Whatchamacallit



In case you didn't know this – Hershey's Whatchamacallit bar is one of the best candy bars ever. It's tied with Snickers and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for the title of "favorite candy bar".

Recently I ran across a recipe for peanut butter balls (peanut butter, crushed graham crackers, and butter dipped in chocolate) that sounded AWESOME – pretty much a Reese's in ball form.. but I never got around to making them. Instead, it seems like my subconscious was working on one-upping the recipe: get rid of the graham cracker and add in rice crispies, then mix in some caramel. You know what you've got? Whatchamacallit balls.

Whatchamacallit balls.

The hangup I'm running into now is the caramel. I don't want a super-runny caramel sauce, but I don't want it to be as solid as a caramel candy. "Candy bar caramel" is what I'm looking for, like in Snickers or Whatchamacallits (it's fun to type. try it.) Maybe someone (Tom?) has some ideas for this.

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8 Comments »

  1. spudart said,

    and tied with the Whatchamacallit bar for best candy bar ever, is the Kit Kat.

    January 5, 2011 @ 4:53 pm


  2. sparx said,

    Oh yeah! THAT!
    Kit Kat's were my absolute favorite when I was younger. I still love them, but they tend to get pushed aside for something with caramel or peanut butter if there's a choice.

    I ate a bunch of them around Halloween, but none since then. Poor Kit Kats!

    January 5, 2011 @ 4:58 pm


  3. Tom said,

    Whatchamacallit used to be my favorite candy bar once upon a time, but many candy bars have held that honor in my many years … though admittedly, I am not the candy bar eater I once was. A buddy gave me a Milky Way Dark when they came out and it took me a week to eat it. Now, Dove Dark Promises are another thing altogether. I can eat 3 or 4 of those in one sitting.

    January 7, 2011 @ 11:57 am


  4. sparx said,

    The Doves are tricky. I always want to see what messages they have inside of them. This can result in a half dozen or more being eaten in one sitting.

    January 7, 2011 @ 1:03 pm


  5. Tom said,

    To your inquiry: the trick to the firmess of caramel is the temperature to which you cook it. For most candymaking you need a candy thermometer, but there is something called the cold-water-test wherein you drop a small ball (here we go again) of your cooked sugar mixture into cold water and then retrieve it. Depending on the firmness of your ball dictates the stage at which your cooked sugar is sitting. There is a specific stage that would result in the type of caramel you are looking for.

    I have a peanut butter ball recipe that is pretty scray when you read the ingredients, but they are infinitely addictive. You cold make the peanut butter balls and put a ball of caramel in the center and then dip the balls in a fondue of chocolate, or in tempered chocolate if you want the coating to harden. The easiest would be the peanut butter balls with the caramel and the chocolate fondue, but if you want some lessons on tempering chocolate (which might fall under your "Major Projects" categeory), I'd be happy to point you to the chocolate page on my website

    January 7, 2011 @ 2:10 pm


  6. unlikelymoose said,

    A very strong memory from my kindergarten experience is seeing Whatchamacallit bars at the store with my mom. For whatever reason the Whatchamacallit bar packaging really made a strong impression on me.

    January 18, 2011 @ 1:18 pm


  7. Tarrah Dame said,

    try these! they are aweeeeessssommmmeeee!
    http://damegoodeats.blogspot.com/2010/12/homemade-whatchamacallits.html

    February 1, 2011 @ 10:45 pm


  8. sparx said,

    Those sound perfect!
    I'd probably leave out the marshmallows though – they'll dilute the peanut buttery-ness and the peanut butter should be enough (especially when coated with chocolate) to hold the rice krispies together.

    February 2, 2011 @ 7:07 am


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