Bready or Not: Homemade Twix Bars
If you’re craving candy bars–a lot of candy bars–this recipe will result in a casserole dish of Twix-like yumminess.
These are a bit softer than Twix, but the similarities are there. The crust is like cakey shortbread topped with caramel-sweet dulce de leche. Chocolate finishes off the top.
As the pictures show, there are some crumbs. Very delicious crumbs. I found the chocolate layer on top stayed soft, even after chilling.
This is the perfect recipe for feeding a large crowd. If you cut them into long rectangles, like Twix, you’ll have a lot!
But if you have leftovers, no worries–these keep well for days in the fridge, and you can also freeze them between waxed paper layers. Just thaw them in the fridge when your craving strikes again.
Modified from Twixy Shortbread Bars in Better Homes & Gardens.
Bready or Not: Homemade Twix Bars
Ingredients
Cookie base:
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter 3 sticks, softened
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
Middle:
- 13.4 oz dulce de leche can
Chocolate top:
- 3/4 cup whipping cream
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 Tablespoons light corn syrup
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips 1 bag
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Line a 13x9-inch pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl beat the 1 1/2 cups butter until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and vanilla. Beat in the flour. Press the dough into the prepared pan and set in fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Bake the pan with dough for 20 to 25 minutes, until set and turning light brown. Cool on rack.
- Spread contents of dulce de leche can evenly over the crust.
- In a saucepan on medium heat, warm up the whipping cream, 6 tablespoons of butter, and corn syrup until they are just boiling. Remove from heat. Add the chocolate and vanilla but don't stir! Let it sit for 5 minutes. Stir until nice and smooth. Cool another 10 minutes, then pour chocolate over the dulce de leche. Spread it evenly over the top. Cover and chill for an hour or two.
- Use the foil to lift contents of pan onto a large cutting board. Slice into bars.
- These homemade candy bars keep best in the fridge, and can also be frozen (and later thawed in fridge). If at room temperature for a prolonged period, the bottom crust may get soggy.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Oatmeal Caramel Bars
I’d like to thank my past self for setting me up to re-discover this Oatmeal Caramel Bars recipe.
When I was home last Thanksgiving, my mom gave me a stack of her old recipes and food magazines to go through. A lot of the material dated to the 1970s and ’80s and went straight in the recycle pile.
Mixed in with everything else, though, I found some little food magazines I had bought back in 1999 as I looked toward getting married. One of them highlighted favorite recipes from the Pillsbury Bake-Off.
This recipe, originally titled Oatmeal Carmelitas, dated from the 1960s. I knew I had to make it.
The recipe essentially makes a big, fat candy bar. Oatmeal forms the crust, while the middle consists of chocolate chips and gooey caramel.
Yeah. This isn’t a health recipe, but wow, is it good. This was worth being published again in 1999–and again now, with some new tweaks.
Bready or Not: Oatmeal Caramel Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups quick oats
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter 2 1/2 sticks, room temperature
Filling:
- 14 ounce caramel jar
- 4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup pecans chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 13x9 pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine all crust ingredients until crumbly. Reserve half, about 3 cups, for the topping, and press the rest into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together the caramel and 4 Tablespoons of flour.
- When the crust is done baking, sprinkle chocolate chips and pecans over the top, then drizzle evenly with the caramel mixture. Add the reserved crumb mixture on top.
- Return to the oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for an hour or so, then set in fridge to completely chill for several hours or overnight. To cut, use the foil to lift contents to a cutting board. Slice into bars.
- Store in sealed container in fridge with layers between pieces of parchment or wax paper. Bars will stay more cohesive if chilled; they are gooier at room temperature.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Glazed Maple Blondies
This is a repost of an old favorite recipe: Glazed Maple Blondies.
Last fall when I prepared my Sweet Maple Cookbook, I remade and rewrote my original recipe. This wasn’t just to check the wording in the recipe, but to double check a major modification: using Golden Oreos.
That’s because some of us, in blighted wastelands (aka Arizona), don’t have a wide variety of maple products available year-round. Maple cream sandwich cookies are a brief Christmastime dream. Golden Oreos, however, are available year-round just about everywhere.
I found just the right balance of Golden Oreos and additional maple flavor to compensate for the lack of maple cookies. I tell you, my job is so strenuous at times.
My husband’s co-workers test and comment on most of my sweet recipes, and for them, this is an all-time favorite. Bake it up yourself, and see why!
Also, be sure to grab the Sweet Maple Cookbook over on Amazon! It includes this maple recipe and so much more.
Bready or Not Original: Glazed Maple Blondies
Ingredients
Blondies:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 box maple cream cookies
- 10 Tablespoons butter melted
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
Glaze:
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons butter melted
- 3/4 teaspoon maple flavor
- 2 Tablespoons + milk almond milk works
Instructions
Blondies:
- Line a 9x13 pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside. Coarsely chop the cookies. Reserve 1/4 cup of the finer crumbs.
- In a mixing bowl, blend the butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Add the eggs and vanilla. Pour in the flour mix until just combined, then stir in the white chocolate chips and cookie pieces.
- Spread batter in the pan. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the blondie layer cool completely. Place in fridge to speed the process along, if necessary.
