Here is an easy way to make either a Milky Way or any other variation on a caramel/nougat/nut candy bar at home. I started this project by watching Todd Wilbur make a Snickers blindfolded on YouTube. He made it sound very easy, but he also left out amounts and ingredients to protect his royalties.
I fiddled around with it and here is what I came up with (with some notes about my mistakes at the end). My kids all said that the results were definitely close to a snickers. By changing the nuts to almonds, you will have a Mars Bar. By omitting the nuts altogether you will have a Milky Way. By leaving the peanuts whole, you can make a Baby Ruth. By substituting almond butter for the peanut butter in the nougat and adding chopped almonds, you will have a Toblerone. There may be another variety using hazelnuts…it sounds like it should be a candy bar if it isn’t already. Anyway, you get the idea.
So, as you may have figured from the instructions saying not heat the caramels too fast, the first time I made these, I did just that. The caramel layer was crunchy instead of chewy. I also had a problem with shape. I think because the caramels were so hot, they melted the nougat layer and everything went south from there. In the end, I still pronounced the candy bars a success and have made them again. These photos were taken after I learned a thing or two. The key is to refrigerate or even freeze the candy between adding each layer. I am still working on my chocolate dipping technique.
1. Info for Homemade Milky Way Candy Bars
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Servings: 8
- Calories: 112 kcal
2. Ingredients for Homemade Milky Way Candy Bars
- Nougat:
- 1 Tbsp water
- ⅓ cup honey (you can use corn syrup, but I wanted it to be slightly healthier)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- Caramel Layer:
- 1 package caramels (about 40)
- 2 Tbsp water
- Chocolate Coating:
- 12 ounce package chocolate chips (either regular or milk)
- 2 Tbsp butter or shortening
3. Directions:
- Beat all of the above ingredients with a hand mixer until just combined.
- Knead the nougat until completely combined.
- Pat it into an 8X8 pan and refrigerate while you get the remaining ingredients ready.
- Melt the caramels in a saucepan over low heat.
- You don’t want to super heat these guys or you will end up with a very hard layer of caramel.
- When the caramels are melted and smoothly incorporated with the water, add ½ cup chopped nuts if desired.
- Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave bowl for a minute, stir and microwave for one more minute.
- That should be enough time to get it smooth.
- Spread the caramel layer on top of the nougat.
- Cut in the square in half and then cut into 1 inch candy bar shapes.
- Dip into chocolate and refrigerate until you serve.
