Crunchy Peanut and Caramel Bar

Name: Crunchy Peanut and Caramel Bar
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 10
Cuisine: Switzerland
Ingredients: 140 g granulated sugar; 170 g whole cream; 50 g butter | soft; 1 pinch of fleur de sel; 25 g butter | liquid; 5 pcs. Sponge fingers; 300 g milk couverture | tempered; 200 g peanuts

Homemade Snickers bars

Peanuts, salt, caramel and chocolate – what do you get? Probably one of the best sweet-and-salty combinations the world has to offer! Precisely because it’s such a popular and truly delicious combination, we thought we’d create our own version for you. Of course, you can easily buy bars like this in the supermarket, but homemade ones simply taste so much better! It’s basically a Snickers-style filling you can make yourself! Salted peanuts coated in a wafer-thin layer of the finest milk chocolate, nestled in a bed of soft caramel and held together by a light sponge base! Well, is your mouth watering yet? Then off to the kitchen – and have fun making them!

Key figures

Quantity: 10 pieces

Preparation time: approx. 25 minutes

Level of difficulty: Medium

Shelflife: 2 weeks

Caramel

Granulated sugar		140 g
Double cream		170 g
Butter \| softened		50 g
Fleur de sel		1 pinch

Airbrushing

White cocoa butter colour
Red cocoa butter colour
Cocoa butter colour: Pink

Biscuit base

Butter \| melted		25 g
Sponge fingers		5 pieces
Milk chocolate couverture \| tempered		300 g

You’ll also need 1 packet of salted peanuts

Chocolate bar mold tunnel, 10 pieces

Ready-to-ship quantity: 13

CHF34.90

Caramel filling, 200g

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF12.50

Cocoa Butter Polar White

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF15.90

Making the caramel

Cover the base of a large pan with about 1/5 of the granulated sugar and let it melt.

Now pour the double cream into a separate pan and heat it slowly over a medium heat. As soon as the first portion of the sugar has melted, you can add another small portion of sugar and stir it in with a flat whisk. As a general rule, you should keep stirring so that your caramel doesn’t burn.

If it’s melting too quickly, you can easily reduce the heat. Continue adding the sugar in small batches until it’s all used up. Your caramel should have a lovely golden colour and be viscous. If your caramel is too dark, we recommend making it again, as it will otherwise develop a bitter taste.

Now add the softened butter at room temperature and stir until you have a smooth mixture. Finally, add the warmed double cream. Add this in 2–3 stages as well, as the mixture will steam heavily and bubble vigorously. As the quantities of butter and cream have already been perfectly balanced to achieve the desired consistency of the caramel, you don’t need to let the mixture simmer for long; you can pour it straight into a bowl once it’s smooth.

The caramel must now be left to cool in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Cocoa butter passionate red

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF15.90

Cocoa butter pink

Ready-to-ship quantity: 13

CHF15.90

Airbrush guns for cocoa butter

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF95.00

Airbrushing the chocolate mould

Warm your cocoa butter colours in a warm bain-marie. Place your bar mould on a sheet of baking paper. Put a little of the white cocoa butter colour onto a spoon and run a silicone brush along the edge of the spoon to sprinkle small dots around the mould.

Once you’re happy with the result, turn the mould over, wipe it on some kitchen roll to clean it, and leave it for about 10 minutes to let the dots dry. Once the dots have dried, you can start airbrushing.

To do this, load the paint into your airbrush gun (connected to a powerful compressor) and spray one end of the mould with the paint. Keep turning and rotating the mould slightly as you go, so that the paint fills all the corners thoroughly. (If you start with the lighter colour, you don’t necessarily need to clean the gun! – Otherwise, simply wipe it briefly with a kitchen towel and, when changing colours, spray the new colour briefly into the cleaning reservoir so that the needle is also ‘cleaned’)

Now take the new colour and spray the other end of the mould with it. We’ve left a small section in the middle uncovered so that the couverture shows through slightly, but it’s up to you whether you do the same or not. Wipe the finished mould thoroughly on a kitchen roll again to remove any excess colour.

Leave the mould to dry for another 10–15 minutes.

Disposable piping bag transparent 20 pieces

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF6.90

Lindt couverture milk 0.5 kg

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF17.90

Metal horn

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF14.90

Biscuit base, pour into the tin and fill

Place the sponge fingers in a piping bag or plastic bag and crush them with a heavy object. You should end up with very fine crumbs. Now add the melted butter and mix everything together well. Leave to cool at room temperature.

Once the mould has dried sufficiently, you can start pouring. To do this, put your tempered couverture into a piping bag and fill the bar mould completely with it. Tap and shake the mould gently, then pour the excess couverture back into your container. Tap the mould gently again, ideally with the back of a spatula.

Now leave the poured bars to set in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Once the couverture has set firmly, you can start filling the chocolate bars.

First, add the salted peanuts to the mould. It’s up to you whether you leave them whole or chop them up. The important thing is simply not to put too many in the mould, as you’ll be adding caramel and sponge later on.

You can now take the caramel out of the fridge and transfer it to a piping bag. The consistency should be nice and creamy. Now pipe some of it over the peanuts and gently tap the chocolate mould on the work surface to help distribute the caramel more evenly.

Now add the sponge cake crumbs. Make absolutely sure they are no longer warm, otherwise the delicate chocolate coating will melt. It’s best to spread the crumbs using a small spoon and then press them down slightly. Finally, mix the remaining sponge fingers with your tempered milk chocolate coating and spread this into your chocolate mould.

This will give you a lovely crunchy base. Scrape off any excess chocolate and return it to the bowl. If small holes appear when you’re scraping, you can easily fill them in with the leftover chocolate and smooth them over.

You’ll definitely have time for this, and it’s important too, as the pralines need to be well sealed. Before you can remove your homemade Snickers from the mould, they need to go back in the fridge for another 15–20 minutes. It’s better to leave them in a few minutes too long than not long enough.

To remove the bars, simply wiggle the mould slightly at both opposite corners and then turn it upside down in one go. The bars will fall out by themselves.

Storage & Shelf life

These homemade Snickers can be stored in a dry place at room temperature for up to two weeks. In our experience, however, these sinfully delicious chocolate bars never last that long.