Dairy-free Home-made KitKat Bars

Apparently KitKats are the most popular chocolate bar, at least in the UK. They are utterly ubiquitous and can be found in any store, packed lunch, handbag etc. There is also something completely iconic about the red wrapper over silver foil with the immediately recognisable logo – however it was only when I started to do some research on how to recreate this icon of the chocolate bar world that I found out that the logo is different in Europe and the rest of the world to that in the US. It’s similar but strikingly different when you’ve expecting the usual recognisable logo. It’s funny what you learn! I’d been planning on recreating popular chocolate bars for a while – they’re something so standard that so many people just reach for in a moment of hunger or just temptation, but which are completely unobtainable to my girls. Yes, we can buy the odd chocolate bar, they can’t usually be found in convenience stores and on the whole they’re really not very ‘fun’ – more worthy and wholesome or adult orientated. KitKats were an obvious choice to play around with, thanks to their ubiquitous popularity. But how to make a KitKat at home? I was stumped as to how to make the thin wafer layers, and then what is the cream layer made of? (hence all my research!) and how to make the correct finger shape? So many problems to be overcome! The first light bulb moment was when I bought this lovely chocolate bar making kit from Mason Cash – authentic chocolate bars are now possible 🙂 Then my next, major, far more exciting light bulb moment was ‘ why not make the wafer layers out of flat tuile biscuits? They’re thin and crispy and if I made a suitable template, they could be made the exact size to fit into my lovely new moulds. Perfect! The only remaining issue was the cream filling between the wafer layers – nowhere could I find any clue of the ingredients but I did watch a programme a while back about the making of KitKats and I seem to recall it was a mixture of cocoa, sugar and water? Really, water? I’m not convinced my memory was correct so I’ve opted for a buttercream style filling of dairy-free margarine, icing sugar and cocoa powder. Once thinly layered with the tuile it makes a pretty authentic substitute. So what was the final result like? Were they anything like a KitKat? Well, my girls rated them as ‘heavenly’ which is pretty high praise, but then again they’ve never eaten a real KitKat before. D and I were also pretty impressed with the results, the tuiles and cream gives the perfect insides and the only discernible difference was the chocolate was far better quality and much darker than the original confectionary. No bad thing in my eyes! They weren’t even very hard to make, just a little time consuming with the various processes involved (and I would recommend the tempering of the chocolate to give that amazing shine) but I made them from start to finish in about 2 hours with plenty of breaks doing other things – not bad! To make 8 you will need: 150g dark chocolate, 1/2 a tuile recipe and 1/2 the chocolate cream recipe and some flexible moulds to make the bars in. For the chocolate cream:

1 tbsp dairy-free spread/margarine 4 tbsps icing sugar 1 tbsp cocoa powder

• Beat together until smooth, set aside.

The process:

1. Start by tempering the chocolate. In a microwave or over a Bain Marie, only just melt the chocolate, then stir until all the pieces are melted. You need to bring it down to degrees either by stirring in the bowl until the temp had reduced or pouring out onto a cold work top ( I have a marble board which is perfect for the job) and move it around with a palette knife until it has cooled and has turned beautifully shiny.
2. Pour a blob into each mould and evenly coat all the sides, a small brand new paint brush may help. Leave to set for a few minutes and then paint on another layer (or preferably two more). Place in a cool spot to firm up.
3. Next make the tuiles following the recipe above ( you will need a template which allows the right shape to be made to fit into the moulds).Once the tuiles are cold, gently (as they do shatter very easily) sandwich together 3 or 4 tuiles with a thin layer of the chocolate cream in between each layer
4. Place into the lined chocolate moulds and then seal with more melted chocolate.
5. Leave to set in a cool place, cover in foil for an authentic look and keep in the fridge. I know they keep well for at least 4 days, I can’t tell beyond as they’ve never lasted that long in this house!!