I do love a Twix bar as a snack from time to time. Thinking about that I thought I would like to try to make something very similar. Having looked around on the internet I found several recipes and videos that made them.
Nearly all of them looked very good indeed. I decided that I would make mine based on those made by Anna Olson on her Oh Yum! youtube channel. But I didn’t want to temper my chocolate on a marble slab as she did so, as well as using golden syrup rather than corn syrup, I used a different method.
The process is actually quite simple even though it takes some time. It is also a little messy, as working with chocolate tends to be, at least when I am doing it.
There are three distinct steps: making a biscuit base, making the caramel, and then tempering chocolate to coat the bars.
I ought to mention that I used chocolate callets, but a chocolate bar would be fine.
Chocolate chips don’t work in quite the same way as they are processed to have less fat. So they don’t melt so quickly during baking. For that reason I wouldn’t use chocolate chips for these bars.
My bars turned out very well indeed, with the chocolate tempered well. As such it doesn’t melt on the fingers when picked up.
They tasted very good indeed, with a sweet caramel and the shortbread biscuit all coated in silky smooth milk chocolate.
If you like chocolate you may enjoy my Rich Chocolate Cake Recipehttps://youtu.be/VZ3k5tstU0s
Chocolate Caramel Bars – Twix Bars
Course: Biscuits & CookiesDifficulty: Medium20
servings45
minutes40
minutesIngredients
- Biscuit base
190g(1 cup+3 tbsp+1tsp, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour
100g(1/2 cup) caster sugar
113g(1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 medium egg yolk(large in USA)
Pinch of salt
- Caramel and coating
80ml(1/3 cup) water
150g(3/4 cup)caster sugar
100g(1/3 cup)condensed milk
100g(1/3 cup)golden syrup or corn syrup
60g(4 1/2 tbsp) unsalted butter
5ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
3g(1/2 tsp) salt
454g(1 lb) milk chocolate (split into 3/4 to melt and 1/4 for tempering)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160 Fan/350F
- Grease an 8 inch/20cm square cake tin and line it with parchment paper.
- Place the butter and sugar into a large bowl and use a spatula or spoon to mix together until blended.
- Add the egg yolk and blend that in too.
- Pour in the flour and salt and again mix until blended in, but only until you have a crumbly mixture.
- Tip the mixture into the cake tin and level it across the base, then press it down to flatten and compress it.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes(slightly longer for a crisper biscuit), then remove from the oven.
- As the base is baking place the sugar, water and condensed milk into a saucepan and bring it to a boil on a high heat.
- Turn the heat down to medium and add the golden syrup.
- Stirring all the time allow the mixture to boil until it reaches a temperature of 110C/230F.
- Add the butter and, stirring all the time, bring the temperature up to 115C/239F.
- Turn off the heat and add in the vanilla and salt and stir to combine.
- Pour the caramel over the biscuit base and tip to level and spread into the corners.
- Set aside to cool for at least 3 hours(you can put it in the fridge for extra firmness after it has cooled).
- Take the biscuit/caramel out of the cake tin and cut in half.
- Slice each half into 10 strips of 2cm(about 1 inch) and place them on a parchment lined tray.
- Melt 3/4 of the chocolate in a double boiler, stirring to ensure it is all melted, checking the temperature until it reaches 43C-46C(110F-115F).
- Remove from the heat and add about half of the remaining chocolate, stirring until it is all melted.
- Add more of the remaining chocolate and stir to melt, checking the temperature. It needs to reduce to 27C(81F). Add enough chocolate to achieve that temperature or, once you have used all of the remaining chocolate, just stir until is has cooled to that temperature.
- Place the chocolate back on the double boiler and stir as the temperature reaches 30-31C(86-88F).
If the chocolate begins to cool too much when coating the biscuits you can heat again, but only to that temperature, do not exceed 31C(88F). - Take each strip of biscuit/caramel and turn it over in the chocolate then transfer to the parchment paper and allow it to cool and set.
- When the chocolate has set you can refrigerate for about 10 minutes.
[…] Another easy chocolate treat is Chocolate Caramel Bars. […]