Make your own 100 Grand Bars with gooey, salty-sweet Medjool date caramel and a crispy, dairy-free, chocolate cereal coating. Try this easy DIY candy recipe for a healthier halloween treat!
October isn’t just a month for all things pumpkin spice, it’s also 31 days to DIY your perfect homemade halloween candy creations. Personally I love to take the trick-or-treat classics – because classics are classic for a reason – and give them a healthyish spin or fruit-sweetened swap or dairy-free makeover. I must admit I never gave 100 Grand Bars much credit when I was a kid, but as an adult I adore them – what’s not to love about caramel coated in a crunch bar?? So that’s the DIY candy bar we are recreating today, and you better believe it was a DELICIOUS success!
How To Make A DIY 100 Grand Bar
Like I said, when you break it down a 100 Grand Bar is simply caramel coated in crispy rice cereal and chocolate…YUM. Milky Way can keep its nougat, this Crunch-bar-but-better situation is all I need. But the minute I hear “caramel” I think “Medjool dates”, so we’re making this recipe with homemade, silky-sweet, 4-ingredient Medjool date caramel instead of the usual butter + sugar kind.
Making The Medjool Date Caramel Middle
We are starting with the inside first because it’s easiest to freeze the caramel before trying to coat it in cereal and chocolate. For this caramel you will need:
Natural Delights Medjool Dates.The only kind of Medool dates you will ever find in my pantry, and the only kind I can confidently recommend to always be fresh and soft and sweet. Which matters for 1) caramel deliciousness and 2) easy caramel blending. So unlike most, this caramel is high in fiber and potassium and made without any refined sugar!
Coconut milk. Medjool date caramel is often made with water, but since we want these bars to freeze for easier chocolate coating we need a little bit of coconut in the mix. Date paste won’t freeze, but coconut milk will. So the combination creates a not totally frozen but firm enough to work with caramel consistency.
Vanilla extract and salt. Both essential ingredients for a salty-sweet caramel center.
Building A Homemade 100 Grand Bar
After the caramel making process, the rest of this recipe is basically assembly. I told you we are into EASY candy making today.
Step 1: Make the Caramel Middle
Blend up those 4 simple ingredients until it’s ultra SMOOTH and spoon-licking delicious.
Step 2: Shape Into Bars
This can be done easily with a silicone candy bar mold OR in a square pan that you will later slice into individual bars.
Step 3: Make The Chocolate + Cereal
Melt the chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet) with the coconut oil, and gently fold in the crispy rice cereal.
Step 4: Coat The Bottom Of The Bars
Instead of trying to dip the entire bar in chocolate later (very messy), we are going to create a layer on the bottom of every bar now, so we only have to worry about the top and sides later. It also gives the caramel a structural base that makes for easier removal from the pan/mold.
Step 5: Freeze Overnight
Don’t rush this, the caramel needs to be as firm as possible. Also don’t worry if your bars, don’t come out of their mold perfectly, you can easily reshape the cold caramel.
Step 6: Coat The Tops and Sides
Re-melt that delicious dark chocolate + cereal mixture and spoon it onto the top and sides of the bars to create a bumbly, bumpy, deliciously imperfect 100 Grand Bar. Then let the chocolate set, the frozen caramel will make this happen real quick.
Whip up a test batch now in anticipation of next Tuesday’s festivities. Or make these copycat candy bars anytime, because when is chocolate + caramel + crunch NOT in season?
Make your own 100 Grand Bars with gooey, salty-sweet Medjool date caramel and a crispy, dairy-free, chocolate cereal coating. Try this easy DIY candy recipe for a healthier halloween treat!
Medjool Date Caramel
100 Grand Bars
10oz (283g) dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 cup (25g) crispy rice cereal
Instructions
Blend the caramel ingredients until combined and very smooth.
Spoon into a candy bar mold filling each cavity 3/4 of the way (*if you don’t have a candy bar mold!)
Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil together. Stir in the rice cereal.
Spoon a layer of this chocolate mixture on top of each caramel bar.
Freeze the bars overnight. Cover the rest of the chocolate + cereal mixture, and save for tomorrow.
Carefully remove the bars from the mold (they may not come out perfect, you can easily fix/reshape the caramel) and arrange on a wire rack with the chocolate side down.
Re-melt the chocolate cereal mixture in the microwave for about 1 minute. Spoon on top of each bar to completely coat.
Rest at room temperature until the chocolate is set.
Enjoy! Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
*If you don’t have a candy bar mold, line a square baking pan with parchment paper. Spread a thin layer of the chocolate cereal mixture in the bottom of the pan and chill until set. Then spread the caramel on top of the chocolate as evenly as possible. Freeze overnight. Slice into bars the next day, then coat the sides and tops as instructed above.
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