How to melt Mars bars

Melted Mars bars are the heart of a no bake treat, the Mars bar crispy cake. But anyone who has tried to melt a Mars bar on its own knows it does not behave like a bar of chocolate. Here is why, and how to do it properly.

Why a Mars bar is tricky

A Mars bar is nougat and caramel covered in milk chocolate. The chocolate melts easily, at just below body temperature. The caramel and nougat do not melt in the same way: heat softens them, but on their own they turn stringy and gluey and can catch on the bottom of the pan. The nougat is the slowest part of all.

The answer, used in most British recipes, is to melt the bars with butter and golden syrup, which loosen the caramel and nougat into a smooth, glossy sauce.

How to melt Mars bars in a pan

1. Chop the Mars bars into small pieces. Smaller pieces melt faster and more evenly.
2. Put them in a heatproof bowl or a heavy pan with some butter and a spoonful of golden syrup. As a guide, one well known recipe from Silver Spoon uses 100 g of butter and one and a half tablespoons of golden syrup for three 40 g Mars bars.
3. Melt over a low heat, stirring all the time. Keep the heat low so nothing catches and burns.
4. Once it starts to melt, a whisk helps to get it properly smooth. The nougat takes longest, so be patient.
5. When it is smooth and glossy, take it off the heat and use it straight away.

In the microwave

You can do the same in a microwave safe bowl: chopped bars, butter and syrup together, heated at low power in short bursts, stirring well between each. Melted caramel gets very hot and sticks to skin, so be careful, and let it cool a little before little helpers get involved.

Mars bar crispy cakes

The classic use for melted Mars bars. Stir the melted mixture through crisped rice cereal, press it firmly into a lined tin, pour melted chocolate over the top and leave it in the fridge to set before cutting into squares. Some recipes, including Silver Spoon's, keep one bar back and stir it in chopped, for chewy pieces. It is a British cousin of the American Rice Krispies Treats, which use melted marshmallow instead.

Other ideas

• Pour warm Mars bar sauce over ice cream.
• Drizzle it over brownies or a sponge.
• Stir a chopped Mars bar into hot chocolate for a caramel twist.

For plain chocolate, see how to melt chocolate. And for what happens when a Mars bar meets a chip shop fryer, read the deep fried Mars bar.

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