Let's face it, homemade snickers bars are going to be far superior to their store bought counter part. The copycat snickers bar recipe has a deeper flavor that satisfies even the pickiest sweet tooth, and texture that is unbelievably fluffy while still chewy. These are homemade snickers bars without marshmallow fluff.
Candy bars at home are incredibly fun to make. I've got a ton of copycat candy bar recipe on my site. My favorites include these copycat Girl Scout cookie peanut butter patty candy bars and brunch candy bars that have cappuccino nougat.
What is a snickers
A Snickers bar is a chocolate bar. Inside of the Snickers bar has nougat topped with peanut caramel completely cover in milk chocolate.
History
In 1930, Mars introduced Snickers, named after the favorite horse of the Mars family. The early ingredients list includes white sugar, sweet milk chocolate, corn syrup, peanuts, milk condensed with sugar, coconut oil, malted milk, whites of eggs and salt.
The latest ingredients for the Snickers bar had been refined to milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, artificial flavor), peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, palm oil, skim milk, lactose, salt, egg whites, artificial flavor.
The recipe below will be closer to the original 1939 Snickers bar.
Dimensions
Length: The length of a Snickers bar is 3.75"
Width: The width of a Snickers bar is 1"
Height: The height of a snickers bar is 0.75"
The inside of a Snickers bar has a layer of nougat on the bottom and peanut caramel over top of it.
Ingredients for peanut caramel
Snickers bars have a blonde colored caramel that is silky smooth and stretches when you bite into it. The texture of the caramel is recreated by the ratio of corn syrup and white sugar used. Heavy cream, evaporated milk, and butter all bring a fat source that keeps the caramel soft enough to bite into. What type of nuts are in a Snickers bar?Unsalted cocktail peanuts are in a Snickers bar because the salted peanuts bring in too much salt into the caramel.
- corn syrup
- white sugar
- heavy cream
- evaporated milk
- salt
- butter
- unsalted cocktail peanuts
See recipe card for quantities.
Ingredients for snickers nougat recipe
What is the white stuff in snickers? It's nougat. Snickers nougat secret ingredient - the nougat is just a basic vanilla nougat. No big secret. Nougat is made by incorporating hot syrup into whipping egg whites. Powdered sugar is then added to "grain" the nougat, which causes a short texture (it doesn't flow all over the place and holds it's shape).
- egg whites
- corn syrup
- white sugar
- corn syrup
- water
- salt
- powdered sugar
- liquid coconut oil
- vanilla extract
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions for easy homemade snickers
- Make peanut caramel. Allow it to cool for a minimum of 4 hours, but longer is better.
- Make nougat and layer it over top of the caramel. Cool for 12 hours.
- Flip the candy bar slab upside down, so the nougat is on the bottom, on a surface safe for cutting.
- Cut your candy bars into the desired width and length. Snickers bars have a length of 3.75" and 1" wide. To mimic this length, cut the bars into 3.5" because the chocolate after dipping will add extra length.
- Bottom the candy bars in chocolate.
- Fully dip the candy bars.
Make the peanut caramel and cool for a minimum of four hours.
Cook nougat and layer it direction on top of peanut caramel. Cool for 12 hours.
Turn candy bar slab upside down to cut into bars.
Cut into desired size bar.
Dip bars into chocolate.
Hint: If the candy bar sides have chocolate pooling after you bottom them, use a pairing knife to clean up the edges and create clean, straight lines. How to bottom candy bars video below.
Video instructions for homemade snickers bars
Chocolate tempering
Real milk chocolate must be tempered. Candy melts such as the Ghirardelli brand candy wafers do not need to be tempered. Below is a quick method for tempering milk chocolate. My favorite milk chocolate to use for these bars is the Barry Callebaut 823.
- Melt 2 pounds of milk chocolate in the microwave until it reaches 113.5F. This is done by placing the chocolate in a large, microwaveable safe glass bowl and then microwaving it in small time increments. First increment: 60 seconds. Stir chocolate. Second increment: 30 seconds. Stir chocolate. Take the temperature of the chocolate. If not 113.5F, microwave in 15 second increments, stirring after each one, until 113.5F is reached.
- Add in ½ pound of milk chocolate to your microwaved chocolate and stir until it is completely melted. Continue adding small amounts (one third pound to a half a pound) until chocolate temperature drops to 90F. It must not be over 90F. All chocolate should be fluid before dipping candy bars.
- Once chocolate is 90F, you can begin your bottoming and dipping process.
Substitutions
- Glucose syrup - glucose syrup can be used in place of corn syrup as a 1:1 replacement.
Variations
- Sizing - Homemade snickers bars can be cut into any size or shape you want. I love cutting them into 1" x 1" squares.
