If you fell in love with Lion Bars on your last trip to England but can't find them where you live, don't fret, you can make the caramel-coated vanilla wafer cookies covered in milk chocolate and crispy rice cereal candy bars at home.
A Lion Bar is a mashup of a Kit Kat Bar and a Nestle Crunch Bar with caramel thrown into the mix to make the chocolate bar taste even better!
These candy bars take a bit of time to make but are so worth the effort.
You'll start by making homemade caramel and coating layered wafer cookies in the caramel.
Then, you dip the caramel-coated cookie into milk chocolate that's mixed with Rice Krispies.
The candy bars are crispy and crunchy and gooey and creamy all at the same time. There are so many flavors and textures. It's like a party for your mouth!
Related Recipe
You might also enjoy making Copycat Crunchie Bars.
RECIPE
- ¼ cup salted butter cut into small pieces
- ½ cup light or dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
- ⅓ cup sweetened condensed milk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- 8 4-layer vanilla wafer cookies (or 16 2-layer vanilla wafer cookies attached together using a thin layer of chocolate or vanilla frosting)
- 1 cup crisp rice cereal
- 12 ounces melted and tempered milk chocolate or melted light cocoa candy melts
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Melt the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl on high power for 30-45 seconds.
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Pour the brown sugar, granulated sugar, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk into the bowl and stir until the melted butter is completely blended into the other ingredients.
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Heat in the microwave on high power for 2 minutes.
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Remove and stir until smooth and creamy.
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Heat on high power for an additional 2 minutes.
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Remove and stir.
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Then, check the temperature using an instant read thermometer, swirling it around the bowl for 10 seconds before reading the temperature. You are aiming for 245 (soft and chewy) - 250 (firm and chewy) degrees Fahrenheit.
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Continue to heat the caramel for 1-2 more minutes, stirring and checking the temperature every 15 seconds. The temperature can increase very quickly so be sure to check the temperature every 15 seconds! If your caramel gets too hot, it will become too hard.
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Once the caramel reaches 245-250 degrees F, remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
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See the note about the vanilla wafer cookies before proceeding.
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When the caramel is ready, dip a wafer cookie into the caramel, coating it completely.
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Lift the cookie out of the caramel using a chocolate dipping fork or kitchen fork.
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Allow the excess caramel to drip off then set the caramel-coated cookie onto a silicone baking mat.
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Repeat, coating all the cookies in caramel.
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Be careful not to touch the caramel as it is extremely hot and can easily burn your fingers.
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You will have a small amount of caramel in the bowl when you have coated all your cookies.
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Pour that excess caramel out onto your silicone mat and once it cools, you can enjoy a snack.
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Set the caramel-coated cookies aside for 20 minutes until they cool completely.
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Stir the crisp rice cereal into the milk chocolate.
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Dip a caramel-coated cookie into the chocolate.
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Coat the entire cookie in chocolate, then lift it out using a dipping fork and allow the excess chocolate to drip off. Then, set the candy bar on a parchment paper (or silicone mat) lined baking sheet.
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If you are using candy melts and the chocolate is thin and it runs off the cookie, let the candy melts cool slightly until they thicken before continuing.
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Repeat the process dipping all 8 of your Lion Bars.
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You'll have a small amount of crispy chocolate remaining. Spread it on a lined baking pan. Once hardened, you can brake it up into chocolate bark and enjoy another snack!
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Chill the candy bars (and the thin layer of crispy milk chocolate) in the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes until the chocolate hardens.
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Remove from the refrigerator and allow the candy bars to come to room temperature before serving.
You want to use 4-layer thick vanilla wafer cookies to make these homemade Lion Bars. If you can only find 2-layer wafer cookies, you can make them thicker by attaching two of them together using some melted chocolate or vanilla frosting. Just be sure they are securely attached together before dipping them in the hot caramel.
Store your candy bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a month. They'll taste the freshest if consumed within 1 week.
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