Homemade Twix Bars {Sweets and Treats #1}

Oh I love this time of year. You get to make and eat things you don't usually make and eat the rest of the year. My boys and I spent all day Friday and Saturday morning making candies to give to our neighbors for Christmas. I just love surprising people with homemade goodies and making them smile. I mean who doesn't like to get homemade candies, or anything homemade? I've been working on teaching my boys that we should want to give to others and not be so selfish. So, on Sunday, we walked up and down the street and delivered our homemade candies to our neighbors. It was a lot of fun and definitely surprised some of our new neighbors. (We have two brand new neighbors this year!) At first when I told my five year old that we were making these candies for our neighbors, he got sad because he wanted them to be for our family, but after delivering them today, I can say that he enjoyed giving them away. It's so sweet to see your three and five year old joyfully yelling Merry Christmas and handing over their homemade gift.

So, since we made all sorts of candies last week, I'm hosting a {Sweets and Treats} week here at This Mommy Cooks. I will post all of the yummy candies we made all this week. So look for a new goody every day! Enjoy!

Homemade Twix Bars
slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:
Shortbread layer
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups All-Purpose Flour

Caramel layer
2 cups caramel, cut into small chunks
3 tablespoons heavy cream

Chocolate layer
3 cups chopped milk chocolate or dark chocolate, melted
1 tablespoon oil (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Lightly spray a 9” x 13” x 2” pan with cooking spray or line with parchment paper and set aside.

Place the flour, butter, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer and blend on medium speed. At first the mixture will seem a bit dry, continue beating on medium speed, and the dough will come together as a soft, smooth, slightly sticky dough. Place the dough in your chosen pan(s) and pat with your fingers to spread.

Prick the dough all over with a fork. This will allow steam to escape during the baking, and keep your shortbread from bubbling up in patches.

Bake the shortbread for 25 to 45 minutes, until lightly brown around the edges. If you use parchment paper, it will be closer to the 25 minute mark. Allow shortbread to cool before pouring caramel on top.

To make the caramel layer, place the caramel and cream in a medium-sized saucepan and melt together over low heat, stirring frequently. The caramel will be glossy and lump-free, but still thick. Pour the warm caramel over the baked, cooled crust and spread to the edges carefully. Place the pan in the refrigerator to set the caramel layer.

After the caramel has chilled for about 30 minutes, melt the chocolate for coating. You can use a double boiler to melt the chocolate; or microwave at 50% power in 30 second increments until chocolate is smooth.

If the chocolate seems too thick, melt in 1 teaspoon of oil at a time, until it’s thin enough to coat the bars.

For the quickest approach, you can pour the melted chocolate over the caramel layer and return to the fridge until set. Cut and serve the bars as you would brownies.

If you’d like to make classic Twix® shaped bars, remove the caramel-coated shortbread from the pan. Be sure to use parchment in the pan if you’re planning to do this so that it is easier to remove the cookie layer. Cut the bars into long thing strips. You can make them any size you want really. Dip the sticks into the melted chocolate one at a time.  Submerge the stick under the chocolate until well coated. Using two forks to lift and support the stick will keep it from breaking as the excess chocolate drips off.

Place the coated bars on a wire rack to finish setting up or place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Place in fridge to set completely.