DIY Skor Chocolate Candy Bars

Dear Reader, I may be going to prison soon. You see I made one of the most addictive chocolate bars EVER. These chocolate bars are made of crisp toffee enrobed in Belgian milk and dark chocolate and roasted organic almonds. Sounds too good to be true? It isn't and you can make your own chocolate bars too using my tips without having to buy any special molds! And yes this is a pushy recipe!

These are modelled on the Skor or Daim bars. Skor bars are what you will find in America while Daim is what you'll find in Scandinavia (or Scandi outposts like Ikea). They're ridiculously addictive but all I could think is what these would be like if you used real Belgian chocolate and added the crunch of roasted almonds. And you know what? They're freaking amazing.

Perhaps candy making isn't for everyone, and neither is chocolate bar making. But all the special equipment you'll need is a candy thermometer. I use mine a lot and it was one of my favourite purchases. I use it to tell the temperature for tangzhong, to randomly tell people's temperatures (don't know how accurate this is but it's fun) and for candy because you need the sugar to get to a hard crack stage. This is where 99% of the water has been removed and gives this bar its addictive crack texture.

And if I'm still not selling this for you, then can I please show you how to make a candy bar shape without having a special mold? I saw people fashioning candy bar molds out of foil and quite honestly I was feeling way too low key for that. But then I thought about it and figured out how to do it with some chopsticks, parchment and oil spray and it works really well.

I made these and them promptly devoured three bars. It was like a horror movie when something takes over you and you have no control. I gave Ivy some as we had talked about our mutual love of Skor bars. I told her to exercise caution as these were like crack (although neither of us have tried crack). The message came through shortly after.

How to make your own chocolate bars without a mold!

"You need to stop it right now with these CRACKers. Do not unleash that shit onto the world via the interwebs of EVERYONE will have diabetus."

Then she sent me a message a few hours later accompanied by a mind blown emoji, "I seriously cannot effing believe these Skor bars". These chocolate bars were burning a hole in her fridge. They're like the perfect man or woman, you just cannot stop thinking about them and suddenly you've opened up the container of them and you are devouring them (the bars, not the person).

And then I gave a batch to give to Mr NQN to take to work. His colleagues loved them and one lady Kim who looks after Mochi ate so much that she was on a sugar high all day!

So make these but make them with caution Dear Reader, because these are completely addictive. Do you have a food that you are addicted to? Have you ever tried Skor or Daim bars? What is your favourite chocolate bar?

Food Crack! Aka Roasted Almond Toffee Skor Daim Bars

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

• 225g/1 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 200g/7ozs. milk chocolate
• 200g/7ozs. dark chocolate
• 1/2 cup roasted almonds, finely chopped

Step 1 - First set up your tray to make the candy bars. Lay a sheet of parchment on the base and sides in a baking tray with at least 1 inch sides. Spray chopsticks on each side and position about an inch or so apart. I put an oiled chopstick at the end too.

Step 2 - Place the butter, sugar, water and salt in a heavy bottomed pot and bring to a boil stirring a little to get it started once it melts. Allow it to reach 146C/295F or hard crack stage and then pour into the prepared tin between the chopsticks. Allow to cool and set. It doesn't take long to set but it does take a while to cool as the toffee is very hot (please don't touch it!). Remove the chopsticks and break or cut up into the size of chocolate bar that you want and place on a parchment lined tray.

Step 3 - Melt the two chocolates together until liquid and then stir in the almonds. Dip the toffee sticks in the chocolate and coat on all sides and place back on the lined tray. Allow to set completely-I keep these in the fridge.