Thursday: DIY Homemade Twix Bars

Are you ready to break your diet? Or planning to reward yourself for something? Then prepare your sweet-tooth for a treat.




Cookie (shortbread) Ingredients
*1 cup butter/margarine, softened (either by 15-20 seconds in the microwave or by being left out
until room temperature)
*3/4 cup powdered sugar
*1 Tbs vanilla
*2 1/2 cups flour

-Mix butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until combined. Next, add 1/2 cup flour at a time until the mixture is dry and crumbly (and delicious- this is a good time to eat a piece of the dough... yum).
-Press the dough into a greased pan- you'll want the dough to be about 1/2 inch thick. Next, poke the crust with fork.
-Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until the outer edges are caramel brown and the middle is a golden brown. 

While this is baking.... Make the caramel!

Caramel Ingredients
*1/2 cup butter
*1 cup light corn syrup
*2 cups brown sugar
*1 can sweetened condensed milk
*1 Tbs vanilla


-Mix the butter, corn syrup, and brown sugar in a stove pan over medium until fully combined. Next, add the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla.
-Turn the heat up to medium-high and mix continuously until the caramel is at soft ball stage. (Keep a bowl of cold water by the caramel as you are mixing it and every few minutes, spoon a little into the cold water. When you put the caramel into the cold water and the caramel is basically a soft piece of caramel, it's done.)
-Pour the caramel mix over the top of the shortbread cookie that you have just pulled out of the oven, about 1/3-1/2 inch thick.
-Allow to cool.

Chocolate Ingredients
*1 16oz bag of chocolate chips
*2-3 Tb vegetable oil

-Melt the chocolate either in a double broiler or in the microwave (by putting it in a microwave safe dish and putting it in the microwave for 20 seconds at a time and then stopping it and stirring it).
-Once melted, add the oil and spread the whole mixture over the cooled caramel/cookie and let the entire thing cool.

Cut. Enjoy! I recommend small pieces.... these are crazy rich, after all. It's tough to handle a big piece. Also, when cutting, it can help to keep your knife in hot water right before you cut through, because it takes some strength to cut these up!