DorkStock - Igor Bars

chocolate chip cookie dough (from recipe on bag of chocolate chips or purchase pre-fab dough that comes in a tube)

peanuts, 1.5 cups

caramels, 100

milk, 3 teaspoons

semi-sweet chocolate chips, 16 oz.

Rice Krispies, 6 cups

marshmallows, 10 oz. (or one very large jar of marshmallow creme)

margarine (eliminate if using marshmallow creme)

M&Ms, any variety

toffee chips or bars

anything else you think is excessive, see Variations:

maraschino cherries

chocolate covered espresso beans

Andes mints

frosting

decorations

You will also need:

a foil pan, lasagna size or larger

cooking spray, margarine or butter to grease the pan

wax paper or parchment

a double boiler or a microwave

a guillotine (optional)

insulin (optional)

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Rice Krispies Treats Recipe

Ingredients

margarine, 3 tablespoons

regular sized marshmallows, 10 oz

Rice Krispies, 6 cups

Instructions

melt margarine and marshmallows over low heat til completely melted

remove from heat

stir in cereal until well coated

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Rice Krispies Treats Variation

Variations

NANAIMO Bars
Ingredients:

6 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (Bourbon or Mexican is best)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs [finely crushed]

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1/2 cup chopped and toasted pecans or walnuts [should be finely chopped]

1/2 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons butter

3 1-ounce squares semisweet chocolate

Instructions:
In a large saucepan, combine first 3 ingredients. Stir over low heat until butter is melted. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp vanilla and egg; mix well. Stir in crumbs, coconut and nuts. Press mixture firmly into bottom of an 8" square baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove pan to wire rack and let cool. [Cool in fridge for 1 hour.]

Beat butter, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Spread over crust. [Cool in fridge for 1 hour.]

Over low heat on stovetop, or in microwave, melt together the remaining 2 tbsp butter and chocolate squares. Mix until smooth. Spread over filling. Cover and chill at least 1 hour. [You can cut this in half and drizzle over the top to make thin chocolate drizzle lines.]

Makes 24 squares.

-Bob R.

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PB & Chocolate Igor Bars

('cause, well, I'm a sucker for peanut butter cups)

The layers were pretty straight forward:

Bottom layer = Peanut butter and chocolate chip bar cookies (forgot where I found the recipe)

Caramel layer = Chocolate caramels and peanuts

Rice Krispie layer = Choco Rice Krispies with peanut butter and marshmallow "glue", drizzled with Hershey's choco syrup

Frosting layer = A peanut butter frosting recipe I found on the web.

-Brian, Winner Igor Bars Contest, GenCon 2005

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Igor Bars Junior

First, a disclaimer/explanation: I am *not* a chef/baker. (I'm not even sure if my oven works.) I did, however, want to try Igor Bars. So, I bought some stuff and did the following:

Take a moist chocolate chip cookie out of the package

Slather it with peanut butter

Take a Rice Krispies Treat Square out of the package and put it on the cookie (the peanut butter acts as the glue)

Drizzle chocolate syrup on it.

Add favorite topping.

The result is something related to, but not, an Igor Bar ... but you can make them one at a time as you need them.
-JTH

Lori uses mint chocolate chips for extra decadence; anything else you think is excessive, such as:

maraschino cherries

chocolate covered espresso beans

Andes mints

frosting

decorations

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Non-United States Ingredients

In Europe, Rice Krispies Treats are made from cereal and chocolate. Hence we tend to also have a layer of marshmallows, too, as the recipe in DT called for them, and we couldn't see where they went otherwise. I only recently discovered how you folks make them.
-Slev

From Australia:
"I'm assuming that "caramel" is an American name for something specific, rather than a more generic name for burned sugar as it is in Australia, and as such, I'm trying to work out a substitute. Could you please help me out with a translation? Does it mean a Callard & Bowser, toffee-style of caramel? A softer, jersey caramel?"
Response from an Army of Dorkness member:
"According to the Missus, cans of chewy caramels are available at Woolies. She can't remember a specific brand, but it was the home brand for Woolies. 'They're the chewy block caramel candies.' She used to work at Woolworth's so she should know. 'Jerseys should work, as they are basically the same thing.'"

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Hints and Tips from the Army of Dorkness

The Igor Bar recipe gives you the basics, but after years of Igor Bar bake-offs (held at many conventions around the US and UK), here are some transcriptions and notes garnered from experience:

A small disclaimer for some people with dietary restrictions like my vegetarian self. It may be a great idea to publish all the ingredients in the Igor Bar on a piece of paper before putting such snacks out at a party or in a consuite since the recipe can vary from cook to cook based on excessive tastes. For instance since I am a vegetarian, any candy ingredient such as Marshmallows or Skittles that contain gelatin would be a no-no. People with nut allergies could become sick if they ate the peanuts.

-MJO

Make sure the pan is well-greased and that it's lined with wax paper or parchment.

Any chocolate chip bag has the recipe on it. You just need to make sure that they're chewy and not too dry when they're done. (Lori uses pre-fab cookie dough that comes in a tube.) John stresses that Igor Bars are designed to be chewy and moist.

