Birthday Whatchamacallits

Forrest requested homemade dark chocolate Whatchamacallits for his birthday.  A surprisingly simple combination of recipes, when I put all three together, they created what I like to call "Whatchamauglies" because they were not pretty!  While I wasn't a fan of the flavor of the bar, Forrest swears they taste just like the original, but with decadent dark chocolate.  He did concede that the recipe would be better with milk chocolate.  The peanut butter crispies were fantastic!


Birthday Whatchamacallits

Peanut Butter Crispies

1 cup organic sugar
1 cup organic brown rice syrup

1 3/4 cups smooth organic peanut butter
3 cups crispy brown rice cereal- Whole Foods makes an inexpensive organic version

Bring sugar and syrup to a full boil over medium- high heat. Boil for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Pour over crispy rice. Spread evenly on a sheet of parchment paper.  Cover with another sheet of parchment paper.  Using a rolling pin, flatten mixture to about 1 inch height.  Cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Adapted from Dame Good Eats

2 12oz bag (about 3 cups) organic dark chocolate chips
1/2 tablespoon organic shortening

Over a double broiler, melt the chocolate chips and shortening, stirring constantly, until smooth.

Caramel Sauce

Adapted from BH&G New Cook Book

1/2 cup packed organic brown sugar

1 tbsp organic cornstarch

1/4 cup water

1/3 cup organic half and half

2 tbsp organic brown rice syrup

1 tbsp organic butter

1/2 tsp organic vanilla

In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar and cornstarch.  Stir in water, half and half, syrup, and butter.  Cook and stir over medium heat until bubbly.  Cook and stir 2 minutes more.  Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. 

Assembling the candy bars

Cut crispies into candy bar sized pieces.  I used a sharp pizza roller and a ruler, which worked perfectly.  Place bars onto a cooling rack with parchment below the rack.  Spread caramel over the top of each bar.  Coat bar with chocolate.  We decided the chocolate was so strong that halfway through the recipe, I only frosted the tops of the bars with chocolate.  Allow to set, enjoy!