Chocolate. Sometimes it is just purely a necessity.

So you know how sometimes you just have those crap days? I mean, nothing really goes wrong, but then again, nothing goes right, either. Today was one of those days for me. I must have hurt myself at work at least half a dozen times by banging my knee on my desk. Then, I think I gave myself 4,782 papercuts. Then, when I finally, finally made it home, after missing my bus [twice], I realized that JP and I hadn't cleaned up since he returned from the States last week. 

I needed a run. In a very bad way. So what did I do? I decided to make chocolate bars. More importantly, I decided to make Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Crunchy Nut Sweet 'n' Salty Bars. Or whatever the heck she calls them. I saw them on TV, don't blame me on the name. Either way, it was the pick-me-up that I seriously needed this afternoon. Evening. See? I can't even tell time after the day I've had.

So, on to the bars. These things are ridiculously simple. You need about 900 grams of chocolate. I mixed 450g of dark with 450g of milk, cause that's what Nigella did on the TV. And I was past trying to branch out on my own. I just needed the chocolate. In my belly.

Break up the chocolate bars, and dump em in a sauce pan over the lowest of low heat settings. Burned chocolate is gross. Trust me, I know from experience. Ew.

So, to the slowly melting chocolate, add a hunk of butter. Unsalted, if you can. And by hunk, I mean about 3 tablespoons. I know it sounds like a lot, but lets be real here. You aren't going to make and eat these all the time. I mean, I'm sure that you could, but really, let's hope you have some sort of self control, right?

Back to the choc bars. To the very slowly melting chocolate and butter, add some golden syrup. Again, by some, I mean about 3 tablespoons.

Useful trick for not burning the chocolate while not using a double boiler? Just keep stirring. And stirring. Then stir some more. Oh, and the lowest setting of heat on your stove known to human kind. That helps heaps.

Once the chocolate is just melted, turn the heat off. That step is very important. Trust me, I know. Burned chocolate is gross. 

Now for the fun bits. All that chocolate that you just melted can be a bit boring if you just make a bar out of the melted chocolate bars. You need to add stuff! I opted for following Nigella's direction, and went with Kit Kats and salted peanuts. 3 Kit Kats, to be precise. This recipe is all about the 3's, can you tell?

Dump in the chopped Kit Kats, then add a very generous handful (or 2) of the salted peanuts.

Stir everything together. Side note, here. You really want to try this with the salted peanuts. Something about the salty and the sweet together is just awesome. Trust me. Unless you have a peanut allergy. Then you probably should not try that.

Dump the mixture into a disposable pan.

And spread it out. Then, into the fridge it goes to set.

You will want to let it sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Then, pull it out, and chop it up into whatever size bar you deem perfect.

Look at that goodness! Pile them high onto a plate, but be sure to keep them in the fridge. They may have a rather low melting point....

Want to know one of the best parts about making these after a crummy day? And I'm not talking about the fact that it only takes about 30 or so minutes to pull this off. The best part is 'cleaning' up after yourself. Nothing like a spatula full of melted chocolate to make you forget that you had a rough day. Or that you are supposed to be going for a run.

xoxo

Craig