whatchamacallits were my favorite. I hardly eat sweets these days but I still love anything peanut butter. I have been wanting to try my hand at homemade candy bars for the longest. This was one of the easiest to start with. When I say, easy, I mean super easy.
I followed a recipe I found on Mele Cotte. I added a layer of caramel that the recipe does not include but I thought was only right to include since the bars have a chewey layer of caramel that is delish.
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup white corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups Puffed Rice Cereal (like Rice Krispies)
1/3 cup butterscotch chips
2 cups good-quality bittersweet chocolate
1 bag of Kraft Caramel bits or caramels
In saucepan on medium heat, combine everything except the cereal and chocolate. Stir constantly to avoid sticking and burning. When sugar is melted into the mixture, remove from the heat and stir. In large bowl, pour over the cereal and mix well with a rubber spatula until all cereal is coated.
You can grease a pan with butter or spray or use wax paper as I did here. Cote Melle recommends a pan size of 13 X 18 X 1. Spread the cereal mixture evenly in the pan, pressing firmly to pack it all. Place in the refrigerator.
For the caramel layer, I just melted down a bag of Kraft Caramel Bits. I followed the directions on the bag and once melted, I spread evenly over the cereal mixture.
Place back into the refrigerator for about 15 minutes until caramel has set. Remove from the refrigerator and remove the uncut bars from the pan. The wax paper came in handy since I drapped it over the sides and was able to just lift it from the pan.
Cut into bars or squares. This would be a perfect party treat cut into bite size mini pieces.
Once cut, prepare your chocolate. In a microwave safe bowl, begin heating the chocolate, first at 45 seconds, then stir, place back in microwave and microwave at 30 second intervals until melted and smooth from stirring. If your chocolate clumps, add a dab of vegetable shortening and it should smooth out.
Place your bars on wax paper.
I used a spoon and spooned over heapings of chocolate onto each bar and then used the spoon to spread the chocolate on each bar.
Allow your bars to cool and then you have a nice homemade and easy treat!
