Homemade Twix Bars

Ever since I joined Pinterest I've come across a lot of homemade candy bar recipes. Apparently there are several different ways to make your favorite candy bars. So this year I decided to make homemade Twix bars for Anthony. After looking at all the choices I'd saved I finally decided on a recipe from Tastes Better from Scratch as it was the format I wanted.

Homemade Twix Bars (source)

Ingredients

For the Shortbread

• 1 cup butter , salted, room temperature
  
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Caramel

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• dash of salt

For the Chocolate

• 3 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1 Tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Spray a 9×13″ pan really well with non-stick cooking spray.

For the Shortbread Crust:

1. In a large bowl, use a pastry blender to combine the butter, sugar, flour, and vanilla until the mixture comes together. Gently press the shortbread dough into the pan. 
2. Bake for 28-33 minutes or until the outer crust is lightly golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

For the Caramel:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. 
2. Bring mixture to a rolling boil and continue to cook, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, about 6-9 minutes). 
3. I test the "doneness" of the caramels using the ice water method: Stick several ice cubes in a small cup and fill with cold water. Test if the mixture has reached soft ball stage by dropping a spoonful of it into the ice water. If you're able to just barely clump the caramel sauce together in your hands to form a really soft ball, then it's ready! This is the most important step! Don't overcook the caramel or it will be hard and sticky on your teeth. When the caramel starts to turn golden, I do the ice water method every few minutes until it's ready, just to make sure I don't overcook it. (Being the impatient person I am this took me a few tries. I think you're supposed to turn the heat up at some point because it took me way longer than 9 minutes to reach the soft ball stage. I think next time I'm either going to melt down caramel squares, use a jar of caramel sauce/ice cream topping, or look up the temperature that caramel is done at.)
4. Once it reaches soft ball stage, remove from heat and pour the warm caramel over the cooled shortbread crust. Smooth into an even layer. Allow to sit until caramel sets and then refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours.

For the Chocolate:

1. Add the butter and chocolate chips to a bowl and use a double boiler (or your microwave at 30 second intervals stirring in between) to melt the chocolate until smooth. (I think I overcooked it because as I was stirring after a couple times in the microwave, the chocolate got stiff. I think this is called seizing. To fix just add a tablespoon or two of canola or vegetable oil until smooth. Worked perfectly.)
2. Pour melted chocolate over the set up caramel and smooth into an even layer. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set.

As I was making the caramel it started to get darker than the pictures in the blog so I was afraid I'd overcooked it to the point it'd be sticky. However, I tried a piece after finishing and the caramel was nice and smooth even after being in the fridge for a while (the bar as a whole was delicious). Anthony was impressed with the end result.