"Twix" Candy Bars
For the past several years, my sister-in-law and I have been making the bulk of our Easter candies. Both of us love to bake, and it is fun to pick out different recipes to try out, opt for new challenges, and try again to nail a previous favorite.
Lots of recipes have come and gone (and boy! candy making can be a bear!), but this one has held firm from the very first year we made it. While they might not have been the prettiest or neatest when we started out, they have never failed to taste delicious (which is most important). Moreover, on the candy making scale, these are less challenging in technique as they are in mere patience (dipping can be tedious!).
A tender shortbread cookie base topped with chewy caramel and dipped in chocolate.
As we made them more and more, we have slightly tweaked the recipe. And, like all things, practice makes perfect, so little by little we have gotten them much more uniform and charming in their looks.
And, yes, they still taste delicious and haven’t been ousted from their place as the favorite candy — yet.
“Twix” candy bars
Makes 64 candy bars
Ingredients:
[For the Cookie Base]:
1 1/2 sticks softened unsalted* butter, plus more for greasing the pan
3/4 cup powdered sugar (sifted if there are any lumps)
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 to 1 1/2 tsp salt*
[For the Caramel Layer]:
1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 tsp salt
14oz sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
[To Finish]:
30-32oz dark chocolate melting wafers*
Directions:
[For the Cookie Base]:
Preheat oven to 375.
Generously grease a 9x13in baking pan*. (Generously! It will make removing the candy later much, much easier.)
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until lightened in color and nice and creamy. You may need to pause and scrape down the sides a time or two. Also, don’t go above speed 4 — we want to cream the butter and sugar, not whip them.
Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture while mixing on low. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then mix until well combined.
Scrape dough into the buttered pan. Press dough into the bottom of the pan, getting it into as even and flat a layer as possible.
Prick cookie base all over with a fork, then bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until browned along the edges. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.
[For the Caramel Layer]:
Mix sugar, corn syrup, unsalted butter, and salt in a 3-4 qt saucepan. (It needs to be larger than you’d expect as the caramel will bubble later as it cooks.)
Over medium low heat, bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly (a whisk is the best tool to use). As soon as it starts bubbling around the edges, stop stirring, reduce the heat to low, and let it boil gently for 4 minutes.
Remove from heat, and gradually whisk in the sweetened condensed milk.
Return to medium low heat and cook until the mixture reaches 238-240 (softball stage) on a candy thermometer, stirring constantly. (If you clip the thermometer to the pot, make sure you get under it as you stir to prevent browning. Should brown bits occur, however, they don’t usually affect the caramel beyond looks.)
Remove caramel from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over cookie base, and put into the fridge uncovered until set, at least 2 hrs. (It can sit longer — up to a day at least.)
[To Finish]:
When caramel is set, use a knife to cut around the edges and loosen the cookie base & caramel. It should turn out onto a cutting board, but if it doesn’t right away, continue to gently loosen the edges with the knife, getting a thin spatula under the cookie base if necessary. Be careful and gentle, however, so the cookie base doesn’t break and crumble.
Once bars are loosened from the pan, place them cookie side down. Using your sharpest big knife, trim the edges, if necessary, to form straight lines. Cutting parallel to the short end, cut 16 short, even strips from one short side to the other. Then cut each of those strips into 4 even pieces. (Cookie base can be crumbly — so try to cut as gently as possible, getting the cut started, then gradually applying pressure to slowly cut through the bars. Usually I will cut once, not fully going through to the bottom, then come back and gently press the knife down to the bottom. Occasionally, I let the bars sit at room temp for 30min or so to take the chill off. That may help the cookie cut cleaner, but the gentle, gradual pressure when cutting plays a bigger role. ALSO: Sarah tried these out and found caramel down cut MUCH cleaner, so that is an option too! In the end, whatever you find works best for you.)
In a small saucepan, bring an inch or two of water to boiling. Reduce heat to keep water at a simmer. Place melting chocolate in a medium to large bowl and place over the saucepan, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Melt chocolate until completely smooth. (Also make sure no steam gets into the chocolate — it will cause the chocolate to seize. A silicone spatula is a good tool to use or something other than wood. Wood can retain moisture and cause the chocolate to seize as well.)
Dip bars in chocolate then transfer to parchment lined baking sheets until chocolate is set. (Everyone develops their own method of dipping. We tend to place the bars cookie side down into the chocolate, gently raise them up out of the chocolate with a large fork (keeping the cookie base on the bottom), spoon chocolate over the top, then gently nudge excess chocolate off the top and sides with a knife. We then scrape the bottom of the fork before bringing the bars to the lined pans. Finally, we gently nudge the bar off, being careful not to let it tip onto its side.)
Once chocolate sets, you can trim the bars with a sharp knife to achieve sharper lines. Surprisingly, the trimming is not very noticeable.
Store in an airtight container at room temp for at least a week or two, but they also keep indefinitely in the fridge and freezer. (Just let them come to room temp or you might break a tooth on the caramel.) Enjoy!
Notes:
If you are not using unsalted butter, be sure to read the note below to adjust accordingly.
After making these many times, we decided there should be more salt to counter the sweetness of the caramel and chocolate. We didn’t want the salted caramel taste, so opted to make the cookie salty. The full 1 1/2 tsp gives a definite salty bite to the cookies. If you want less of a sweet & salty contrast, the amount can be lowered 1/4-1/2 tsp. (If you use salted butter, make sure to lessen the salt to 3/4 to 1 tsp.)
If you’d rather skip the worry of the cookies sticking to the pan, you may use foil to line the bottom of the pan, leaving a few inches of overhang on the long sides for easy gripping. Still grease the foil generously. (I don’t like working with foil on the bottom of my baked goods, however, so avoid it where I can. We always have used a glass 9x13in pan with rounded edges also which allows for gently nudging and prying under the bars. In a sharp cornered metal pan, foil might be the safer bet.)
Our preference is Ghirardelli which has declicious flavor, but have used generic brands as well. Dark chocolate is a nice contrast to the caramel, but milk chocolate would work too, especially if you use the higher amount of salt in the cookie base.
Adapted from this recipe.
