VEGAN “TWIX” BARS
Notes:
I’m telling you that when you try this vegan “Twix” bar recipe you won’t believe it’s vegan. Even better, this recipe requires no mold and makes 32 bars. There is some waiting involved in this recipe like the step to refrigerate the shortbread dough prior to baking and waiting for the caramel to set up in the freezer after pouring it on, but the time is worth the results.
There’s a lot of misconceptions about what vegan desserts and candies can be, but these days they can be just as delicious if not better than their dairy and egg containing counterparts. To make these bars work I eliminate the dairy, but not only maintain, but heighten the flavors. The vegan caramel recipe is so unctuous, deep and buttery (sans butter), and the shortbread biscuit is equally buttery and crisp. And because dark chocolate is already vegan I coat these in a generous layer of high quality 70% dark chocolate, which of course will taste good anyway. The recipes for the shortbread and caramel have just the right amount of sugar and salt to hit all those flavor craving highs on your palate, but the result is much more elevated and clean than the commercial stuff.
All ingredients, where noted in grams, were weighed. A good kitchen scale with accuracy and precision at lower weights is a must for baking these days. This scale is the one I have and use (not sponsored), and at about $50 it’s a great investment: OXO Good Grips 11-Pound Stainless Steel Kitchen Scale with Pull-Out Display
IMPORTANT: Chill your coconut cream cans prior to starting this recipe.
Time: 4-5 hrs (including all steps)
Vegan “Twix” bars, or maybe E.T.’s fingers 😆
Special Equipment:
KitchenAid 9x13in Nonstick Aluminized Steel Baking Sheet, 9”x13” (not sponsored and ~$13).
I strongly suggest getting this pan, or one with these dimensions, as I tailored this recipe to fit this pan perfectly and the depth of the pan is ideal for forming the biscuit and caramel layers. The coating is robust (holds up to dough cutters) and the shortbread will not stick, and there’s no need for oiling or using parchment paper.
Dough cutter (5” to 8” in length works well)
Medium sauce pan
Optional: pastry cutter
Ingredients:
Shortbread base:
300 g AP flour
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
90 g powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (can also use pink salt or kosher salt)
210 g vegan butter, chilled
Caramel:
336 g coconut cream solids (we only want the solids at the top of a chilled can, or two, of coconut cream, and make sure it's full-fat)
67 g vegan butter
336 g caster sugar (you can also use granulated sugar, but caster sugar will melt better as the granules are smaller)
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2.5 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon fine sea salt (can also use pink salt or kosher salt)
Chocolate coating:
595 g (21 oz) 70% dark chocolate
Directions:
Shortbread base:
In a medium bowl sieve together the plain white flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar and sea salt. Mix well to combine.
Cut the chilled vegan butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter (if you don’t have one you can. use forks). Cut until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.
Dump the mixture onto your clean countertop and press and knead to form a rough ball.
Break up and press the shortbread ball into the 13” x 9” pan with your hands until in an even flat layer. Use your dough cutter (or bench scraper to even out the sides of the dough so it is flush with the pan.
Cut the dough into bars with your dough cutter. First cut a line down the middle of the dough lengthwise. Then cut into bars 2 cm in width. Once I cut the first two bars I used their width as a visual guide for the rest, but you can absolutely measure the width of each bar if you want more precision.
Chill the cut dough sheet in the fridge for 15-20 mins while you wait for your oven to preheat to 350 F.
Bake for 10-11 mins, then pull the partially baked dough out of the oven and RE-CUT all of your bars as the cuts will have partially annealed in the oven. This is an important step, because the biscuits are delicate and tiny so it is easy to break them with a knife if you try to cut them once they have fully hardened. We are trying to avoid biscuit casualties!
Bake for another 10-11 mins and you will have perfectly baked and already cut shortbread biscuits ready for the next step. LEAVE THEM IN THE PAN and let them cool to room temperature.
Caramel coating. (see directions below): Let the biscuits cool in the pan to room temperature before pouring the caramel sauce on top and smooth out to an even layer.
Transfer the biscuits and caramel to the freezer to solidify for at least 2 hours. The caramel won’t fully harden as it is a very soft caramel.
When you’re ready to add the chocolate coating use a knife to separate the chilled bars (the biscuits are already all cut so you’re basically cutting through the caramel). Place the bars on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and transfer to the fridge while you melt/temper the chocolate (see Chocolate coating).
Caramel:
Melt coconut cream solids and vegan butter in the microwave for ~50 seconds, mix and set aside.
Mix vanilla extract with cornstarch to make a slurry and set aside.
Add the sugar to a medium saucepan and melt over medium/low heat. Stirring constantly, melt the caster sugar until no lumps or crystals remain. Continue stirring as you see the color change to a medium to dark amber.
Turn off the heat and immediately (but carefully) add the blended, melted coconut cream/butter mixture. The caramel will sputter and bubble and then calm down over the next several seconds.
Resuspend your vanilla/cornstarch slurry by mixing it and add in immediately and stir.
Stir the caramel once calm, checking for any lumps of sugar. Bring back up to a soft rolling boil on medium heat for about a minute while stirring continously to get rid of any lumps of sugar that may have formed in the prior steps. Reheating will also allow the cornstarch to gel and a little more water to evaporate.
Turn off the heat. Your caramel will thicken as it cools (and even more so if refrigerated). Once it’s cooled it’s ready to use.
Chocolate coating:
Chop your dark chocolate into approximately marble sized pieces. I suggest splitting the chocolate in two piles and melting/tempering in two rounds as it will take time to coat ~32 bars and the chocolate will start to cool and set before you’re done. For each round set aside about 30-40 g of the chopped chocolate for seeding the melted chocolate to temper it.
Melting: Transfer the first round of chocolate to a medium bowl and use the microwave tempering method to melt the chocolate: 30 second burst, followed a by a thorough mix, and a second 30 second burst followed by a thorough mix. Followed by a third 20 second burst and a thorough mix, and if needed one last 20 second burst and a thorough mix. If you have an infrared temperature gun and you check the temperature you will see that it’s in the range of ~110 F.
Seed the melted chocolate with your reserved chocolate pieces and mix in until melted. If you’re able to check the temperature again you want to see that it’s about 90 F, then you can start working with it. If you don’t have a temperature gun that’s ok, you’re probably pretty close to this, but don’t wait more than a few mins to start working with it.
If your bowl is too big transfer the chocolate to a smaller bowl or container so that you have a higher pool of chocolate to work with.
Coating step: Using two forks dip a chilled bar in the melted chocolate and scoop chocolate over the top with the forks until completely coated. Lightly scrape the bottom of the bar over the lip of the chocolate container to remove excess and place on a sheet of parchment paper to set. Refrigerate the bars for at least 30 mins to set the chocolate.
Cut off excess chocolate around the base of the bars with a knife to make them pretty and they’re ready to devour.