Star spangled banner bars

The rocket’s red glare won’t be the only awe-inspiring sight this Fourth of July — imagine the amazement and awe when you bite into a candy bar and see the broad stripes and bright stars of the American Flag! These red, white and blue layered candy bars are sure to be a great hit at any barbecue. They may even outshine a few fireworks.

Ingredients

Nougat:

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup water
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon flavored extract of your choosing
Blue food coloring

Striped cookie base:

1/2 cup + 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cups + 3 tablespoons flour
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
Red food coloring
White food coloring

Chocolate coating:

Dark chocolate

Begin by making the nougat

Put the sugar, syrup and water into a small saucepan and place over a medium heat. Stir until the sugar is melted.

Turn heat to high and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 248 degrees F, or until it forms a firm ball when dropped into cold water.

While the syrup is cooking, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.

Slowly pour the hot syrup into the beaten egg whites. Beat the mixture constantly while pouring the syrup into the whites.

Keep beating until the candy begins to stiffen. Add flavoring and blue food coloring.

Turn the candy onto a buttered slab or platter. Allow to cool.

Make the cookie dough while nougat is cooling

Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat until just becoming creamy in texture. Beat in the egg until well combined, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a nonsticky dough forms. Divide the dough into five pieces.

Mix red food coloring into three pieces and white food coloring into the remaining two.

roll out dough after creating the red and white dough

Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 1/16 inch. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Once chilled, peel off parchment, and stack the layers.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 3 x 3/4-inch bars.

Pierce each cookie four or five times with a chopstick or the base of a thermometer.

Arrange shapes on parchment-lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies.

Leave to cool on racks.

Assemble the candy bars

Dust nougat with powdered sugar and cut the nougat into the same shapes as the candy bars and stack on top.

Place two-thirds of the chocolate in a double boiler. Melt slowly to 107 degrees F. Remove from heat and stir until it reaches 110 degrees F. Add in remaining one-third of chocolate and stir to combine until the mixture reaches 90-93 degrees F. Use immediately.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Place a candy bar on a fork and proceed to spoon the tempered chocolate over it, covering completely.

Set completed candy bar on the sheet.

Repeat with the remaining candy bars. Place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator to set the chocolate.

More 4th of July recipes

Firecracker cupcakes in a jar recipe
Fourth of July firecracker cakelette recipe
Fourth of July flag lasagna recipe

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Star spangled banner bars