Do you know what “hits the spot” after dinner? A tiny piece of chocolate, of course! There is always plenty of chocolate around my house-next to coffee it’s another MOMnecessity!
A couple of weeks ago, I shared my cinnamon raisin peanut butter recipe. In that post, I told you all about which peanuts to purchase in order to make the best peanut butter. I certainly didn’t make that stuff up. I had to buy the peanuts myself and test it out.
So what was I supposed to do with all of those peanuts hanging around? Cover them in chocolate of course! It was the next obvious move.
If you’ve never had a Nestle Chunky Bar, you are missing out. It’s one of those chocolate bars that have a mix of sweet and salty that are oh!-so-delicoius. What I don’t like about them is that a) they are hard to find where I live and b) they aren’t cheap. Today I saw a single bar at Bed Bath and Beyond for $1.99! I can make four bars for a fraction of that price!
The first thing I did is purchase a reusable chocolate bar mold from Michael’s -at the whooping price of $1.99 -40%off with my coupon). I know I will be putting this mold to use in the next few months… so stay tuned for more!
Last week, I went to Blissdom, a social media conference- thanks to the Sponsorship of California Raisins. It would take a while to recap the conference… so I will leave you with this: I loved getting to know the other California Raisin ambassadors better, networked with some fantastic women and got to meet some of the people I chat with online face to face.
Back to the bars. You know that I am always well stocked when it comes to raisins. So I didn’t have to go far when it came to finding my ingredients for this recipe. Chocolate chips? Check. Raisins? Check. Peanuts? Check!
You won’t believe how easy it is to make this recipe. The biggest “food term” you’ll see in the recipe is “melt the chocolate chips in a double broiler”. All that means is that the chocolate chips need to be melted in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. The heat of the boiling water will melt the chocolate evenly without burning it. For this reason, I do not recommend melting chocolate in the microwave… {nearly} ever. It’s just too easy to burn –and that would be a tragedy!
{Copycat} Homemade Chunky Bars – Peanut Raisin Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk chocolate chips
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ peanuts, chopped
Instructions
- In a double boiler, slowly melt your chocolate chips. If you use block chocolate, make sure your chocolate is chopped into even sized pieces.
- Place the chocolate mold on a small tray or flat surface. This will make it easier to carry into the fridge once filled. Distribute the chopped peanuts and raisins evenly inside chocolate molds.
- Once chocolate is melted, carefully pour it inside chocolate molds -making sure you don’t overfill too much but filling it all the way to the rim.
- Transfer chocolate molds inside refrigerator and let them harden -4hours or overnight.
Patricia O'Connor
I made these without a mold, just dropped by spoonfuls onto a tray lined with parchment paper and put in refrigerator. They got eaten quickly, and I substituted granola for the nuts. Super easy and delicious recipe.
Laura Fuentes
I’ve never tried just dropping spoonfuls but that’s BRILLIANT! thank you for the suggestion!
Diana
Chunky is my favorite. I have always tasted a hint of rum. I know the ingredients don’t show rum. Just wondering if just a little rum would make it good.
Laura Fuentes
I haven’t tried making these with Rum but you def. can!
Brenda Tarr
Thanks for the recipe! One of my friends’ wives adores Chunky bars and I plan on making some for her. I prefer to not melt chocolate in a double boiler because if even one tiny drop of water (or steam) comes in contact with chocolate, it will seize and become (nearly) unusable. Instead, I have a little chocolate melter that I bought from Michael’s that is perfect for melting any kind of chocolate.
Laura Fuentes
I’m so glad you enjoyed these homemade chunky bars!
Amanda
Should the peanuts be salted or unsalted?
Laura Fuentes
That’s up to you! do you like the sweet & salty or just peanut & chocolate?
Scal
I use a 12 oz bag of dark chocolate and microwave it until it melts and then mix a tablespoon of butter in. Then I add in what I want. I’ll do 1 bag of coconut (mounds) or peanuts (Mr. Goodbar) or peanuts and raisins (chunky) or mini m&m’s, etc. then line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper and put mixture in dish and put in fridge and cut them into bars.
They are delicious and easy!
