Making candy bars...

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squib92

Assistant Cook
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
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Well I've been thinking lately that I want to try to make my own candy bars... and not just homemade versions of stuff that's already out there, I mean new ideas that at least I haven't commonly seen in stores and stuff. I don't just wanna take chocolate and put caramel in it.
So... what's the best way to go about this? What kind of chocolate should I use? etc.
 
In my "too hip for the room" twenties, I came up with a couple of "candy bars" for a place I was working that I can only look back on and laugh at now. Strangely, they sold well and people even ordered them for parties outside of the restaurant despite them both being frozen.

The first was made by tempering white chocolate(I forget the brand, but it came in little wafers), adding a tiny bit of flour and running it through a pasta machine to make a sheet out of it. The resulting "dough" was wrapped around a block of hard frozen peanut butter ice cream, garnished with a little melted milk chocolate and served with chocolate syrup and vanilla creme anglaise.

The second was simply a frozen chocolate mousse dipped in melted cinnamon candy (think candy apples), and served on a bed of golden spun sugar. It was actually really pretty...but the textures didn't work together at all.
 
First, learn to temper chocolate. There are a whole slew of online tutorials on the subject. Learn to make nougat, and to add various flavors to the nougate. Then, learn to make different textures of caramel, almost syrup, soft ball, hard ball, and a couple in between. you will need an accurate candy thermometer for this. You will need to learn how sugar behaves with beaten egg, how adding the right amount of starch, sugar, and egg creates marshmallow creme, etc.

When you've got all this down, you will have to learn how to mold chocolate, or layer chocolate with other ingredients.

Some flavors that would work are berry creams, or berry flavored nougats (blue berry, strawberry, raspberry, even pineapple) with tempered dark chocolate, various combinations of chopped, dried fruits such as raisins or cranberries, fried banana chips, chopped dates, etc.

Then, start combining flavors and textures. Use such things as home made granola, or rolled oats, or various chopped nuts. Add peppers, or cayenne pepper. Only your imagination can limit you. Have fun experimenting. Oh, you might want to invest in a good heat lamp or fondue pot to keep the chocolate soft while you are working with it.

Seeeeeya' Goodweed of the North
 

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