Before you pour the caramel over the pan-style cookie base, scatter a cup and a half of peanuts over it. The saltiness of the peanuts works well to counterpoint the sweetness of, frankly, everything else in the Igor Bars.

While your cookies are cooling, start preparing the caramel. You'll need about a hundred chunks and a double boiler. Remember to add three teaspoons of milk to them as they melt, or they'll crystallize when they cool. Again, this is supposed to be a soft, chewy layer.

The caramel acts as the glue holding the cookie base to the Rice Krispies Treat topping. Use a full recipe (about six cups of Rice Krispies). And press onto the caramel. Then melt 16 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate using the double boiler, and spoon over the bars. Top this with peanut M&Ms, toffee, or anything else you think is excessive.

Let cool for half an hour, slice, and you get Igor Bars.

Lori's Microwave note: For those who have a microwave and no double boiler, I recommend using the former instead of the latter. Just put whatever you're melting into a microwave-safe bowl, put the microwave on half power (remember, the manual will tell you how to do this), and melt for 30-60 seconds at a time. Take the bowl out and stir between melting sessions. Repeat until you have the desired consistency.

I used a 10" x 15" jellyroll pan like it said in the back of the Nestle chocolate chip package, and I made the cookie base from scratch just using the directions on the back of the Nestle chip package. With the Rice Crispy Treats I also used the recipe from the back of the box. All together they ended up being taller than the sides of the jellyroll pan but it wasn't a problem. The wax-paper lining the pan is important to getting the whole thing out of the pan so they can be cut. And they are very heavy. I couldn't believe how much they weighed.

My double boiler was ready before it dawned on me that I would have to unwrap all those caramels. Better yet get an assistant to do that grunt work for you. Rinsing with *very* hot water works best at dissolving the sugary and fatty ingredients stuck to the pan if you have good water pressure or a sprayer hose for the sink. I had to wash my double boiler after the caramels so I could melt the chocolate. Igor bars dirty a lot of pans.

I used a non-stick pan sprayed with cooking spray, lined with waxed paper which I sprayed with cooking spray. The whole heavy mass of bars lifted right out by lifting the waxed paper (which is good because it would have ruined my nonstick pan to cut them if they stayed in the pan).

Those suckers are dense. I'm about ready to make them again. They were daunting at first and I can't eat more than 2 at a time but I've begun to crave them.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask.

-Aileen E. Miles

If you would like your Rice Krispie top to be chewy, I would suggest only melting the marshmallows half way. Having worked in a buffet style restaurant for 8 years, I find this to be the most appealing method to please the customers with a gooey, ooey dessert treat.

-Mark, Semi-professional chef of steak, chiiiicken and anything with sugar ;)

1. Use cookie dough that comes in a tube. You're going to be doing a lot of cooking, so any shortcuts you can take are good.
2. Sit down while unwrapping the caramels. My feet aren't supposed to hurt that bad until after Gen Con.
3. To save money: don't buy big bags of peanut M&Ms or toffee chips. I just bought two individual bags of peanut M&Ms and two Heath Bars. The latter I chopped in my chopper.
4. Have an empty sink ready and start soaking the pans you use for cooking right away, especially for melting things like caramels, marshmallows, and chocolates.
5. Do use the microwave for melting; it's faster, cooler, and easier to keep control of how much melting is done.
6. Just buy a deep foil pan at the store. Trust me, you don't want to attempt washing any pan used for Igor Bars.
7. Use a big and heavy knife for cutting. A guillotine would work best.
8. Have handi-wipes and insulin ready when eating Igor Bars.
Good luck,

-Lori

I just wanted to share a tip that I've discovered. Its so hard to cut the bars, especially after they've become a few days old. I wanted to make some for a party, and have them readily available to eat, so I bought those tin cupcake wrappers and made them in there. It was more work, for sure (you have to dollop cookie dough into each one, divvy up the rice krispie treats, etc.) but it worked quite well for individual treats. You don't even need to use a cupcake pan, you can just place the wrappers directly on a cookie sheet.

-Shannon G.

Due to personal tastes, and to make cleaning a bit easier, I have modified the Igor Bar recipe just a smidge.

Start with the cookie base.

Do a layer of melted chocolate over this.

The Rice Krispies treats.

More chocolate.

Top at whim.

-Dragonslave

I used some Kraft 'fluff', or whatever they call it. A 7oz jar is adequate - or so says the Rice Krispies box. They came out fine. I'd recommend putting the still-sealed jar in warm water to soften the fluff, though. Also, definitely microwave it before trying to put it onto the caramel, and do use wax paper. So long as no caramel gets onto the wax paper, I found that the rice krispies treat didn't stick to it at all.

Also, we bought these cooking tins at the store. "Hefty EZ Foil cake pans with covers." It was two rectangular pans that come with clear plastic lids. The PERFECT size for Igor bars! I don't recall the cost - less than $5, found in a grocery store. Disposable or reusable.

For fun, we poured the chocolate layer on, then half-buried some gummy worms, before pouring our crushed-heath-and-oreo topping on. We then heated a little more chocolate and drizzled it over the top artfully with a fork. If you re-heat the chocolate too often or too much, it'll start to dry out and just become lumpy, so you need to get it done pretty quickly.

--Charles

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Igor Bars or: The Year of Eating Dangerously

Original Recipe