I really admire Stella Parks' creativity and her dedication to thoughtfully developing new recipes, including ones that convincingly mimic well-known supermarket brands. So even though I don't think I've ever eaten an actual Klondike Bar (I have always been partial to the cheap oblong ice cream sandwiches with the mealy chocolate biscuits on the outside), I had to try Stella's recipe for Homemade Klondike Bars.
The inside of Stella's Klondike Bars is Swiss meringue combined with milk and whipped cream. You make the filling by heating egg whites, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar in a double boiler until the mixture reaches 165 degrees; removing the egg whites from the heat and whipping them until glossy and stiff; whisking in milk and vanilla; and incorporating heavy cream that has been whipped to stiff peaks. I poured the mixture into a parchment-lined 8-inch square pan and put it in the freezer overnight.
The next day I removed the frozen filling from the pan, cut it into 12 bars, and put the slices back in the freezer. To make the coating, I melted bittersweet chocolate (I had run out of milk chocolate, so I used Scharffen Berger 62%) in a double boiler and added some refined coconut oil. I let the chocolate mixture cool to 80 degrees F and then started dipping the bars in the chocolate.
I found the dipping process somewhat cumbersome. The thing is that when you dip frozen items into a relatively small quantity of chocolate, the chocolate temperature drops rapidly. So while dipping the first few bars was relatively easy, as the chocolate coating cooled down, it got thicker. That meant the coating on the bars got thicker as well and I also had problems cleanly removing some of the coated bars from the dipping fork I was using, because the chocolate got frozen to the fork. Thus, several of the bars towards the end ended up with bare spots on the bottom.
I froze the bars until the chocolate coating was set, wrapped them individually in wax paper, and stored them in a plastic container in the freezer. The bar in the photo above had been in the freezer for a few weeks before I took the picture and it was still in pristine condition. The thin and crisp chocolate coating tended to shatter into small pieces when you bit into a bar -- which I didn't mind, even though it created a mess. The filling was light and not as rich as ice cream, but a lovely match paired with the flavorful chocolate coating. All in all, I found these bars to be very satisfying without being heavy. And while I can't compare them directly to a real Klondike Bar, they do taste like something I might get from freezer case in the supermarket.
As much as I enjoyed these bars, the hassle of going through the chocolate dipping process is enough to deter me from making them again any time soon. I don't mind going through the trouble of making homemade Klondike Bars -- but only every once in a while!
Recipe: "Homemade Klondike Bars" by Stella Parks, recipe available here at Serious Eats.
The inside of Stella's Klondike Bars is Swiss meringue combined with milk and whipped cream. You make the filling by heating egg whites, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar in a double boiler until the mixture reaches 165 degrees; removing the egg whites from the heat and whipping them until glossy and stiff; whisking in milk and vanilla; and incorporating heavy cream that has been whipped to stiff peaks. I poured the mixture into a parchment-lined 8-inch square pan and put it in the freezer overnight.
The next day I removed the frozen filling from the pan, cut it into 12 bars, and put the slices back in the freezer. To make the coating, I melted bittersweet chocolate (I had run out of milk chocolate, so I used Scharffen Berger 62%) in a double boiler and added some refined coconut oil. I let the chocolate mixture cool to 80 degrees F and then started dipping the bars in the chocolate.
I froze the bars until the chocolate coating was set, wrapped them individually in wax paper, and stored them in a plastic container in the freezer. The bar in the photo above had been in the freezer for a few weeks before I took the picture and it was still in pristine condition. The thin and crisp chocolate coating tended to shatter into small pieces when you bit into a bar -- which I didn't mind, even though it created a mess. The filling was light and not as rich as ice cream, but a lovely match paired with the flavorful chocolate coating. All in all, I found these bars to be very satisfying without being heavy. And while I can't compare them directly to a real Klondike Bar, they do taste like something I might get from freezer case in the supermarket.
As much as I enjoyed these bars, the hassle of going through the chocolate dipping process is enough to deter me from making them again any time soon. I don't mind going through the trouble of making homemade Klondike Bars -- but only every once in a while!
Recipe: "Homemade Klondike Bars" by Stella Parks, recipe available here at Serious Eats.
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