Gluten Free Mars Bar: fool-proof, easy recipe
AHHHHHHHH **Gluten Free Mars Bar**!! I finally did it!!! This recipe was 2 years in the making but we’ve finally got a fluffy, slightly chocolatey nougat topped with a delicious sticky caramel & coated in my favourite chocolate.
I asked all my lovely followers on Instagram for a name and my fave has to be “Venus Bar – because baby shes done it!!” haha. So… how do you make a Venus bar?! Well hopefully I’ve put together a quick and easy, fool-proof recipe below. Shout if you have any questions 🙂
Ingredients
I think you’ll be surprised how basic the ingredients are! Everything you see here is gluten free.
There are no substitutes you can really use for the ingredients above but I thought I might give you a bit more info about two of them below.
(1) “Liquid Glucose”
The only one you might not recognise but you’ll find it in the baking aisle of all major supermarkets (and actually most of the small ones too!).
(2) The Caramel Bit
You’ve got two choices for the caramel element of this recipe:
>Make your own – here’s my Gluten Free Chewy Caramel Recipe (with dairy free option). Making caramel can be a challenge but its fun and rewarding!
>OR Shop Bought Caramel – I’ve found a way to make it wayyyy easier for you!!! This gluten free toffee crisp recipe works perfectly with shop bought “soft caramels”. What I mean by that is something that is soft enough to mould with your fingers.
- Perfect brand I’ve found: Werther’s Original Soft Caramels (in the picture above). You can pick either up from almost all supermarkets, Poundshops or even petrol stations.
- Second best: Werther’s Creamy Toffees will work too (similar packaging but its a blue band, rather than pink) – just not quite as soft.
- Dairy free: haven’t tried these yet but Kuhbonbon Caramels look perfect (via Amazon or tons of vegan online stores)
Do I need a thermometer?
Yes, unfortunately for my gluten free Mars Bar, you really need to know when your sugar mixture has hit the right temperature to get the perfect fluffy gluten free nougat. You could guess based on my cook-a-long videos (see my story highlights on Instagram), but its never going to be perfect.
I think digital thermometers are the best and you can pick them up for as little as £10. I use a Thermapen – more expensive but I use it all the time and absolutely love it. Perfect for anything from making sweets to checking the temperature of your meat. (I’m not working with them on this recipe, just sharing the love haha).
My Mould: you need this or a loaf tin
I think the mould makes the whole process a bit easier – from shaping the crispy base to adding the caramel and coating in chocolate. It does prevent the rice crispy lumpy shaped bar but I think its worth it!
It’s particularly good if you’ve made your own caramel, especially if the caramel is slightly too soft and isn’t holding its shape very well.
There’s tons online but this is the one I have from Amazon (not an affiliate link – just trying to be helpful!!)
ALTERNATIVE: You can use a 2lb loaf tin to make 6-8 bars. Its slightly trickier because the caramel can get a bit messy and its slightly more difficult to coat the bars in chocolate but it will work with a little patience.
Easy Mistakes to Make
These things are the reason why it has taken me so long to get this recipe right – they’re tiny things I was doing differently each time without even noticing and they cause wildy different Mars Bar results!
Nougat
- 1: Make sure you whisk that egg white/sugar mix for the full 6 mins. Put a timer on. Its so easy to cut it short but it won’t work if you do!! And good news, you’ll struggle to ruin it by over-mixing so keep going!!!!
- 2: Do not add the cocoa powder to the nougat until you’ve mixed for the full 6 mins. If you add it earlier on, it won’t make a nougat. It’ll be really runny and won’t set. Its very annoying!!
**As always with my recipes, this is going to look reaaaaally long but thats only because I have included 101 million tips, tricks and absolutely anything I can think of that might help!! NB: You either need the mould above or a loaf tin.**
Gluten Free Mars Bar
Ingredients
Nougat
- 1 tube of Liquid Glucose (140g)
- 400 grams caster sugar
- 10 grams cocoa powder
- 2 egg whites
Coating
- 250 grams of your fave chocolate
Caramel
- 8 soft caramels or 100g of My Chewy Caramel Recipe - see "the caramel bit" in the blog post above
Instructions
NOUGAT
- Place the caster sugar & liquid glucose into a saucepan. Add 125ml of water.>Tip: Cut the end off the tube and pour out from that side
- Turn the pan to a low heat, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved. At this point, you won't see any grains of sugar in the mix and it will have changed from a bit of resistance when you stir it, to more of a water-like consistency (although it will still be a bit cloudy).
