Homemade Snickers chocolates!

A Snickers bar is one of my favourite chocolate bars and this is my homemade “cheat’s” take on a Snickers bar.

Homemade chocolates are such fun to make and you have the advantage (among many advantages!) of tailoring the flavours to your preferences.

Over the years I have recreated some of my favourite commercial chocolate bars with my take on Twix, Crunchie and Bounty. The recipes for these can be found at the bottom of this page.

While I often make caramel from scratch – and very occasionally nougat – , there are times when life can be too short and shortcuts are needed. This is one such time! Ok, these might seem a bit fiddly, but it is actually quite straightforward to make them and the rewards are absolutely worth it.

Even with shortcuts, good quality ingredients make all the difference. With this recipe, salted peanuts are essential (unsalted just doesn’t work as well), as are good quality peanut butter and chocolate:

Peanut butter

I used a smooth peanut butter that does not contain palm oil.

Some of the peanut butter is mixed in with the chocolate for the outer covering. This not only adds flavour, it prevents the chocolate from setting too firm: for some chocolates, such as these, I like a soft bite.

Chocolate

A good quality milk chocolate is important. You can temper the chocolate for a crisp finish, but just using melted chocolate here, that combines with some of the peanut butter, is both simpler and quicker.

When mixed with the peanut butter you get a gorgeous mouth-feel and a delicious flavour: it is almost going down the gianduja route.

Caramel

The caramel here is just hard toffee melted slowly in hot double cream, but you can use a jar of bought caramel. The bought caramel can be a touch too runny but this is not a problem here to be honest – it is just personal taste. However, the advantage of melting the crushed toffees and cream together is that it re-sets to be slightly firmer and slightly chewy.

The amount of cream I give in the recipe results in a gentle ooze: if you want it runnier, you can add more cream; if you want it firmer use a few more toffees.

Nougat

Bought marshmallows, butter and peanut butter make a good shortcut nougat. You just heat them together (the microwave is ideal here), beat well and leave to set.

When it sets, it goes stretchy and almost like a firm but pliable foam: a nice contrast, texture-wise, to the caramel.

To use this nougat, you can tear off pieces to use but I like to roll it out firmly between two sheets of greaseproof to give a thin sheet of nougat. This can then be cut out using a knife or circular cutter.

I have occasionally cut some of my nougat a little on the small side for these chocolates but the nougat is pliable, so with a little stretching you have a perfect fit!

Moulds

I used flexible silicone moulds (including a cake pop mould) with small holes for these chocolates rather than the solid plastic moulds, as they are easier to turn out. Literally once the chocolate has set, they pop out easily and in one piece!

Recipe: homemade Snickers chocolates

Chocolate covering:

• 200g milk chocolate, melted
• 40g smooth peanut butter

Caramel layer:

• 60ml double cream
• 150g hard toffees, roughly crushed (or whizzed around in the food processer for a few seconds to break them up)
• 60g salted peanuts, as they come or roughly crushed

Nougat layer:

• 50g smooth peanut butter
• 100g marshmallows, mini or larger
• 40g unsalted butter

To finish:

• dark chocolate, melted

You will also need silicone moulds, a few sheets of greaseproof and a palette knife or long ruler

(1) For the chocolate covering, stir the peanut butter into the chocolate until smooth.

(2) Spoon this chocolate mixture into the moulds, coming at least half full and tilt a little to start to coat the sides. Invert fully a few inches over a sheet of greaseproof for a few moments to catch the chocolate drips until no more chocolate drips down onto the greaseproof. Run a palette knife or ruler across the top to clean it up a little.

NB: the chocolate on the palette knife can go onto the chocolate-dripped greaseproof to be re-melted for use later.

(3) Place on a clean sheet of greaseproof, chocolate-side down. Chill this to set fully.
NB: this helps the chocolate set evenly around the inside of the mould. If you leave it chocolate-side up, the chocolate will pool into the base of the moulds making it too thick there and too thin around the sides.

(4) For the caramel layer: heat the toffees and cream in a small saucepan, stirring  to give a smooth caramel. Remove from the heat and stir in the peanuts. Leave to cool fully, at which point it will become thicker but not solid.
NB: you can pop it in the fridge if you like. It also keeps in an airtight jar in the fridge for several weeks.

(5) For the nougat: microwave the marshmallows in short bursts until they swell and just start to melt. Add the butter and the peanut butter and stir until you have a smooth mixture. Let this cool fully: it will get quite firm and foamy and it will be quite elastic.

(6) Roll out the nougat firmly and thinly between 2 sheets of greaseproof and leave it for a few moments to rest (otherwise it will shrink back a little). Cut out small discs.
NB: you might need to put a bit of pressure on the rolling pin to help it flatten out.

(7) Spoon a little peanutty caramel into the moulds, coming to just under half full. Pop a piece of the nougat on top and pat down gently so that there is a little space between the nougat and the top of the mould.
NB: depending on how thick the nougat is, you might need more or less of the peanut caramel in there. Just make sure you haven’t gone right to the top with the filling as chocolate will be spooned over to finish these off.

(8) Re-melt the chocolate that had dripped onto the greaseproof and spoon a little over the tops. Shake the moulds gently to help the chocolate settle. NB: for these I find it easier to spoon over the individual holes in the mould. If you have chocolate all over the top of the mould, run a ruler or spatula over the top – this will give a clean finish when turned out.

(9) Chill until the chocolate has set and turn out: the beauty of using silicone moulds here is they simply pop out. You can pipe or drizzle over dark chocolate (for a visual contast), milk chocolate or leave them as they are.

Anyone for Twix, Bounty and Crunchie?

Recipe: Bounty

Recipe: Crunchie

Recipe:  Twix