Homemade Mini Heath Bars (Vegan)
These homemade mini-Heath Bars are truly better than the real thing. A chocolate-covered, buttery toffee enhanced with pieces of almond. A lovely, dairy-free homemade candy.
Love Heath Bars? Can’t you find them dairy-free? My homemade mini Heath Bars are just for you. These mini candies are made up of a buttery toffee filled with chopped almonds and a hint of almond extract. To achieve the milk chocolate coating, they are dipped in Lindt Oatmilk chocolate. These little cuties are creamy, buttery, and have a wonderful snap before melting in your mouth.
What you will need:
This simple and easy recipe requires only a handful of ingredients.
- plant based butter with salt
- cane sugar
- almonds
- vanilla extract
- almond extract
- chocolate – I used Lindt Oatmilk chocolate bars
- coconut oil
How to:
Start by preparing a 9×9 pan by lining it with parchment paper. Make sure that the almonds are roughly chopped and near by, along with the vanilla extract and almond extract.
To make the toffee, start by melting the butter in a pot on the stovetop over medium to medium-low heat. Once melted, add the sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. This is where slow, consistent stirring starts and does not stop until the toffee reaches a temperature of 300 °F. If, at anytime during the process, the mixture separates, remove the pot from the heat, add a tablespoon of water, and vigorously stir until it comes back together. Return to the heat and continue the process. The toffee will eventually begin to bubble less and take on a more smooth, whipped look. Once the toffee reaches this look, I start checking the temperature; it should be reaching 300F soon. When 300°F is reached, remove the pot from the heat, add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and chopped almonds, and stir vigorously until well combined. Just a reminder to be very careful while making this recipe; it is extremely hot, and there is a lot of hissing and spitting when the extracts are added.
Pour the toffee into the prepared pan and evenly spread it out. Allow the toffee to cool a bit before scoring it. Scoring it will make it easier to cut it into smaller pieces once it has completely cooled. If you score it while it is too warm, it will not hold the score marks. I felt the need to go back over the score marks a few times while the toffee was cooling. There is a picture is the recipe card, if you would like to see how I scored mine. I ended up with 30 toffee pieces.
Once the toffee has completely cooled, using your score marks, cut the toffee into its marked pieces. Now we are ready to dip our little toffee bars. Melt the chocolate and coconut oil over a double boiler. To make dipping easier, I poured my melted chocolate into a glass measuring cup. I used a fork to dip each piece into the melted chocolate, knocking off any excess chocolate, and placing the dipped bar onto a piece of parchment paper. Place the finished bars in the refrigerator to firm up after dipping.
These mini heath bars will stay fresh in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. Make sure to store them in an airtight container.
Alright, let’s get started. Please make and enjoy!
Homemade Mini Heath Bars (Vegan)
Ingredients
Toffee
- 1 ½ cups / 300 grams cane sugar
- 2 sticks / 226 grams plant based butter
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 4 tbsp roughly chopped almonds – I used slivered almonds
Chocolate Coating
- 7 oz / 200 grams chocolate – I used Lindt Oatmilk bars (2 bars)
- 1 ½ tsp coconut oil
Instructions
Toffee
- Line a 9×9 inch square pan with parchment paper and set it aside. Make sure to have the chopped almonds and both extracts ready to add to the toffee when it comes off the heat.
- To a medium pot add the butter. Melt the butter over medium to medium-low heat. Once melted, add the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved and the two ingredients are blended. Once blended, start stirring the mixture slowly and consistently and do not stop until the toffee reaches a temperature of 300F. If separation occurs during this process, remove the pot from the heat, add a tablespoon of water and stir vigorously until the toffee comes back together. Return the pot to the heat and continue the process.
- The mixture will slowly become darker, smoother, and take on a whipped look. With a candy thermometer, start checking the temperature. We want it to reach 300F. Once 300F is reached, remove the pot from the heat and add both extracts and the chopped almonds. Stir to fully combine all the ingredients.
- Pour the toffee into the prepared pan and spread it out evenly. Allow the toffee to cool a bit. Once it has cooled enough, score the toffee so cutting the pieces later will be easier. If it is too warm, the scoring lines will not hold. I went back over the cutting lines I created 2 to 3 times as the toffee was cooling to make sure they were set.
Chocolate Coating and Dipping
- Melt the chocolate and coconut oil together using a double boiler. Once fully melted, pour the chocolate into a heat-proof 1 cup measuring cup. Using the scoring lines, break the toffee up into 30 pieces. Using a fork, dip each toffee piece into the chocolate, knock the excess chocolate off and place the dipped piece of toffee on a parchment lined pan. Repeat for all 30 pieces of toffee. Once all the pieces are covered in chocolate, place them in the refrigerator or freezer until the chocolate sets.I suggest storing them in the refrigerator in an airtight container. They should stay fresh for a couple of weeks.
