Homemade Snickers

One random Sunday afternoon I decided to make the boyfriend something he’d love while he was out playing sports (he does this a lot). I remembered that Snickers are one of his favorite chocolate bars & after some Googling I found this recipe on Brown Eyed Baker. They appear to be very tedious at first, but they actually came together quicker than I imagined.

The hardest part is making the caramel peanuts. I had never worked with homemade caramel before, and I burned the first batch. You can simply buy caramel peanuts if you don’t want to go through the hassle of making them. Though, I assure you that once you get the method down you’ll never want store bought caramel peanuts again.

Homemade Snicker Bars

Servings: 16 bars

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 TB powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, cut into small pieces & chilled
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Filling:

1/3 cup sugar
3 TB water
1 1/2 cup salted peanuts
1 1/2 cup thick toffee sauce

Topping:

7 oz bittersweet chocolate chips
4 TB butter, cut into small pieces & kept at room temperature

Directions:

1. Place your oven rack in the center & pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8” square pan with non-stick spray or butter it.

2. Make the crust:

Place the flour, sugar, powdered sugar &salt into a food processor and pulse a few times to combine.
Toss in the pieces of cold butter and pulse about 12 times, until the mixture looks like coarse meal.
Pour the yolk over the ingredients and pulse until the dough forms clumps. Stop before the dough comes together in a ball.
Place the dough into the 8” square pan and press it evenly across the bottom. Pierce the dough all over with a fork and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the sides begin to brown. Remove from oven & let cool before using.

3. While the crust is baking, begin making the filling:

Have a foil lined (and sprayed) baking pan ready & a wooden spoon.
Put the sugar and water in a medium pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Turn the heat to high & continue to cook the sugar, without stirring, until it just starts to color (for some reason mine rarely changes color. After about 8 minutes I throw the peanuts in anyway. Just make sure the water & sugar is thickening a bit before you add the peanuts).
Toss in the peanuts and immediately start stirring. Keep stirring, to coat the peanuts with the sugar. Within a few minutes, they will be covered with sugar and it should begin to caramel. Keep stirring otherwise they will burn (I’ve burnt them twice!). When the peanuts are coated with a deep caramel color, turn off the heat & pour the peanuts onto the baking pan. spread them out with the wooden spoon & let them cool.
When the peanuts are cool, separate the nuts or break them into small pieces. Divide the nuts in half. Keep half of the nuts whole or in large pieces for the filling, and finely chop the other half for the topping.

4. Spread the caramel sauce over the crust with a small border left around the edges. Sprinkle the whole candied peanuts over the caramel.

5. Make the topping:

Melt the chocolate in a double broiler (don’t know what a double broiler is? Look here).
Turn off the heat & stir in the butter. Stir until the butter is completely melted into the chocolate.

6. Assemble together:

Pour the chocolate over the caramel & peanuts. Smooth it out the best you can.
Sprinkle the chopped peanuts on top.
Place the pan in the refrigerator to set the topping, about 20 minutes. Leave them in the refrigerator for a few hours if you want them served very cold.