Candy Bar Lab

I’ve been telling people for a while that I make candy bars. However, I’m not sure everyone believed me. While I’ve eaten my own creations and frequently shared with my girlfriend and family, I hadn’t shared with many others (namely, my co-workers). So, I decided I was going to make some to bring into the office. The one that seemed to be the biggest hit was the Peanut Butter Caramel Peanut Bar shown below. I know… that’s not a very creative name, but I was just going for something descriptive, not catchy.

Here’s how I made it.

Step 1: Making Peanut Butter Caramel
Start by making a batch of soft caramel. Once you’re done, let it sit for a few minutes to cool down a little. Then, mix in a half cup of creamy, natural peanut butter. Let it melt and stir gently to fully incorporate.

Step 2: Preparing Peanuts
I used three different versions of peanuts - all derived from the same jar of dry-roasted, unsalted peanuts. First, I chopped about 1/4 cup in a nut chopper. Second, I left about 1/4 cup untouched. Third, I baked 1/3 cup at 350 degrees on a baking for about 10 minutes that had been coated in a slurry of water, sugar, and salt. When I was done, I mixed all of these together with the Peanut Butter Caramel and let sit until it was at room temperature.

Step 3: Tempering Chocolate
You must temper chocolate. Otherwise it’ll be soft, grainy, and discolored. I won’t get into the specifics of how to do it here, but there are a ton of resources available on the internet that will help you figure it out. Here’s a good place to start.

Note: I used dark chocolate, but milk chocolate would have worked just as well.

Step 4: Assembly
The center is very soft, so I decided to use a mold to construct this bar. You’ll need something with a big enough cavity to fit the caramel and peanuts. I have one about the size of a regular Snickers bar, so I went with that. Coat each cavity of the mold the tempered chocolate. I’ve seen recommendations to use a pastry brush, but I prefer to use a small spoon and gravity to evenly coat everything. If there’s excess chocolate in a cavity, either let it pour out or coerce it out with the spoon. Once the cavities are lined, let the chocolate sit until it has hardened enough to be filled.

The center at room temperature is almost the consistency of cookie dough, though a little softer. I took out about a tablespoon of filling and rolled it first into a ball and then into a log about the length of the bar. I pressed this down lightly into the mold, so it filled in all of the space. After a couple of bars, you’ll get a sense for how much it takes to fill the mold.

Finally, after you’ve filled all the molds with the peanut butter caramel, top each one with a small spoonful of tempered chocolate. I used an offset spatula to smooth everything down, so it was flush with the mold. Let the bars sit for while until everything sets up and they’re ready to be unmolded.

This is the type of caramel you’d find in Twix or Snickers.

If you’ve ever researched caramel recipes, you may have come across some like this. I’m not a fan of this method. In fact, I don’t even consider it real caramel because the sugar never actually caramelizes. Instead, this method relies on vanilla extract for flavor and gets it’s color only from the Maillard reaction of the heated amino acids in the cream and butter.

The recipe below is darker in color with a fuller flavor, yet remains soft and won’t stick to your teeth.

Ingredients
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tbsp salt

Equipment
• 2 or 3 quart, heavy-bottomed pot
• candy thermometer
• whisk

Step 1: Prep
Get all of your ingredients out and measure everything ahead of time. We’ll move quickly through the last step, so you won’t have time to measure then. Also, it helps to cut the butter into four 1-tbsp pieces and mix the salt into the cream.

Step 2: Caramelize the sugars
In the pot, mix the sugar, corn syrup, and water over low heat with a whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved. Raise heat to high and boil mixture up to 315° F. Remove from heat and swirl the pot gently. You’ll notice the mixture start to darken a bit. The residual heat will bump the temperature to 320° F, the point of caramelization for sucrose.

Step 3: Incorporate the fats
If we stopped at this point and let the mixture cool, we would have a hard mass of dark sugar. To turn this into the soft caramel we’re looking for, we need to introduce some fat (i.e. the cream and butter). Drop the butter pieces into the pot and whisk until the butter is incorporated. Next, pour in the salted cream and again, whisk until blended. Note: The butter and cream both have water, so they will cause the pot to bubble up and release very hot steam. Make sure to wear an oven mitt to protect your hands and forearms.

Step 4: Cool
The caramel will thicken as it cools. If you’ve done everything correctly though, it should remain soft and gooey at room temperature.