer
1 and 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter (I used smooth and creamy Skippy Natural)
Nougat Layer
4 Tb. (1/4 cup) Butter (unsalted or salted)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 and 1/2 cups (7 oz. jar) marshmallow fluff
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 and 1/2 cups salted peanuts, rough chop
1/2 tsp. salt (if using unsalted butter and if the peanuts are not very salty)
Caramel Layer
14 oz. bag of caramels (I like Kraft or Market Pantry (Target brand))
1/4 cup whipping cream
Top Chocolate Layer
1 and 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter
1. To prep your pan: use a 9×13 pan and cover it in non-stick foil, or grease it and place parchment paper inside and grease the parchment paper.
2. For the bottom/first layer: Melt the chocolate and peanut butter together on the stove top on low or in the microwave at 50% power and stirring every 30 seconds or so. Once you have most of the chips melted, simply stir to get it smooth (don’t want to overcook it and burn!). Pour into your pan and throw that in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. For the nougat/second layer: In a saucepan, melt your butter, sugar and evaporated milk together on medium heat. Once that starts to boil, let it boil for 5 minutes and stir once in a while. Take the pot off the heat and add your marshmallow fluff, peanut butter and vanilla. Fold that in until it is all smooth. Now, fold in your peanuts. Pour this nougat onto the chocolate layer. Fridge for 30 minutes. (A trick for marshmallow fluff: spray your spatula with cooking spray and it won’t stick.)
4. For the caramel/third layer: Melt together the caramels and cream together either in the microwave at 50% power or on the stove top on low/ medium-low heat. Stir once in a while until it is smooth. This step takes about 10-15 minutes so you may want to start it early. Pour it all on the nougat layer. Throw it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
5. For the chocolate/fourth layer: Again, melt your chocolate and peanut butter together at 50% power. Same as the first layer. Pour this on top of your caramel layer. At this point you can freeze or fridge the candy. I like it frozen for several reasons: 1, the bottom layer stayed mushy a long time in the fridge but was great in the freezer and 2, frozen snickers are easier and cleaner to cut with a knife. If the knife still won’t go through, run it under some hot water and dry it off. The warm knife should cut through easily.
These get pretty gooey at room temperature. I was disappointed by that fact and wonder how Snickers manages to get around it. Maybe they temper the chocolate? I’m not sure. Keep them in the fridge at least or better yet the freezer. To serve, I plan on putting a stone in the freezer and then serving the snickers off of that so they will stay cold.
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home
Bring your favorite chocolate dessert to Roxana’s Home Baking #chocolateparty and win amazing prizes from OXO, Calphalon, Keurig, Imperial Sugar, Honey Ridge Farms and Land O’ Lakes® Butter.
