These homemade vegan baby ruth candy bars are not the quickest dessert to make they are absolutely incredible tasting!
Vegan Candy Bar recipe
I usually try to keep things pretty simple for the blog.
However, some desserts are just SO good that they need to be a little complicated.
This is not a dessert that you can just put together in 30 minutes.
But stay with me here, it's 100% worth it.
If you've been missing baby ruth candy bars in your life then this is your recipe.
What are these vegan candy bars made with?
For these vegan baby ruth bars, you have a peanut butter nougat middle, a caramel/peanuts over the nougat, all drenched in chocolate.
Yes, that's 2 separate candies to make. Caramel and nougat, but it's okay you got this!
Do I need any special equipment to make vegan candy?
Yes, you must have a candy thermometer. You can't make the recipe without it.
Candy making isn't hard per se, but it's all about timing and the correct amount of ingredients.
I'm a big fan of making my own vegan candy at Halloween time.
I love giving my kids all the delicious candies that I had growing up, but even better because they are homemade.
Every year I make a form of vegan Twix, vegan kit-kats, vegan butterfingers, and Vegan Peanut butter cups, and now I'm going to be adding these vegan Baby Ruths.
How do you store vegan homemade candy bars?
I store mine on a Silpat in a single row, freeze them, and then once frozen they can be stacked and placed in a freezer-safe bag and stored in the fridge for up to a few months for best flavor.
When you want to eat them just defrost them on the counter or place them in the fridge. You don't want to keep them out too long because the caramel will tend to get a little on the gooey side.
What do you need for these vegan baby ruth candy bars?
- creamy peanut butter
- sugar
- corn syrup
- water
- molasses
- vegan butter
- baking soda
- vanilla extract
- vegan butter
- coconut milk, full fat canned
- Water
- chocolate chips
- peanuts
How do you make these vegan candy bars?
Prepare a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and set it aside.
Start by making your nougat filling.
Take a small bowl and heat your 1 cup peanut butter until heated about 30 seconds to 1 minute and set aside.
Take a medium-sized pot and add the sugar, light corn syrup, and water from the nougat portion of the recipe.
Stir this until combined then add your candy thermometer.
Let this cook on high to medium-high until the temperature reaches 240F, watch this carefully it takes a while to start coming to heat but once it does it can go fast.
Remove from heat and add the vegan butter, baking soda, and vanilla, and warmed peanut butter, and stir until combined.
Take your prepared 9x13 pan and spread the mixture in an even layer.
Let this sit and until completely cool. Now start on the caramel.
In a microwave save mixing bowl combine the vegan butter and coconut milk.
Cook this in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until melted. Set aside.
Take a small to medium saucepan and add the water, corn syrup, and sugar, stir, cook on high heat until it boils, cover with a lid for 1 minute while boiling.
Remove the lid stick the candy thermometer in and cook until the temperature reaches 320F.
Once it reaches that temperature add your melted vegan butter/coconut milk mixture then cook until the temperature gets back up to 240F (about 5-10 minutes).
Make sure not to overcook.
Take your prepared 8x8 pan and spread the caramel mixture evenly.
Let this come to room temperature as well.
This might take a few hours.
You can stick it in the fridge to speed this up.
Once the caramel and nougat are cooled enough to start forming, let's make the candy bars.
Melt your chocolate.
Take a small bowl and add the chocolate then heat at 80% for 30 seconds, stop stir, then again for 30 seconds, stop stir, until the chocolate is just about melted.
Then stir until it fully melts.
Do not overheat or the chocolate will seize.
Start by cutting the nougat down the middle then depending on the size you want cut even strips to get however many candy bars you want.
Get a Silpat or wax paper and take the nougat and shape it into the log shape with your hands.
When you're done with shaping the logs, then cut the caramels (this isn't as easy and not messy as it sounds).
Try your best to coat the caramel onto the logs working quickly because the caramels want to fall off.
Now take the peanuts and squeeze the desired amount of peanuts onto the caramel, reshaping the caramel to hug the nougat if it's starting to fall off.
Now get your melted chocolate and either dip them or spread the chocolate on them, whichever process works best for you.
*I decided to only coat the 3 sides and the top, which was plenty of chocolate and I dipped and then wiped off the excess chocolate.
Place these in the freezer in a single layer to set before storing them. These freeze well and can be brought to room temperature to eat or store in the fridge.
Vegan Baby Ruth Candy Bars
Ingredients
Nougat
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 2 TB water
- 1 teaspoon molasses
- 1 TB vegan butter
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Caramel
- ½ cup vegan butter
- ½ cup coconut milk full fat canned
- 3 TB Water
- ¼ cup corn syrup
- 1 cup sugar
Chocolate
- 2 cups chocolate chips* you will need more if you are covering the bottoms also.
extra
- 1 ish cup of peanuts or more.
Instructions
- Prepare a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and set it aside. Start by making your nougat filling. Take a small bowl and heat your 1 cup peanut butter until heated about 30 seconds to 1 minute and set aside.
- Take a medium-sized pot and add the sugar, light corn syrup, and water from the nougat portion of the recipe. Stir this until combined then add your candy thermometer. Let this cook on high to medium-high until the temperature reaches 240F, watch this carefully it takes a while to start coming to heat but once it does it can go fast.
- Remove from heat and add the vegan butter, baking soda, and vanilla, and warmed peanut butter, and stir until combined.
- Take your prepared 9x13 pan and spread the mixture in an even layer. Let this sit and until completely cool.
- Now start on the caramel. In a microwave save mixing bowl combine the vegan butter and coconut milk. Cook this in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until melted. Set aside.
- Take a small to medium saucepan and add the water, corn syrup, and sugar, stir, cook on high heat until it boils, cover with a lid for 1 minute while boiling. Remove the lid stick the candy thermometer in and cook until the temperature reaches 320F. Once it reaches that temperature add your melted vegan butter/coconut milk mixture then cook until the temperature gets back up to 240F (about 5-10 minutes) Make sure not to over cook. Take your prepared 8x8 pan and spread the caramel mixture evenly. Let this come to room temperature as well. This might take a few hours. You can stick it in the fridge to speed this up.
- Once the caramel and nougat are cooled enough to start forming, let's make the candy bars.
- Melt your chocolate. Take a small bowl add the chocolate and stir, then heat for 30 seconds, stop stir, then again for 30 seconds, stop stir, until the chocolate is just about melted. Then stir until it fully melts. Do not overheat or the chocolate will seize.
- Start by cutting the nougat down the middle then depending on the size you want cut even strips to get however many candy bars you want. Take a Silpat or wax paper and take the nougat and shape it into the log shape with your hands. When you're done with shaping the logs, then cut the caramels (this isn't as easy and not messy as it sounds). Try your best to coat the caramel onto the logs working quickly because the caramels want to fall off.
- Now take the peanuts and squeeze the desired amount of peanuts onto the caramel, reshaping the caramel to hug the nougat if it's starting to fall off.
- Now get your melted chocolate and either dip them or spread the chocolate on them, whichever process works best for you. *I decided to only coat the 3 sides and the top, which was plenty of chocolate and I dipped and then wiped off the excess chocolate. Place these in a single layer in the freezer to set before storing them. These freeze well and can be brought to room temperature to eat. Or store in the fridge.
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