Homemade chocolate covered Paydays

Before I show the process of making homemade Payday candy bars, I have some bad news to share first. According to a recent article by Tom Laskawy, our brains react to junk food the same way it reacts to heroine. This is pretty shocking news. Most people know that sugar is tasty and others will playfully admit that it’s addictive. But this study uses experiments and variables and all the scientific fancy procedures to show the intense addictive nature of junk food. At one point in the study the rats were willing to receive electric shocks so long as the sugar was fed to them. The importance of the study will also take shape in the obesity debate. In so far as foods that lead to obesity are in fact addictive. Wow.

Now, I have to admit that I read the article after I made the candy bars. I decided some time ago that I wanted to make some treats to sell at the Last Thursday Arts Fair on Alberta Street here in Portland. I know it may seem ridiculously hypocritical to make junk food considering 1., I constantly advocate for healthy food and 2., junk food is now officially akin to heroine; but I am human and I do like sweets. I definitely prefer homemade ice cream or pudding, but the candy bars are a huge success among my friends and I think others will like them too.

As someone who is gluten-free , I must state that candy is often GF and significantly cheaper than traditional GF baked goods. Last year I found out I was GF and decided to make 100 Grand candy bars instead of cake or pie, and as you might expect, they were dearly loved by all the attendees. Today I will share a recipe I found online for homemade Paydays that are dipped in chocolate.

We begin with processed foods.

Processed foods beget processed foods.

The ingredients shown in this picture will make 3 different bars.

1. a Payday

2. a Payday dipped in chocolate

3. a Snickers

Not too surprisingly, the recipe is very simple and makes tons of bars. The biggest obstacle is eating the bars once you’ve seen what goes in them. I should add that I ate a couple of these and ate some of the “batter” and I do not feel great right now. So, warning #1, don’t eat along the way. Unlike cookies, these are pure sugar.

A large pot of sugar and corn syrup.

We begin with a pot on the stove, filled half with sugar and half corn syrup. If you don’t know this, corn syrup is the grandfather of diabetes and obesity. It is loved by all makers of processed foods. And I honestly dread having it in my household because it is so unhealthy. But damn, does it taste good!

Here I am doubling the recipe because half the bars will be dipped in chocolate and half will be plain. The normal recipe begins with 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of corn syrup. Bring the pot to a boil. Once the boiling begins, remove the pot from heat and stir 1 cup of creamy peanut butter until its dissolved.

Peanut butter and sugar, yes please.

The consistency is smooth and thick but not sticking to the pan. You don’t actually caramelize the sugar; instead it dissolves in with the syrup making a very sweet concoction of goodness. Once the peanut butter is stirred in, you add 1 cup of salted peanuts and 6 cups of rice chex (the cereal.) Now the mix gets sticky and you have to stir everything around until the consistency looks good. The peanut buttery goodness should be equally distributed to all pieces of rice chex and peanuts.

This "batter" is super tasty (and highly addictive.)

At this point the regular recipe is pretty much over. The “batter” is sticky and must be moved to a 13×9 inch pan. You are supposed to butter the pan but I didn’t and it wasn’t so bad. The nice part about the processed ingredients is that you don’t have to refrigerate them to cool. You can just leave the pan and it will cool in 30 minutes, maybe less.

Pan o' Payday

Once the candy has rested and hardened you are good to go. If you want to dip the bars in chocolate, melt 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate in a pan over low heat. Once thoroughly melted, you can dip the bars in the chocolate. The recipe made a ton of bars and I did not have enough chocolate to go all the way around all of the bars. Having the bars partially covered still looks great and will definitely enhance the flavor and texture.

So that’s how you make Payday candy bars. The original recipe can be found here. To double the recipe and buy all the ingredients it cost $14.50, and there are still some leftover peanuts, sugar and rice chex. I suggest making this for a birthday or a house party. The bar is filled with sugary goodness and I think small pieces are a good idea.

Now, onto the Snickers bar!

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A tribute to Alex Roberts

In Minneapolis there is an amazing place to eat and it is called Restaurant Alma. The chef of this restaurant is Alex Roberts. I don’t know how to praise him with just a few words. Let’s just say if I still lived in Minneapolis I would want him to be my mentor. He is a brilliant chef, but more than that, his knowledge and passion for accessible healthy food is inspiring. My wife and I would often go to another restaurant of his called Brasa, a soul food joint with affordable prices and wildly good flavor. Sometimes when we ate at Brasa Alex would be there and we would engage in hour-long discussion on raw milk, grass-fed meat, sustainable growing practices, the works. It is rare to find someone with so intelligent and still incredibly humble.

At Restaurant Alma the menu is seasonal and only sources local foods grown/slaughtered/raised under sustainable methods. We only ate there once I think, for the food was a bit out of our price range. I remember the whole meal, and of all the dishes we had the dessert was especially memorable. This is because it was the one dish I think I could replicate – rosemary chocolate pudding.

Since he never gave me the recipe I can only share what I assumed to be the dessert. The original dish was rosemary chocolate pudding with olive oil and salt. I served it the first time with the oil and salt, but truth be told, I have no idea what kind he used as mine were of far lower qualities. In my version I also used too much rosemary. After the spoon is inserted into the mouth and your tongue first experiences the silky, rich texture of the pudding, the rosemary explodes on the senses. I think it explodes a little too much. Next time I will use a bit less. Otherwise, I think it turned out quite well. This is definitely a savory-sweet dessert as the rosemary flavor is unexpected and balances out the sweetness of the chocolate and sugar.

Since pudding is incredibly easy to make and adding the rosemary is not difficult at all, I highly recommend trying this. Consider this ‘the next level of chocolate pudding.’

This recipe is taken from The Gourmet Cookbook (except for the infused milk part):

• 1/4 c sugar
• 1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
• 2 T cornstarch
• pinch of salt
• 2 c whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 4 oz good semi-sweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli)
• 2 T fresh rosemary (this addition is to recreate Alex’s dish)

1. Bring the milk to a simmer with 2 T fresh rosemary; you can use dried rosemary, the ratio is 1:3 dried to fresh. I used 3 T when I made it this time and the rosemary was too strong that is why I suggest 2 T. Know that this version is a work in process.
2. Let milk simmer for 10 minutes, whisking frequently; don’t let the milk scald!
3. The aroma of hot milk and rosemary will fill the kitchen. After the infusion, pour the milk through a sieve and discard the milky rosemary.
4. (The rest of the recipe is taken from the cookbook.) Whisk together sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, then gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, and boil, whisking until pudding is thick, 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. Immediately beat egg lightly in a medium heatproof bowl, then very gradually add hot pudding to egg, whisking constantly. Whisk in chocolate until smooth.
6. Pour pudding into ramekins (or cups, mugs, bowls, or don’t pour and keep it in the bowl.) If you do not want a skin to form (which I happen to like), you can cover the surface of the pudding with a piece of wax paper.
7. Refrigerate covered until cold, at least 2 hours.

To serve you can definitely consider whipped cream. If you want to emulate the Alma experience, try serving the pudding with olive oil and salt. And viola. This is an easy dessert to do, very much worth the 30 minutes (at most) to make. If you serve it to a friend you will definitely get credit for some fancy pudding!

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