Joanne Jones-Carmichael
I use dark chocolate chip s I find it’s best if you have diabetes. Dark chocolate is better than milk chocolate and it gives it a nice flavor.
Laura Fuentes
I’m glad you enjoyed these!
Linda C Graybill
Definitely cashews and Brazil nuts. Not ever peanuts.
Gloria
This sounds good, but I am older and remember how Chunky bars were made before Nestle, with some roasted almonds and lots of cashews and raisins! So that’s how I make them.
Mayor of Storyville
Love this! Love them! If I am not mistaken the original Chunky had a little semisweet chocolate taste to them, it was as though they mixed a little semi sweet in with the milk chocolate. From what I remember they did not melt in your hand as readily as the old Nestles Crunch or Nestles Milk Chocolate bar (which was the meltiest!). I will put in 2/3 milk chocolate and 1/3 semi sweet…I am eating morsels as I type this. Now…anyone ever try making the 7UP Bar?
Linda
Wondering how the 2/3 milk chocolate and 1/3 dark chocolate bars turned out? I want to make them with the cashews and Brazil nuts. For anyone looking… you can find Brazil nuts at health food stores in their bulk sections. Going to try these soon! Thank you for the recipe!
MARY WHITE
Hi, Laura! Thanks for posting this recipe, my sister is diabetic but gets a craving for sweets, especially CHUNKIES! Can I use Hershey Kisses in place of the chips? I bake a lot of cookies Peanut Blossoms being the #1 after chocolate chip and always have a ton of the kisses on hand. Thanks in advance.
Laura Fuentes
Hi Mary, I’ve never tried it by melting them but you can try!
christine
Thank you, Laura, for providing an easy recipe for a difficult-to-find candy bar! I’d love to try the original 1930’s cashew and brazil nuts version!
Laura Fuentes
Yes, you can definitely make them with Brazil nuts. I used peanuts because they can be hard to find.
Gwendolyn
What brand of milk chocolate chips do you used? Thanks.
Laura Fuentes
Hershey’s, Girardelly… even the allergy friendly ones.
The professor
A great project!
It should be noted, however, that before the Nestlé acquired the brand in 1984 and dumbed down the original recipe, Chunky bars did not contain peanuts: they contained (in addition to raisins) pieces of cashew and brazil nuts. To me, THAT will always be a Chunky bar.
I recommend making them that way for not only a bit of candy history, but and infinitely better candy bar!
Laura Fuentes
You are 100% right! I debated using cashew pieces and brazil nuts but they can be tough for find… (although I love making the original with Brazil nuts myself!). Thank you for visiting!
Jane Hollander
Do you add salt to this recipe ?
When do you put both sides of the mold together?
Chunky chocolate bars were my childhood favorite !
Thanks for all your hard work..
Looking forward chocolate making..
Laura Fuentes
Jane, I don’t add salt and the mold is only one sided. I made the chunky bars exactly as you see them.
Blessed Little Family
We can eat nuts but I’m not crazy about them raw. Do you think mixing in some peanut butter would work? Or just omit and add something else- maybe rice crispies as a previous commenter mentioned? Or oats? Thanks! This looks super easy! Btw, we are dairy free and egg free. Enjoy Life chocolate chips work great in recipes like these. 🙂 My world changed for the better when I found this brand. Lol. 🙂
Laura Fuentes
Hi! You can absolutely add rice krispies. Enjoy life will melt well too. So yes, you can make these with their chocolate chips! I haven’t tried adding peanut butter… and I am not sure it will harden enough. omit the nuts 🙂
Kelly @ The Nourishing Home
So glad you had fun at Blissdom! I am hoping we can get together sometime soon! I would love to hang out with you! And these little bars are SO simple, yet beautiful and brilliant! I can’t wait to give them a try – maybe an almond, walnut or pecan version too!
Laura Fuentes
yum Kelly!
virginia
since we cant use peanuts in our house i think i want to do this wish crisp rice cereal and make it like a chocolate raisin crunch bar
Laura Fuentes
i was saving that for another post… but i love putting rice krispies and making crunch bars! 🙂
Michelle | Creative Food
These look delicious!!