Mars Bars

Due to my poor listing skills, today we shall back up a paragraph or three, to Harry's excitement about buying sweets on the Hogwarts Express:

"He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry-- but the woman didn't have any Mars Bars" (Sorcerer's Stone 101).

That's right! We're making homemade Mars Bars! I warn you now, these are dangerously delicious!! I got the recipe from here, and it's a lot easier than you might think!

You Will Need:

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup water

pinch salt

2 egg whies

2/3 cup (or less) almonds

35 caramels

2 Tbs water

24 oz milk chocolate chips (I only used 11oz)

candy thermometer

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, and cook until the temperature reaches 260-290 degrees (I went with about 270).

2. While that is heating, beat your egg whites in a medium-large bowl until stiff peaks form (if you have a nice stationary mixer with bowl schpiel, this is the time to use it!

3. When the syrup is ready, pour it into the egg whites in a continuous stream, while beating on low continuously. You can stop if you need to scrape the syrup out of the pan, but try not to. Keep mixing until the nougat becomes a soft dough (could be about ten minutes).

4. Press the nougat into a lightly greased 9x9" pan (mine was 7x7 I think). Pour on the almonds and press into the nougat (I used less than indicated by the recipe). Pop the pan in the fridge until the nougat is firm.

5. Unwrap the caramels and place in a microwave safe bowl with 2 Tbs water. Carefully melt the caramels in the microwave (30-sec intervals is good) and stir until smooth.

6. Pour the caramel over the nougat and almonds and smooth with a knife so it's even. Place in the fridge to solidify. Be sure the pan is FLAT in the fridge, because even a tiny slope will cause problems!

7. Melt the chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave and stir until smooth.

8. The recipe technically says to cut the caramel-nougat layers into squares, dip them in the chocolate, and let them harden on a parchment sheet. I tried this once, and it's a big mess. So I decided to pour the melted chocolate over the hardened caramel and put it back in the fridge to harden for an hour or so.

9. Cut up the Mars Bars into squares (a little messy) and enjoy! Store in parchment paper inside an airtight container or ziplock bag (in the fridge is wise). 

Yummy! In my house, half the bars were gone within an hour. Enjoy!