Equipment
- heavy duty, thick bottomed pot
- candy thermometer
- high heat spatula or wooden spoon
- two 12" x 17" sheet pans
- parchment paper
- 5 quart planetary mixer
- ruler
- knife
- chocolate dipping fork
- bowl for chocolate dipping / tempering
Storage for copycat snickers bar recipe
Store candy bars in an airtight container at room temperature. They have a self life of six months. Freezing candy bars will extend the shelf life to one year frozen, but make sure to fully thaw before consuming.
Top tip
A kitchen that is too hot will make cutting these bars difficult. You can refrigerate the bars before cutting them, but you will need to ensure a THICK chocolate layer. This is because the center candy bar will expand when coming to room temperature and crack your chocolate layer, causing leaking of caramel and nougat.
FAQ
Yes, but the height of the bar will be quite tall. The 12" x 17" pans spread the caramel and nougat out to match the height of the original Snickers bar.
Homemade Snickers Bars
Equipment
- high heat spatula or wooden spoon
- ruler
- chocolate dipping fork
- bowl for chocolate
Ingredients
Peanut Caramel
- 12 ounces evaporated milk 1 can
- 12 ounces heavy cream fill up can of evaporated milk
- 42 grams butter 3 tablespoons
- 200 grams white sugar 1 cup
- 400 grams corn syrup 1.25 cups
- 4 grams baking soda ¼ teaspoon
- 300 grams peanuts about 2 cups
Nougat
Egg White Meringue
- 2 egg whites
- 100 grams corn syrup approx. ¼ cup
Syrup Slurry
- 580 grams white sugar 3 cups
- 670 grams corn syrup 2 cups
- 180 grams water ¾ cup
- 10 grams salt 1.5 teaspoons
Fats, Flavors, Finishers
- 200 grams powdered sugar 1.5 cup
- 75 grams liquid at room temperature coconut oil ¼ cup
- 20 grams vanilla extract 2 tablespoons
Chocolate for dipping
- 3 pounds milk chocolate
Instructions
Peanut Caramel
- Prepare a 12" x 17" sheet pan by lining it with parchment paper and leaving excess parchment paper to over hang on the edges.
- In a heavy duty, thick bottomed pot (8 quart minimum), combine evaporated milk, heavy cream butter, sugar, corn syrup, and baking soda.
- Over medium heat, stirring constantly, bring mix to a boil.
- Continue stirring and cook caramel until 232F. Turn off heat.
- Stir in peanuts. Pour on prepared parchment and spread to all corners of the sheet. Top with an additional piece of parchment paper.
- Cool caramel for a minimum of four hours before topping with nougat.
Nougat - Egg White Meringue
- In the bowl of a 5 quart planetary mixer, combine egg whites and 100 grams of corn syrup. Mix to combine but do not start mixer. Mixer should have wire whisk attachment.
Nougat - Syrup Slurry
- In a heavy duty, thick bottomed pot, combine sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt.
- Cook over high heat until syrup reaches 232F. At this point, turn your mixer on high and keep cooking the syrup. You do not need to continually stir the syrup.
- At 254F, turn off heat from syrup.
- Very slowly stream it into the whipping egg whites. Do not go too fast or your egg whites will collapse.
- After all syrup has been added, mix on high for 4 more minutes. After 4 minutes turn mixer to low.
Nougat - Fats, Finishers, Flavors
- While mixer is on low, add in liquid coconut oil, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Once all ingredients have been added, turn mixer back to high for 30 seconds to incorporate everything.
- Turn mixer off. Pour nougat directly on top of peanut caramel.
- Spread nougat evenly on top of peanut caramel. Top with an additional sheet of parchment paper. Allow nougat to rest for a minimum of 12 hours.
Cutting Bars
- Flip your candy slab upside down on a cutting surface so the nougat is on the bottom. Cut bars into desired size. For standard Snickers, cut bars into 3.5" length x 1" width.
Bottoming Bars
- Temper your milk chocolate. Bottom each bar by holding it between two fingers and dipping just the bottom portion in chocolate. Slowly scrape excess chocolate along your spatula before setting it on parchment paper.
- If there is chocolate pooling on the sides, run a sharp knife along the edges for straight lines. Allow chocolate bottoms to fully set up before dipping.
Dipping Bars
- Dip bars in tempered milk chocolate.
- Bars can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container.
Video
Related
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Other copycat recipes
I love recreating other candies you can find on the store shelf. Check them out here!
Savanah
Excited to try this recipe! Can I swap out the corn syrup and use honey?
Thanks!
Hannah
Hi! I haven't tried that swap specifically, but from a sugar science standpoint, you'll end up with a different texture of nougat and caramel. It could be very sandy / grained.