Chew on This | Homemade Twix Bars

The grocery store is full of Halloween candy. There's so much there it practically scrapes the ceiling. And I get kind of giddy when I see so many sweets all in one place. It brings back my childhood Trick-or-Treat sensibilities. The candy collecting and hoarding and subsequent sugar highs. Halloween is winning the candy lottery.

After tricking-and-treating my sister and I would spread our winnings out on the living room floor and start separating and counting. We'd compare our stashes and discuss which neighbors gave the best and worst selections. A Halloween tradition. 

Getting a full-sized candy bar from a neighbor was always a thrill. A Snickers bar. Hershey's with almonds. And Twix Bars. That's right - bars. You got two candy bars in one package. Win!

So, Halloween is about a month away and seeing all that sweet candy piled up at the grocery store got me thinking. Why not make my own candy bars now? I could make my own stock pile of goodness. Brilliant! 

Sure, I could easily buy some candy bars, but where's the challenge in that?

Twix was the obvious choice. Cookie, caramel and chocolate! Two for me. Two for you. Yum!

Cares

Here's my recipe:

Homemade Twix Bars

1 recipe shortbread cookies

1 recipe caramel sauce

1 recipe ganache


Shortbread Cookie Base:

3 sticks butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

3 1/2 cups flour

1 pinch salt

Cream together butter and sugar until combined. Add vanilla. Slowly sift in flour and salt.  Don’t over mix. Stop mixing when a crumbly dough forms.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface and form into a disk.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or more.

When ready, preheat your oven to 350℉ and prepare a 9x13" baking dish with parchment paper. Press dough flat onto the parchment paper about 1/2" thickness. You'll have some dough left over, re-wrap in plastic and save for another use. Bake cookie base for about 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

While cookie base is baking, prepare your caramel.


Caramel Layer:

1 1/2 C sugar
1 C heavy whipping cream

4 T butter

2 pinches salt

Pour your sugar into a dry sauté pan over medium-low heat. Allow some of the sugar to begin to melt and start caramelize in the pan without stirring. This takes approximately 10 minutes. At this point, using a fork, begin to stir you sugar to allow all of the sugar crystals to melt and become liquid.

Once all of your sugar crystal are melted, prepare to pour in your heavy cream. Wearing an oven mitt and using a whisk or wooden spoon, slowly and carefully pour in your heavy whipping cream. Stir/whisk continuously while pouring in the cream. The mixture will bubble up wildly! Continue to stir/whisk, even when the caramel forms and begins to seize up. At this point you should add your butter and pinches of salt, all the while whisking/stirring away.

You're still whisking/stirring away, over medium-low heat, until the caramel loosens and becomes smooth and silky. Pour caramel sauce into a clean bowl or jar. Allow to cool 20 minutes.

Once caramel has cooled, pour over cookie base, cover baking dish with plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator for at least one hour to harden caramel.

While waiting for the caramel layer to harden, prepare your ganache.

Chocolate Ganache:

1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 C heavy whipping cream

In a microwave safe bowl, combine your chocolate and cream and microwave on high in 20 seconds intervals, stirring after each 20 second interval. Do this until chocolate is just slightly softened and then stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. 

Once caramel has hardened, remove entire cookie/caramel combination from the baking dish. Peel off the parchment paper from the cookie bottom. Cut into long rectangles and place on a wire rack over a cookie sheet. Pour ganache over the cookies covering the tops and sides.

Place cookie sheet into the refrigerator to firm up the chocolate, about 30 minutes. 

Serve and enjoy! Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.