Chocolate Dipped Salted Nut Roll Bars

First, prepare the salted nut roll bars. Spread half of the peanuts into a 9″ x 13″ pan.

In a medium pan over medium heat, melt the peanut butter chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter. Once melted, add the marshmallows and quickly fold everything together. The goal is to still have the marshmallows intact, so don’t stir too much as it will break them up and cause them to melt into the peanut butter mixture. Spread this over the peanuts. Then sprinkle the other half of the peanuts over the top and press in with the flat side of a spatula or large spoon.

If you like the Salted Nut Roll candy bar, without chocolate, eat these just like they are. Just refrigerate to set, then cut into bars. If you want to try the caramel and chocolate dipped version, read on. (And I highly recommend that you do!)

Once the bars have set up in the refrigerator, prepare the caramel dip. In a medium bowl, microwave the caramels, butter, and milk. Heat for 30 seconds at a time. Check and stir the mixture regularly and don’t allow the mixture to scorch. Transfer caramel to a small bowl that will allow the salted nut roll to be dipped into it sufficiently. I used a 1-cup ramekin with sides 2″ tall.

After they are chilled, cut the pan of salted nut roll into your desired size and shape pieces. Mine were about 3″ x 1-1/2″ each, mimicking the elongated candy bar shape. From a short edge of the pan, cut 1-1/2″ rows, and then cut each row into 3 pieces.

Lay a piece of parchment paper (don’t use wax paper!) on each of 2 cookie sheets or jelly roll pans.

Dip the cut bars halfway into the caramel. Use a spoon to aid your caramel covering, if needed. Let excess caramel run back into the bowl and lightly slide the bottom of the caramel dipped bar along the edge of the bowl, to help remove excess caramel. Set it on parchment paper and repeat until you are done dipping in caramel. Place pan in the refrigerator to set up the caramel. Once set, if the caramel has pooled around the base of the bar, you can easily trim the caramel with a knife, if desired.

Now make the chocolate dip. In a small bowl, microwave the chocolate chips and shortening on low heat. Heat for 30 seconds at a time. Check and stir the mixture regularly, taking care to not let it scorch. Once the chocolate chips are a little more than halfway melted, just stir until they melt all the way. Let cool until just barely warm and transfer to another small diameter bowl or ramekin for dipping. Then dip your caramel dipped salted nut roll bars into the chocolate, leaving a bit of the caramel showing. Gently shake off any excess chocolate and lightly slide the bottom of the fully dipped bar along the edge of the bowl, to help remove excess chocolate. Set on parchment paper and repeat until you are done dipping in chocolate. Place in the refrigerator to set.

Cheater Version: If you want the added caramel and chocolate, but don’t want to go through the dipping/cooling/dipping/cooling process, I offer you this… Make a half recipe each of both the caramel dip and the chocolate dip. Then drizzle each one over the top of the pan of bars. I did this for a pan of bars and it’s an easy compromise, with considerably less work.