Candyland

With October being the start of a long season of treats, we thought it would be fitting to give you an amazing homemade candy recipe. Because let's face it, even though homemade candy is more work, the quality and flavor profile just can't be beat. Our favorite way to make homemade candy is to pick a standard store bought classic and recreate it with awesome (and better!) ingredients. So go ahead and try to guess our candy inspiration for this post and we'll give you a hint at the end just in case!

Since this post is close to a holiday (Halloween!), we are going to take a break from trying to bombard you with fabulous nutrition information. Instead, you can refer back to this post if you are wondering why homemade candy is so nutritionally superior. But let's face it, we think those nutrition labels do all the talking...

Shortbread Candy Bars
PREP TIME: 25 mins
TOTAL TIME: 60 mins
Servings: 12 candies

Ingredients
1 stick butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup flour 
6 Medjool dates, pitted and cut in half
1-2 Tbsps almond butter
8 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped
 1 tsp coconut oil
sprinkle of sea salt
 
Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl combine butter, sugar, vanilla and salt and mix with a fork until well combined. Sift flour over butter mixture and blend with a fork until a soft dough forms. Transfer dough to an ungreased baking sheet and press into a 8" x 5" rectangle with your fingertips. Score the dough with a knife two times widthwise and four times lengthwise creating 12 small rectangles. Bake until the edges are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let pan cool for ten minutes and then cut dough into 12 individual cookies while still warm. Uneven and crispy edges can also be cut off (as pictured above).
 
Once shortbread cookies are cool cut dates in half and remove pits. Carefully spread an even layer of almond butter on top of each cookie and place half a date on top of almond butter, pit side down. Once complete, place cookies in the freezer for 10-15 minutes until almond butter is firm. Meanwhile, chop chocolate and add to a double boiler. Add coconut oil and allow mixture to fully melt stirring frequently. Once chocolate is melted, remove cookies from the freezer. Using a wide bottom fork, carefully dip cold cookies one at a time into the melted chocolate and use a spoon to completely cover with chocolate. Allow excess chocolate to drip from the bottom of the fork for a few seconds before placing the complete bars on wax paper to cool. Before the chocolate is fully cooled, sprinkle the top with sea salt. Store in an air right container in the fridge for 5-7 days.....if they last that long! Allow bars to warm to room temperature before eating if they have been chilled.
 
*Cookie recipe adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook Shortbread recipe

These candy bars are a perfect addition to your Halloween treats this year, you can make now or save this recipe until next week. And the fun you will have making them can become another holiday tradition. If you haven't figured out the classic favorite we are replicating let's just say that this candy's name rhymes with tricks (as in trick or treat) and you can share one with a friend and pick a side. If you're still stumped leave a comment and we'll help you out!

Trick or treat (we pick treat!),
Jess and Cecelia