Take 5 Candy Bars have been my favorite candy since they came out, and this underrated treat is even better homemade! The "5" stands for 5 ingredients - pretzels, peanut butter, caramel, peanuts, and chocolate. The sweet and salty combo is perfectly balanced, and not too sweet.
I make these bars with dark chocolate, and add a touch of flaky sea salt on top to make them a little more "grown up", but you can use whatever kind of chocolate you prefer! To make this recipe super simple, I use premade dulce de leche (milk caramel) that can be purchased in a can in the baking aisle. To prepare these bars, we'll first make the filling in a large sheet, then freeze it so it can be broken up into individual pieces. Once the filling pieces are ready, we'll coat them in chocolate, and that's it!
Key Tips - Homemade Take 5 Candy Bars
Store in the freezer!
- These Take 5 Bars will stay fresh for months in the freezer, and personally I love to eat them frozen! They can be served at freezer temp, fridge temp, or room temp, but I try to serve mine from frozen when possible.
- I store mine in freezer safe zip bags, between sheets of wax paper. Pictured below!
Use baker's chocolate!
- I cannot stress this enough, baker's chocolate is so much easier to work with than melting down other types of chocolate like chocolate chips. Other kinds of chocolate may seize up and change texture, bakers chocolate will stay silky smooth when melted. It's worth it to pay a few extra dollars to save this headache!
- I use Ghirardelli 60% cacao bars for this (and all my dark chocolate coating). It melts so well and stays silky seemingly forever when melted. I stock up whenever my grocery store runs a sale on these!
Create a make-shift double boiler if needed.
- Melting chocolate in a double boiler is the most stress-free way to keep your chocolate nice and melted as you work through coating each piece. If you don't have a double boiler, you can make your own by placing a metal mixing bowl over a stockpot. Check out this article for some tips!
If you've never dipped things in chocolate before, this may not be the best first recipe to attempt.
- The filling for these Take 5 Bars is gooey at room temperature, so we have to make sure they stay frozen as we dip them in the chocolate. This isn't too hard with some practice, but if you've never made chocolate dipped treats before, this may be a little stressful.
- Oreos or similar style cookies are a great option for practicing chocolate dipping if you want to get the hang of it first. They won't melt in the chocolate or fall apart if you lose them in the pool of chocolate.
Have some extra things to dip on hand for leftover chocolate at the end.
- You will likely have a little bit of chocolate left when you're done coating all the bars. To make sure this doesn't go to waste, I like to have a second snack on hand to dip in the extra. I almost always do Oreo cookies, but the options are endless!
- For the batch pictured (a double batch), I had enough chocolate left over to coat about 10 Oreos.
Dietary Restrictions - Homemade Take 5 Candy Bars
This dish is naturally Vegetarian
- Please note, this recipe uses milk caramel, making this recipe not vegan. Additionally, many (but not all) dark chocolate bars contain milk solids, including the brand I recommend here.
A Note On Serving Sizes
I've listed the serving size as one bar, which is ~90 calories. These are about the same size as the packaged Take 5 Bars.
Homemade Take 5 Candy Bars
A homemade version of Reese's Take 5 Candy Bars that are even better than the original! Five ingredients - pretzels, peanut butter, caramel, peanuts, and chocolate.
Equipment
- 9" x 13" baking sheet or 18" x 13" for a double batch
Ingredients
- ~50 square pretzels I use Snyder’s
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter I use Jif
- 7.5 oz dulce de leche (milk caramel) ½ standard can per batch
- ¾ cup salted peanuts halves are ideal
- 12 oz dark baker’s chocolate I use Ghirardelli 60% cacao
- flakey sea salt optional, for topping
Instructions
- Line your rimmed baking sheet with wax paper. Arrange the pretzel squares in neat rows, filling as much of the pan as possible.
- Put the peanut butter into a microwave safe dish and melt it in the microwave until very runny. I use the soften/melt setting on my microwave and stop to mix every 30 seconds. Once melted, pour as evenly as possible over the pretzels. Use a silicone spreader to smooth it into an even layer. If the pretzels move around, try to get them all back into a flat layer.
- Place the tray in freezer until the peanut butter is solid (at least 30 mins).
- Pour the dulce de leche into a microwave safe dish and warm it in the microwave until runny. I use the soften/melt setting on my microwave and stop to mix every 30 seconds. Remove the tray from the freezer and pour the dulce de leche over the layer of peanut butter. Use a silicone spreader to smooth it into an even layer.
- Scatter the peanuts over the top of the caramel, try to get it as evenly covered as possible. Once scattered, gently press the peanuts down into the caramel using your hands.
- Place the tray back into the freezer until everything firms up again (at least 30 minutes but longer if possible).
- Once cooled, peel off the wax paper and break the bars into pieces, approximately one pretzel in size. (I resist the urge to make larger pieces, these bars are very rich.) Return the pieces back to the freezer once separated. They are a little easier to break once they are partially defrosted, but will become gooey if they defrost too long.
- Prepare simmering water in the lower portion of a double boiler. Break the chocolate up into pieces and place it in the top of the double boiler. Mix frequently with a small silicon spatula until fully melted.
- One at a time, coat each bar in chocolate, then place it onto wax paper. Keep the bars as frozen as possible, only pull a few out of the freezer at a time. (I use a fork to support the bar and give it a quick dip, then allow excess chocolate to run off. Try to do each bar quickly so they don't begin to melt.)
- Optional - after the bars are coated, top with a little bit of flakey sea salt. Add the salt when the chocolate is partially set.
- Store the finished bars in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. Personally, I like them best straight from the freezer!
Notes
Pictured in the photos is a double batch, prepared in an 18" x 13" baking sheet.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 barCalories: 90kcal
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Cindy says
These are not easy but they are SO worth the effort if you like Take 5 bars. These are a million times better than the packaged ones! It feels like I have an endless supply in my freezer now and my friends have all raved about them when I've pulled some out for vistors!