- Increase the temperature so the mixture is simmering. Do not stir it anymore!! Leave it simmering until it reaches 132-135oC. >The pic shows what it will look like at this stage – the metal skewer is just my thermometer
- Whilst the mixture is reaching temperature, place 2 egg whites in a large, clean mixing bowl and beat until they reach stiff peaks. >Here is a pic I have taken from google images to show what stiff peaks looks like!
- Once the egg whites are stiff peaks and the sugar has reached temperature, add a tiny bit of the sugar mix to the egg and whisk in. Repeat until you have whisked in all of the mixture. >I pour in approximately 3 tbsp at a time. It takes 2-3 mins to add all of the sugar mixture to the egg white.
- Use an electric whisk to beat the mix on high speed for a full 6 minutes. >Don't cut this time short!!! Its difficult to overwhisk, but if you underwhisk you won't have a fluffy nougat. >It will go from looking like melted marshmellows to a dough like consistency and then to a reallyyy sticky, almost chewing gum like consistency.
- Add the cocoa powder and whisk in, making sure to get right to the bottom of the bowl.
CONSTRUCTION: IF YOU'RE USING A LOAF TIN
- Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper. Pour the mix into the tin.>Tip: The mix will be really sticky and difficult to pour so gather it all together in the mixing bowl, tip the bowl on its side and then use a spatula to tip the nougat into the tin
- Use the back of a clean spoon to spread the nougat around evenly. >You won't be able to do this with your fingers as its too sticky!
- Add the caramel to the top. If you've made your own, warm it up slightly so you can pour it over. If you're using Werthers, stretch them out into 8 strips and line widthwise across the tin.
- Place in the fridge to set for 15 mins.
- Melt the chocolate. Wait for it to cool slightly to make it easier to work with (around 1 min should be enough)>Ideally the chocolate needs to be "tempered". If you don't, when the chocolate has cooled down it will be a bit sticky. The cheats way to do this is to melt 2/3 of the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove it from the heat and add the remaining 1/3 in tiny chunks. Stir stir stir until its completely melted.
- Slice the nougat/caramel into 8 bars.
- Coat the bars in chocolate. My favourite way: 1. Scrape the chocolate into a small bowl – ideally only just bigger than the size of a toffee crisp so the chocolate is as deep as possible to make it easier to dunk the whole Mars bar into.2. Cover a baking tray/chopping board/plate with tin foil.3. Place one of the Mars bars into the chocolate, making sure its fully coated and then lift it out with a fork. Let some of the excess chocolate drip off into the bowl.4. Place the Mars bar onto the tin foil and repeat for the rest of the bars.
CONSTRUCTION: IF YOU'RE USING MY MOULD
- Melt the chocolate. Wait for it to cool slightly to make it easier to work with (around 1 min should be enough)>Ideally the chocolate needs to be "tempered". If you don't, when the chocolate has cooled down it will be a bit sticky. The cheats way to do this is to melt 2/3 of the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove it from the heat and add the remaining 1/3 in tiny chunks. Stir stir stir until its completely melted.
- Pour your melted chocolate into the holes of the mould and tip out any excess.
- Place into the fridge/freezer for 5 mins to firm up.
- Use your fingers to mould a sausage shape of the nougat. Place into one of the bars. Repeat for the rest.
- Pour your caramel or stretch a ball over the top of the nougat OR if you're using Werther's, stretch a piece over top.
- Add a tbsp of melted choc to the top of the bar and spread around. Repeat for the rest.
- Place into the fridge/freezer to set.
Want some other recreations? How about my Gluten Free Toffee Crisp? Gluten Free Angel Cake? Iced Gems? Jammy Dodgers?
3 Comments
Heidi
9th July 2020 at 10:36 pm
My 13 year old had a great time making these this afternoon. They turned out really well and were so tasty. Thank you, you made a young girl and her family, very happy!
Josephine
1st March 2023 at 12:01 pm
The caramel candies you suggested aren’t gluten free. They contain wheat. As a celiac they have triggered pain in the past & aren’t safe for people with celiac disease.
jkitchengf
1st March 2023 at 12:02 pm
Hey! Which ones? All of these are definitely gluten free in the U.K. 🙂 I am coeliac myself so triple check x