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This Halloween, satisfy your sweet tooth with Snickers-inspired cookie bars

By America’s Test Kitchen, Tribune Content Agency on

A Snickers bar is a near perfect candy. The only thing that can make it better? Freezing it. It still has the perfect sweet and salty balance of flavor, but freezing the bar somehow makes the texture even better. That was our inspiration when we created sweet and salty, chewy and crunchy cookie bars, the perfect Halloween sweet.

We used some clever techniques to achieve our ideal cookie-candy hybrid. For the base, we used a combination of melted chocolate, chopped peanuts and coconut oi. Since we planned to freeze these treats, and coconut oil becomes solid at cold temperatures, this resulted in a firm base layer with a nice snap.

For the easiest-ever peanut butter-nougat filling, we melted peanut butter and butter together and then folded in marshmallow creme before mixing in more peanuts. We spread this plush confection in a thick, even layer over the chocolate base. To finish this sweet bite, we settled on a decorative flourish of caramel and chocolate. Stirring a little heavy cream into melted store-bought soft caramels gave them just the right consistency for drizzling.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bars

Makes 16 bars

8 ounces milk chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons refined coconut oil

1 cup salted dry-roasted peanuts

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme

 

4 ounces soft caramels

1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Make a foil sling for an 8-inch square baking pan by folding two long sheets of aluminum foil so each is 8 inches wide. Lay sheets of foil in the pan perpendicular to each other, with extra foil hanging over edges of the pan. Push the foil into the corners and up the sides of pan, smoothing the foil flush to the pan. Grease foil.

2. Combine 6 ounces of chocolate and the 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a medium bowl. Microwave at 50% power, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Finely chop 1/2 cup of peanuts; add to the melted chocolate and stir to combine. Transfer to the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.

3. Combine peanut butter and butter in a medium bowl and microwave until the butter is melted and warm, 30 to 45 seconds. Stir until incorporated. Fold in marshmallow creme and stir until well combined (mixture should lighten in color and may look separated). Fold in remaining 1/2 cup of peanuts. Spread evenly over the chocolate layer and chill until firm, about 1 hour.

4. Heat caramels and 1 tablespoon cream in small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth, adding an additional tablespoon of cream if necessary; set aside. Melt remaining 2 ounces of chocolate. Drizzle caramel and chocolate over the peanut butter layer and freeze until set, about 30 minutes. Using the foil overhang, remove the dessert from the pan. Using a greased knife, cut into 36 squares and serve immediately.

Recipe note: These bars are best served straight from the freezer.

(For 25 years, confident cooks in the know have relied on America’s Test Kitchen for rigorously tested recipes developed by professional test cooks and vetted by 60,000 at-home recipe testers. See more online at www.americastestkitchen.com/TCA.)

© 2020 AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

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