Twix Candy Bars (Copycat) is the perfect homemade candy recipe with a crisp wafer and gooey caramel at the center of a milk chocolate bar.
This copycat recipe is the perfect way to make a favorite candy bar even more delicious! If you love these caramel and chocolate candy bars, be sure to try my other Twix-inspired Desserts like Twix Cookies or Twix Cookie Bars.
Table of contents
Sabrina’s Twix Candy Bars Recipe
Twix Bars are a fairly simple candy bar with a crisp shortbread cookie and caramel at the center of milk chocolate. Because the three elements are so simple, they are a surprisingly easy treat to recreate at home. My delicious copycat version of Twix Candy Bars tastes even better than the store-bought candies. Plus you don’t have to worry about having to share just two small bars, there will be plenty to go around!
Ingredients
- Butter: To make the crisp shortbread base, you only need a few pantry ingredients. The first is softened unsalted butter. The butter binds the ingredients together, softens the dry ingredients, and gives the shortbread its rich, buttery taste.
- Powdered Sugar: You’ll also need sugar to sweeten the shortbread mixture. Using powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar creates a less dense mixture with more of a snap.
- Flour: Flour is the base ingredient that gives the shortbread mixture structure. After adding the flour, you can spread the easy dough into the base of the baking pan and cook it into the crisp wafer filling.
- Caramel: To make the caramel filling easy, pick up a package of soft caramel squares. Unwrap enough caramels to fill three cups.
- Heavy Cream: As you melt the caramel, you’ll mix it with heavy cream. The cream helps make the soft caramel smoother and more spreadable. However, it still sets with the caramel so that you can easily slice and dip the Twix Bars.
- Chocolate: These copycat Twix Candy Bars use milk chocolate to coat the outside of the caramel and cookie center. Melt the chocolate until it’s completely smooth before covering the Twix Candy Bars. Then, let the chocolate harden completely before serving.
How to Make
Time needed: 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- Prep Time
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees, and spray a 9×13 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. Then, line the pan with parchment paper. Make sure the parchment paper goes up the sides of the pan.
- Make Cookie Dough
Add room-temperature butter to your stand mixer and beat for 2-3 minutes or until the butter is creamed and lighter in color. Then add the sugar, salt, and vanilla extract and mix again until combined. Then, add the flour to the mixing bowl. Stir at low speed until the dry ingredients are just blended into the dough, but be careful not to over-mix.
- Baking Time
Press the shortbread dough into the bottom of the prepared pan in an even layer. Then bake for 20-25 minutes until just turning golden brown. Let the cookie bar layer cool completely before adding the caramel layer.
- Melt Caramel
Add caramel squares and heavy cream to a microwave-safe bowl. Cover the bowl with a wet paper towel and microwave in 30-second increments to melt the caramel. Whisk together the melted caramel and heavy cream until well combined.
- Add Caramel Layer
Then, pour a layer of caramel over the shortbread crust. You can use a butter knife or spatula to spread the caramel layer evenly over the cookie bars.
- Refrigerate
Put the pan in the fridge for 30 minutes so the caramel layer hardens before adding the chocolate. Once the caramel hardens, use a sharp knife to slice the bars into 26 pieces, each of them about 1 inch thick and 4 ½ inch long.
- Prepare Chocolate Coating
Add the chocolate to a microwave-safe bowl and melt in 30-second increments, stirring between each microwaving session until the melted chocolate is smooth. This will probably take between 2 and 3 minutes of microwaving.
- Coat Bars in Chocolate
Line two baking sheets with wax paper. Dip each Twix Bar in chocolate, tapping the bar on the side of the bowl to let excess chocolate drip off. Place the bars on the wax paper to let the chocolate layer dry. After dipping the bars in chocolate, drizzle the remaining melted chocolate over the Twix Candy Bars.
- Chill and Set
Place the pans in the fridge for 20 minutes to let the chocolate layer set before serving.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 3 cups soft caramels , unwrapped
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees and spray a 9×13 pan with baking spray and line with parchment paper with the parchment paper going up the sides of the pan.
- In your stand mixer add the butter and beat until creamed and lighter in color, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the sugar, salt and vanilla and combine completely.
- Add the flour and combine until the flour is no longer visible, do not over-mix.
- Press evenly into the bottom of the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until just browning.
