Homemade Snickers Bars

It was my friend’s 20th birthday last Sunday. 

Golly, 20 is a HUGE number. It scares me how fast time is passing by, I swear we were just celebrating our sweet 16’s a couple months ago. I’m so glad that I’m still 19 and that my birthday is in December. There’s a long wayyy to go before I’M 20 😛

Anyway so back to my friend’s birthday, I was frantically trying to find a birthday present for him a couple hours before his party. 

Here was my thought process:

Hmm, what to get him… OH he’s active and he’s pretty health conscious, OK so I’ll get him a smoothie maker and a tumbler!

Hang on, are there such things as smoothie makers? Oh right, blenders make smoothies. Dammit, I’m pretty sure he has a blender already.

Arghh, that was a million dollar idea too. Now I have think again… oh heyyyy, last time I hung out with him, he bought a snickers bar from a vending machine. That must means he LOVES them right? Sweet, I’ll make him some snickers for his birthday!! Whoohoo I found him a present!! No more shopping!

I’m terrible at gift shopping, it’s really hard for me to think about what others would like. I would rather study for a midterm than go gift shopping. 

You wanna hear about the snickers now don’t you? 

To be honest, I was never a huge fan of snickers bars.

Every halloween, snickers bars would be the first things I give up for trade, right after crispy crunch bars of course. (Crispy crunch is grossssss)

I could probably live without eating snickers ever again. I said probably.

I had the full intention of giving away all 16 bars that I made to my friend, but I had  to try one. Standard taste-test yenno? 😉

One bite and I was converted. These tasted just like the store bought ones but a BAJLLION times BETTER. They had a huge kick of PB flavour, a chewy layer of nougat and crunchy peanuts for a contrast of textures. I immediately wished for a time machine so that I could go back in time and un-trade all of my snickers bars.

Homemade Snickers Bars

Bottom Chocolate Layer:

1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter

Thoroughly grease a 9×13 baking pan. Melt chocolate and PB together in a microwave, then pour into the baking dish and spread until even. Put it in the freezer to let it harden.

Nougat Layer:

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cup salted peanuts chopped, roughly chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Add in sugar and milk, stirring until dissolved and bring to a boil in the microwave. Let it boil in microwave for another 2-3 mins , stirring at each 1 minute interval. Add in fluff, peanut butter and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Fold in peanuts, then pour over bottom chocolate layer. Put the pan back into the freezer while you prepare the caramel layer.

Caramel Layer:
1 14-ounce bag of caramels
1/4 cup whipping cream

Combine ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl and heat on medium for a couple minutes or until caramel melts. Stirring  until smooth. Pour over nougat layer and put pan back into the freezer.

Top Chocolate Layer:
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter

 Melt chocolate and PB together in a microwave, then pour over the caramel layer and spread until even. Put it in the freezer to let it harden for about 20 minutes.

When you take out the pan from the freezer it takes about 5-10 minutes for the bars to soften, then you can cut them easily and serve.

Adapted from: How Sweet Eats who got it from someone named Nikki (I can’t find her recipe page) who got it from Taste of Home