I’ve always been a big fan of trying to make things from scratch, but ever since we settled into our new house I’ve really gone a little crazy! I’ve definitely been doing a lot more experimenting and trying new recipes that used to scare me a bit, and it’s been really fun and I’ve learned a lot. With Halloween coming up I thought I’d be interesting to experiment with making one of my favorite candy bars – twix!

They actually came out really good! The original recipe just used premade caramels, but I decided to get a little crazy and try making my own caramel, and I was really happy with how it came out.

Homemade Twix Bars

The Cookie Layer (from King Aurthur Flour)

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

2 cups Flour

Preheat your oven to 300°F. Spray a 9″ x 13″ pan lightly with cooking spray, or line with parchment, and set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add the flour. At first the mixture may seem dry, but will come together as you continue to beat at medium speed. Take the dough and press it evenly into the pan (lightly flouring your fingertips will help with any sticking). Prick the crust all over with a fork. Bake the crust until it’s lightly golden brown on top and the edges are deeper golden brown, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately run a knife around the edges to loosen the crust. Allow to cool completely.

The Caramel Layer* (adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 cup Heavy Cream

1 cup + 2 Tbsp Sugar

3 Tbsp Butter

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp Light Corn Syrup

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

Candy Thermometer

Bring cream, sugar, butter, and corn syrup to a boil in a large saucepan, stirring until sugar dessolves. Reduce to medium heat, stirring occasionally until caramel reaches 246 (right below soft ball stage), about 15 minutes. Immediately remove from heat, and stir in salt and vanilla. Pour over cookie layer (still in parchment and pan) and allow to sit at room temperture for 8 hours, or overnight, until set.

*If you don’t want to make your own caramel layer you can just melt down some like they did in the original recipe

To Finish…

Cut cookie and caramel into bars. I did mine nice and thick, but you can cut them skinnier if you want them to look more similar to the regular candy bars.

Melt 3 cups of chocolate chips over low heat (you can add 1 Tbsp of vegetable shortening to thin it out if nessasary). Spoon warm chocolate over into strips about the size of your bars onto parchment paper, sitting bars in as you go.

Then spoon more chocolate over the top, pushing it across the surface to cover and coat sides. Allow chocolate to cool and set – then enjoy!

Wouldn’t this be so fun to show up with a tray of these at a Halloween Party? Everyone loves a bit of candy this time of year, and it feels pretty darn fancy to make them from scratch:)