Homemade Mounds Candy Bars

There is that saying..."you always want what you can't have".

I spent several days without an oven and all I wanted to do was bake!

Without an oven I'm left with my microwave and crockpot. 

Here's what I made instead.

This little copy cat version of the Mounds candy bar has been on my list of things to make for awhile.

No baking required for these yummys!

We all thought that they tasted pretty close to the real thing.

I've got a couple of crockpot recipes I'll share with you in the next post!

Let's Get Started:

Homemade Mounds Candy Bars

7 ounces sweetened condensed milk

2 cups powered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (14 ounce) bag flaked coconut

24 ounces dark chocolate chips

Mix the first four ingredients together.  The mixture will be very firm.

Form into desired shape (I formed mine into an oval shape). Place on cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap. 

Refrigerate for about an hour.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave on 10 second intervals in a microwave safe bowl.

Dip coconut bars into melted chocolate.  After covering each bar with chocolate I placed them on the end of a fork and tapped them on the side of the bowl to remove the excess chocolate.

Place each bar on wax paper and allow chocolate to harden.

I got 25 candy bars out of this mixture.

Print Recipe Here



Caramel Popcorn Fudge

Yes, my friends you read that correctly.  It's caramel popcorn fudge!!

I've already professed my love of Pinterest.  That's where I got the inspiration for fudge.  It was just too neat not to try.  What a combo huh? Seriously...caramel fudge topped with salted popcorn...holy moly!! 

The inspirational recipe (found here) used vanilla fudge but I opted for the great caramel + popcorn combo.

**A note of caution--if you make this it needs to be eaten pretty quickly and stored in an air tight container so that the popcorn does not go stale.  Also, my caramel fudge was a little softer than what I wanted.  I've increased the cooking temperature in the below recipe in hopes of solving that problem.

Let's get started:

Caramel Popcorn Fudge

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter

2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 cups caramel bits

1 tablespoon milk (used for melting caramels)
1 7-oz.  jar Kraft Marshmallow creme
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups (give or take) salted popcorn

Melt caramels in a double boiler over medium heat with milk.

Combine sugar, margarine and milk in heavy 2-1/2 quart saucepan; bring to full rolling boil, stirring constantly.

Continue boiling 7 minutes over medium heat, stirring. Candy thermometer should reach somewhere between soft and hard ball stage, approximately 240 degrees F.

Remove from heat, stir in melted caramel till combined.

Add marshmallow creme,  and vanilla, stir until blended.

Pour into greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

Top with salted popcorn and light press down so that popcorn will stay in place.

Let the fudge cool, and cut into squares.

Store in an air tight container to preserve popcorn. 

Print Recipe Here