Polar Bear Paws

This is a homemade version of a candy from See's which is twist on the classic chocolate turtles. This is essentially a vanilla covered Payday candy bar. It has an interesting method for making the caramel filling, using dark corn syrup to get some of the color and flavor without going through the classic multiple steps used in the caramels recipe. This is based on the recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff.

Ingredients

Steps

  1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper.
  2. In a large sauce pan (4 quarts) mix together sugar, corn syrup, butter, and 1 cup of cream, put over medium heat and bring to a boil stirring occasionally.
  3. Once it hits a boil heat the other cup of cream in the microwave for 1 minute. Slowly add the heated cream to the boiling mixture, regularly stirring.
  4. Place a candy thermometer into the boiling mixture and continue heating the mixture, stiring occasionally, until it reaches 242°F (or softball stage).
  5. Once it hits temperature remove it from the heat and stir in vanilla extract, then fold in peanuts.
  6. Pour into a heat proof bowl and cool for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally so that the mixture cools evenly.
  7. Spoon the peanut-caramel onto the parchment paper lined cookie sheet in Tablespoon sized mounds. Cool in fridge for 30 minutes, until set.
  8. Melt the vanilla candy coating in the microwave in 30 second increments, stiring after each cycle. Once it is smooth and evenly melted take out of the microwave.
  9. Dip the peanut-caramel clusters into the vanilla coating, letting the excess coating drip off. Place back on the parchment paper lined cookie sheet to set up. You can place in the fridge again to speed this up.
  10. Eat, or store in an air tight container for up to a week.

Notes