Stephie Cooks

Food from the heart

Homemade Heath Bars

by 26 Comments

Homemade Heath Bars: Butter toffee topped with sliced almonds and milk chocolate makes for a surprisingly simple version of your favorite Heath Bars, just in time for the Easter baskets.

Homemade Heath Bars

I’ve already told you guys how Boyfriend is the Ebenezer Scrooge of desserts. Even my Pecan Raisin Pie, which he raves about, only gets at most two bites before he is done.

So you can imagine my surprise when I asked for suggestions of what to make for the blog a couple of weeks ago and his immediate response was, “Heath bars.”

I was so taken aback I replied, “Like…homemade Heath bars?” You know, just to make sure I was understanding him correctly.

“Yeah, sure.”

Well, that was instructive.

Of course, since I am a lifelong chocolate hater (for which I feel the need to apologize every time I make mention of it) I wasn’t even sure what a Heath Bar was. Thank goodness for the Google machine, which told me that it is really nothing more than toffee covered with almonds and milk chocolate.

Ok, easy enough.

That night I pulled out the trusty candy thermometer and an entire pound of butter – yes, you read that correctly, a pound of butter – and set to making candy.

If you’ve never made candy before, it truly isn’t as scary as it seems. You’ll need a good candy thermometer (I tend to be leery of recipes that only tell you to go on time or the color of your candy – too much room for error, if you ask me) and some patience. Pick a day that you’re blessed with a decent attention span.

Your candy will take a while to get up to temperature, but it will only take a few minutes to go from perfect to overdone, so no walking away and doing something else, ya hear? Things also move fairly quickly once you get started, so have your ingredients measured and ready to go before you get started.

#Protip

Oh, and I should mention: If you aren’t a fan of almonds or milk chocolate, feel free to use your favorite nut or a nice dark chocolate. Mix it up! That’s the great thing about making things at home, remember?

Homemade milk chocolate toffee candy

Toffee adapted from The Pioneer Woman’s “Lia’s Butter Toffee” recipe

5.0 from 3 reviews
Homemade Heath Bars
 
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Recipe type: Candy
Ingredients
  • 2 cups (1 pound) unsalted butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1½ tablespoons water
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ cup sliced almonds
  • 2-3 cups chopped milk chocolate
Instructions
  1. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Measure out vanilla and almonds; set aside.
  2. In a large Dutch oven, bring butter, sugar, water, and salt to a boil, stirring constantly. Once butter and sugar are melted, insert your candy thermometer, making sure it is covered by the mixture but not touching the bottom of the pot. Cook, continuing to stir, until mixture reaches 298 degrees (hard crack stage). Remove from heat and quickly stir in vanilla, then pour mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Smooth out with a spatula, sprinkle on almonds, then set aside to cool for at least an hour.
  3. Once toffee has cooled, place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high in 30-second increments, stirring after each. Heat until just melted, then pour over cooled toffee and spread even with a spatula. Allow to harden, then break into pieces and serve.

 

Comments

  2. Julia says

    Did you know DID YOU KNOW Heath bars are my favorite candy next to a straight up dark-as-sin chocolate bar?? Once upon a time, I was a chocolate hater too, so I do understand your dislike of it, and I love you even more for making a chocolate-y treat in spite of your despisal. High fives. High fives for Heath bars!

    Reply

  4. cookingactress says

    I haven’t made homemade toffee yet but i sooo need to! I love how buttery and amazing it is! and girl. YOU’D NEVER HEARD OF HEATH BARS??! I love you anyway but ahhhh! I’m glad Alex was smart enough to suggest you make these!

    Reply

  5. laurasmess says

    I have no idea what a Heath bar is either (I love chocolate but they don’t exist here… my first thought was, “HEALTH bar? How is THAT a health bar? Oh wait, no L”) but these bars look delicious. I feel a sudden urge to dance around my living room. Do you, uh, home deliver?

    Reply

  6. Isadora says

    When I first read the title of this post I thought it said “Health Bars” and then I looked at the picture and thought that they couldn’t possibly be healthy, but maybe, and then I read the pound of butter part and I finally realized they were called Heath bars, haha! Healthy or not, they still look delicious and I want them now!

    Reply

  11. Brian says

    The toffee recipe needs more detailed cooking instructions, such as, “bring to a slow boil on low heat until it reaches 298F so as not to burn it – remember it is made of butter which burns easily”. If we don’t burn the 2nd batch then I’ll write again to tell you how it came out.

    Reply

      • Brian says

        Stephie, the 2nd time worked out much better! We still burned the bottom slightly but the mixture as a whole did not burn and the toffee turned out pretty good. If I were to do it a third time (definitely next year) then I would change to a thick bottom boiler (cast iron dutch oven?) so the heat is evenly distributed (no hot spots). This batch was about 3/8 inch thick (about 3x thicker than a Heath bar) which was really appealing at first but then you find that you cannot eat much without becoming sick of it and it does not last as long because there are fewer pieces than if it were thinner. In order to make it thinner the cookie sheet/casserole pan should be pre-heated, say to 250F, to allow the toffee to spread thin before it cools. The pan should have a lip to prevent it from running off the edges. Thanks for doing the recipe and the web site!

  21. Merry says

    Now I can try to make this instead of scraping the ‘ugh’ chocolate off the Heath bars you buy! Yes, that is what i do. Yes, another chocolate disliker. (Yes there are many of us.) Wouldn’t say I hate chocolate, but not a huge fan.

    Going to buy a candy thermometer tomorrow.
    Thanks

    Reply

  22. Carol says

    My butter/sugar mixture separated during cooking, and no matter how much I stirred, it wouldn’t smooth together. When I poured it into a cookie sheet, I had melted butter all around the edge. I’d this normal, or how do I remedy it for the next batch. I put heat on medium/low and cooked to 298. It didn’t burn, but it just didn’t look right. Thank you!

    Reply

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