These homemade Chocolate Crunch Bars capture the nostalgic flavors of the milk chocolate and puffed rice cereal candy bar we all love.
With just three ingredients, you can recreate the flavor of one America's favorite chocolate candy bars.
Crunch Bars first appeared in 1938 during the Great Depression, introduced by Nestlé. Later that same year, the Hershey company introduced Krackel bars.
According to Stella Parks, in her book, Bravetart, the concept began when candy shops and home cooks combined crushed Saltine-style crackers with chocolate squares to save money. By adding the crushed crackers, and later puffed rice cereal, you could reduce the amount of chocolate you'd need by fifty percent to create a full-sized candy bar.
Crunch bars have always been one of my favorite candy bars. There's something nostalgic about milk chocolate that takes you back to childhood. Then there's the texture and crunch from the puffed rice cereal that helps make the candy bar so tasty.
By making a homemade version of this candy bar, you can use a quality milk chocolate and make the bars into any size and thickness you like. You can also make Buncha Crunch, which contains the same ingredients, but the candy is shaped into poppable popcorn-sized pieces.
Ingredients:
You will need just three ingredients to make these Crunch Bars.
Milk Chocolate: For a luxurious bar, use quality 33% (or thereabout) milk chocolate. The percent may vary, but definitely use milk chocolate for its texture and creaminess.
Puffed Rice Cereal: Such as Rice Krispies.
Malted Milk Powder: Rice Krispies contain barley malt syrup as one of its ingredient. To help bring out this sweetness of the malt flavoring, malted milk powder is easier to work with and adds just the right certain something to the bar. You can usually find the Carnation brand in most supermarkets. I used King Arthur Malted Milk powder.
To Make these Homemade Crunch Bars:
First, melt the milk chocolate. You can choose to temper the chocolate if you are keeping the bar at room temperature and want to make sure that the chocolate doesn't discolor or get streaky when it hardens.
To temper the milk chocolate, melt it to a temperature of about 105 degrees F. Once the chocolate has melted, remove it from the heat and "seed" the chocolate with a small amount (about 10 to 20 percent of the weight of the original melted chocolate) of chopped chocolate and stir it in for several minutes.. until your chocolate is at about 86 degrees F.
If you are chilling and keeping the chocolate bars in the refrigerator, you are fairly safe skipping this step, as long as you melt the chocolate slowly to just about 105 degrees. F. Be sure to use a metal (not glass) bowl because metal doesn't retain heat the way glass does.
Once the chocolate has melted, stir in the rice cereal and the malted milk powder and spread the mixture into an eleven inch square on a parchment lined cutting board. Refrigerate the chocolate for a few minutes and then score the chocolate with a pizza wheel to make ten candy bars.
Don't forget to taste test the edges that you trim off (for quality control purposes of course).
Return the chocolate to the refrigerator to fully harden before cutting into bars.
Finally, wrap the bars in foil and store in an airtight container.
Options for Making These Candy Bars:
Rather than spreading and cutting the candy bars, you can also divide the chocolate among candy bar molds if you have them.
You can also get creative in wrapping the candy bars by using decorative foil wrapping paper rather than plain foil. Seasonal wrapping paper would be fun during the holidays.
Storage:
These candy bars will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about a month, in the refrigerator for about two months, and in the freezer for up to six months. Bring them to room temperature before serving.
More Candy Recipes to Try:
Sunday Funday:
This week, the Sunday Funday group is sharing recipes for fun treats or recipes using fun snacks as an ingredient to celebrate National Junk Food Day!
- Brownie Pizza by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Copycat Hobi's Bites Original Hot Crackers by Food Lust People Love
- Crunch Bars (copycat) by Karen's Kitchen Stories
- Donuts & Chicken Strips by Amy's Cooking Adventures
- Roasted Pumpkin Hummus Veggie Wrap by Sneha's Recipe
- Walking Taco by Mayuri's Jikoni
Crunch Bars (Copycat)
These homemade Chocolate Crunch Bars capture the nostalgic flavors of the milk chocolate and puffed rice cereal candy bar we all love.
Ingredients
- 18 ounces finely chopped milk chocolate
- 1 1/2 ounces (1 1/2 cups) puffed rice cereal such as Rice Krispies
- 2 tablespoons malted milk powder
Instructions
- Temper the chocolate (see note about tempering chocolate above) or melt the chocolate over a double boiler until just melted.
- Stir in the rice cereal and the malted milk powder.
- Spread the mixture with an offset spatula on a parchment lined cutting board into a 11 inch by 11 inch square. Refrigerate the chocolate on the cutting board for about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Remove from the refrigerator and, using a pizza wheel, score the chocolate along the edges to trim and into 10 2-inch by 5-inch rectangles. Refrigerate until the chocolate just hardens. Cut the chocolate all the way through along the previously scored cuts.
- Wrap the bars in foil and store in an airtight container.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
280Fat (grams)
18 gSat. Fat (grams)
10 gCarbs (grams)
35 gFiber (grams)
3 gNet carbs
32 gSugar (grams)
27 gProtein (grams)
2 gCholesterol (grams)
0 mgRecipe adapted from Bravetart: Iconic American Desserts by Stella Parks. There are also recipes for Three Musketeer Bars, Milky Way Bars, and Snicker's Bars!
I loved crunch bars and Krackel as a kid! It's been a long, long time since I've had either since I tend to eat more dark chocolate these days. Hmmmm, maybe I should try to make a dark chocolate version. You make it look so easy, Karen!
ReplyDeleteI was tempted to do a combination of milk chocolate and dark!
DeleteNecessity is the mother of invention. Thanks for sharing the historical information on the crunch bars. I think I could use this mixture in my candy molds, too.
ReplyDeleteThose molds are calling my name!
DeleteMy hubby will love these, must try it!
ReplyDeleteMy family loves crunch bars! These seem line a must make!
ReplyDelete