- Let the crust cool completely before adding the caramel sauce.
- In a microwave safe bowl add the caramel squares and heavy cream.
- Cover with a wet paper towel and microwave in 30 second increments.
- When it is melted enough to fully whisk together pour it over the shortbread crust in an even layer.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes until caramel is hardened.
- Slice the bars into 26 pieces, about 1″ thick and 4 1/2″ long.
- Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments and stir the chocolate between each time you microwave it (It usually takes 2 to 3 times to fully melt).
- Line two baking sheets with wax paper.
- Dip the chocolate bars into the chocolate, allow the excess chocolate to tap off the sides, then place onto the wax paper.
- Drizzle the tops of the chocolate with remaining chocolate after dipping.
- Let set in the fridge for 20 minutes before eating.
Nutrition
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Can this be made ahead of time?
Yes, these candy bars will stay fresh for quite a long time! I would recommend enjoying them within the first week when the cookie part is the freshest. However you can store them in the fridge for about 2 weeks and freeze them for about 3 months.
Chef’s Note: Homemade Candy Gifts
This candy bar recipe also makes the perfect edible gift. You can wrap a few Twix Bars in wax paper, followed by colorful tissue paper. Then, place them in a cookie tin or gift box to give as a present. Include some Homemade Butterfinger Bars and Candy Bar Fudge for a delightful candy bar theme. I also like to include printed or handwritten recipe cards, on nice paper, so that whoever I’m gifting the candy to can recreate the recipe if they want!
Nutritional Facts
How to Store
- Store: Store homemade Twix bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They should stay fresh for up to 2 weeks. Refrigeration helps keep the caramel firm and prevents the chocolate from becoming too soft.
- Freeze: If you want to keep them for a longer period, you can freeze them. Place the bars in a single layer in an airtight container or wrap them individually in plastic wrap. They can be frozen for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to enjoy them, thaw the bars in the refrigerator overnight to prevent the chocolate from melting too quickly.
Frequent Questions
You’ll cut the shortbread cookie and caramel layer before adding the chocolate coating on top. To cut it cleanly, you can score the shortbread where you plan to cut it before adding the caramel topping. Then when you cut all the way through, it’s less likely to break.
Making candy from home is a lot easier than you might think. Plus, making this recipe yourself means you know exactly what’s going into the recipe. No need to worry about added preservatives or other ingredients you’ll run into with mass-produced candy bars. You can make this easy, tasty candy bar recipe with just a few simple ingredients. The homemade shortbread also tastes so much better than the store-bought candy filling.
Yes. This is an easy recipe to freeze and store for later. To ensure the homemade candy bars don’t freeze together, you can first place the Twix Candy Bars in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Then, put the sheet in the freezer for 1-2 hours. After the chocolate bars harden, you can put them in an airtight container to keep for up to 2 months in the freezer.
Variations
- Dark Chocolate Twix Candy Bars: If you prefer a slightly more bitter, rich chocolate flavor, you can swap out the milk chocolate chips for dark chocolate. Melt the dark chocolate and coat the shortbread and caramel layers as usual. Semi-sweet chocolate chips are another flavor variation that you can easily try.
- White Chocolate Twix Bars: A less-expected alternative is using white chocolate. White chocolate and caramel make a very sweet pairing. If you don’t want that sweet recipe but still want to incorporate white chocolate flavor, you could always use milk, dark, or semisweet chocolate to coat the candy bars. Then drizzle a little melted white chocolate over the top as a small addition.
- Salted Caramel Twix: Salted caramel is a delicious flavor combo because salt enhances the rich caramel taste. To add that to this recipe, you can sprinkle flaky sea salt over the caramel layer over the melted chocolate before it sets. Just be sure not to add too much salt, or it will overwhelm the sweet candy bar flavor.
- Nuts: Making homemade candy means you can experiment with different mix-ins. Try adding a layer of peanuts, chopped almonds, or walnuts over the caramel.
More Delicious Homemade Candy
I love these candy bars! I was wondering if you have the recipe for the peanut butter Twix bars? They were my favorite candy bar but they stopped making them. Thanks for the wonderful recipes!
Great idea! I will put that on my list of recipes to play with! Here’s what I have on the site right now for your perusal Sheree! https://dinnerthendessert.com/?s=peanut+butter+twix
Let me know what you think.