Homemade Snickers Bars! What more can I say? This is everyone's favorite candy bar - except it's homemade! It's delicious and tastes just like the store bought bars - you have to try this recipe!
Homemade snickers bars are so good! But have you tried these Chocolate Chip Pecan Oatmeal Bars! They're the perfect treat!
Homemade snickers bars
Chocolate, peanuts, caramel, and nougat. These ingredients come together in the best way possible. I think that I can speak for a large majority of the population when I say that there's nothing like a classic Snickers Bar. However, making them at home... makes them even better. The homemade nougat with marshmallow fluff and peanut butter topped with peanuts and then coated in salted caramel?! Then covered in a mix between dark and semi sweet chocolate? It's a match made in heaven and I just love it.
These homemade snickers bars are what dreams are made of. You have to give this recipe a try! Compare it against the store bought snickers bars and see which one you prefer 🙂 Also, while you're here, you have to see these delicious Chocolate Coconut Almond Flour Bars and these Cookie Butter Truffles made by my friends at Bake From Scratch!
what is in a snickers bar?
A snickers bar consists of peanuts, nougat, a nice layer of caramel, and then coated in chocolate.
For these Homemade Snickers Bars, I used the following:
- Nougat: marshmallow fluff, creamy peanut butter, powdered sugar, and a little butter. Mix all of these ingredients together and you've got your first layer of homemade snickers bar!
- Peanuts: I used dry roasted, unsalted peanuts. When I tested this recipe with salted peanuts, the salt was a bit overpowering so I stuck with unsalted.
- Dark and Semi-Sweet Chocolate: So I tested this recipe for Homemade Snickers Bars three times and the first time I used only milk chocolate. It was a bit too sweet (if that's such a thing). The second time with dark chocolate, solely. It was a bit too bitter. So, third times a charm! I mixed the two and it was the perfect balance of flavor.
- Caramel: For these Homemade Snickers Bars, you can certainly buy your own caramel to use, but there's nothing like making your own caramel! Not to mention, it's super easy, see below:
Making your own caramel isn't nearly as difficult as it sounds, but admittedly, it took me some time to perfect it! I hope that this video helps as I now find it super simple. I think that the first few times I made caramel, I wasn't paying attention and caramel is one of those things where you can NOT leave the kitchen! You have to stay there and watch it. Like super closely. Because if you turn away even for a few seconds, the sugar can burn and you'll have to start all over again! Burnt caramel is not very tasty. lol
how do you make homemade snickers bars?
I think that this recipe is fairly easy. However, I noted this as moderate in the difficulty department because it takes patience and things get pretty messy!
Firstly, you need a cooling rack, a baking sheet, parchment paper, a sauce pan, and large mixing bowls. You'll also need an 8x8 square pan.
Once everything is compiled, start by mixing together the ingredients for the nougat. If the peanut butter is too stiff, you can microwave it for 30 seconds. Of note, the mixture will be streaky at first but will become smooth after mixing adequately. About 1 minute, if that.
Next up, line the square pan with parchment paper and smooth the nougat layer to fit the pan. Add peanuts and refrigerate for 30 minutes and allow it to set.
next up, let's make caramel!
So as I mentioned, you can certainly buy your own caramel for these Homemade Snickers Bars. It will work all the same! However, if you'd like to make it, stick with the ingredients below and watch this video to see how easy it is! Simply add sugar to a sauce pan over medium heat and stir every 20-30 seconds, allowing it to melt. Once melted and all clumps are gone, turn off the heat and add butter, stirring constantly. Once butter is melted, add heavy cream and continue to stir constantly. Lastly, add salt and stir that in too! Then you're done! You have the caramel layer for the Homemade Snickers Bars!
Pour the caramel on top of the nougat and return to the refrigerator for an additional 30 minutes.
time for the chocolate layer!
Melt the dark chocolate and the semi-sweet chocolate chips together in the microwave or stovetop in a double boiler. I suggest following the package instructions for melting the chocolate as it's easy to burn, especially in the microwave!
Remove the bars from the refrigerator and cut in half. Then cut again into slices/bite size pieces resembling the pictures here! Or, any shape that you like! Add each piece to a cooling rack and spoon chocolate on top, ensuring the entire bar is coated. Add to a piece of parchment paper and allow the chocolate to set by adding the bars back in the refrigerator. If you'd like, you can top with flake salt or any leftover chocolate that you may have!
recipe substitutions?
Yes, of course! See below 🙂
- You can use almond butter in place of peanut butter if you're allergic or do not like peanuts.
- For both the caramel and the nougat layer, if you'd like to make this vegan/dairy free, you can substitute butter and heavy cream for a vegan/dairy free alternative.
- If you're watching your sodium, you can omit the salt and use unsalted butter as opposed to salted butter.
be sure to pin this recipe to your favorite pinterest board!
more recipes you'll love!
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart with Candied Peanuts
- Honey Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Pecan Oatmeal Bars
- Chocolate Cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream
- Salted Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate
- Loaded No Churn Snickers Ice Cream
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Homemade Snickers Bars
Ingredients
- 1 12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 12 oz bag dark chocolate chips
- 1 ½ cups Peanuts
Nougat Layer
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 tbsp salted butter, melted
- 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 7 oz container marshmallow fluff
Caramel Layer
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 tbsp salted butter
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ tsp salt
Directions
- Line an 8x8 square pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix together peanut butter, melted butter, and powdered sugar. Once mixed, add in marshmallow fluff. Fold together until smooth, about 1 minute. Add to parchment lined square pan and pour peanut on top. Allow to sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- While the nougat is setting, start on the caramel. Add sugar to a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat. Stir every 20-30 seconds and watch closely as sugar begins to melt. When all sugar has melted and all clumps are gone, remove from heat and add in butter. The sugar will fizzle quite a bit, this is a good thing! Stir constantly and add heavy cream once butter has melted, continuing to stir until caramel is smooth. Add salt and stir until mixed in. Pour caramel on top of nougat/peanut layer and return to the refrigerator to cool for an additional 30 minutes.
- In a large bowl, melt semi-sweet and dark chocolate chips together as per package instructions (typically 30 seconds in the microwave, stir, and then an additional 15 seconds until fully melted).
- Remove nougat/caramel layer from the refrigerator and pull out of pan. Cut in half and then cut again into bite size pieces. Add pieces to a cooling rack and spoon chocolate on top. Once fully covered, return to a piece of parchment paper and return to the refrigerator to set, about 20 minutes.
- Garnish with additional chocolate drizzle and/or flake salt!
It looks and tastes amazing
Thank you so much!
Hello! I had a little difficulty making the caramel. Once I added the heavy cream some of the caramel clumped up in a big ball and I was not able to stir it out so I ended up just taking it out and using the caramel I had left. They were delicious! I just wish I hadn’t messed up so that there would have been more caramel. Do you know where I went wrong? Thank you!
Hi Kaitlyn! Caramel can be tricky to make sometimes, I would recommend turning the heat back on (low heat) and stirring until the caramel liquifies and immediately taking off the heat so that the caramel doesn't burn. It's normal for the caramel to clump up when adding the heavy cream due to the difference in temperature and the fact that the heavy cream is a liquid. I hope that this helps!
OMG I am dying over these! I love snickers!
Aww Thanks Amanda! You have to let me know if you try them : )