Glaze:
- Combine glaze ingredients in bowl. Add enough milk to make the icing spreadable, not runny. Immediately dollop over blondies and smooth out. Quickly sprinkle on the reserved crumbs. Use fingers to gently press in.
- Place pan in fridge to set for hour or two. Use the foil to lift the blondies onto a cutting board for easy slicing. Store refrigerated in a sealed container, between wax paper layers.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Salted Caramel Chip Blondies
Salted Caramel Chips now exist. There is hope for our world yet.
“What makes these chips different than just using caramel chips?” Well, they have the texture of and keep their shape like regular chocolate chips. Caramel bits are more chaotic–they melt, they ooze, they can create a sticky mess.
More and more stores are carrying salted caramel chips around Arizona. Locally, I have found Ghirardelli (at Walmart), Nestle (at Walmart and several stores), and a Kroger-branded kind (at Fry’s Grocery Store).
All three work and have a good flavor, but I liked the Kroger one the least. The color looks more artificial (yeah everything is about these is artificial but…) and the pieces are small and not quite as rich in flavor. Still, their price is good and they aren’t bad, by any means.
You’ll see these chips used in a couple recipes in the next while–I bought several bags to test out!
While I’ll definitely stick to using real caramel in things like pies, these salted caramel chips are now my go-to for cookies and bars.
I do suggest keeping the ratio of 1 cup chocolate chips with 1 cup of caramel chips in this recipe. The caramel chips ARE strong–they are like butterscotch in that way–and the white chocolate adds a different kind of sweetness to balance them out.
Bready or Not Original: Salted Caramel Chip Blondies
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter 1 1/2 sticks, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups white sugar
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup salted caramel chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a 10x15 jelly roll pan with wide aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
- In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, both sugars, and vanilla to create a smooth batter. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by the flour mixture. Stir in the cup of white chocolate and cup of salted caramel chips. Spread batter evenly in pan.
- Bake until evenly golden brown and set in the middle, 24 to 27 minutes. Cool completely at room temperature or chill before cutting. Blondies keep for up to 3 days in a room temperature sealed container.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Apple Butter Bars
Last month I shared a recipe for Apple Butter Oatmeal Bars. This time around, I’m sharing easy and straightforward Apple Butter Bars.
This is a totally original recipe out of necessity. I tried another recipe, and ended up with a crumbly mess. Therefore, I decided to adapt my Lemon Cheesecake Bar recipe.
That attempt turned out perfect. It’s fast to make, as you don’t have to bake in stages, and the end result was cohesive.
Do note that these are best chilled. They will get softer if kept at room temperature for a while.
The taste is phenomenal. The crumb layers taste like vanilla shortbread, with a sporadic crunch from nuts. The thin layer of apple butter adds just the right about of spice and flavor.
This would be great with other fruit butters, too!
Bready or Not Original: Apple Butter Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup walnuts chopped finely
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter 1 1/2 sticks, softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups apple butter or other fruit butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 9x13 pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
- In a large bowl, blend together flour, walnuts, confectioners' sugar, butter, and vanilla, until it is crumbly. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of crumbs; press the rest into the ready pan.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the edges are turning golden brown and crust is set.
- Pour apple butter over crust and smooth to edges. Crumble reserved flour mixture all over the top. Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes.
- Cool to room temperature then chill in fridge. Use foil to lift out bars to slice. Store in sealed container in the fridge for maximum flavor and cohesiveness.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Maple-Glazed Cinnamon Chip Bars
Most of the sweet treats I make go with my husband to his work. These Maple-Glazed Cinnamon Chip Bars left everyone there dazzled and amazed.
I confess, they turned out even better than I anticipated, too, though I knew from the start they combine many of my favorite things: soft and chewy blondie bars, cinnamon chips, more cinnamon and sugar on top, and a touch of maple glaze.
I actually debated whether or not the glaze was necessary. Would it be too sweet?
I soon found out that no, the glaze was not too sweet. It adds just a little extra oomph to complement the existing sweetness in the bars.
The bars travel keep and travel well, too. I kept them chilled in the fridge–I live near Phoenix, after all, my kitchen tends to be warm year-round–in sealed containers, with waxed paper between stacked layers. We found the bars were amazing after three days, but it’s kind of a miracle they lasted even that long.
These things are GOOD. Really good. Even by Bready or Not standards.
Modified from Taste of Home 13×9 Holiday Special Issue, 2015.
Bready or Not: Maple-Glazed Cinnamon Chip Bars
Ingredients
Bars
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, softened
- 2 cups brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup cinnamon chips
Topping
- 1 Tablespoon white sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Glaze
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
- 3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 13x9 baking pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar, followed by the eggs and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Fold in the cinnamon chips.
- Spread batter in the pan. Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle them all across the top of the batter.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown and the middle passes the toothpick test. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
- To make the glaze, combine all three ingredients in a small bowl until smooth in texture. Drizzle over top of bars and let set for fifteen minutes.
- Use foil to lift contents onto cutting board. Slice into bars. Store in an airtight container between layers of wax paper, either at room temperature or refrigerated.
- OM NOM NOM!
