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Chances are, unless you live in Washington state, you have no clue what a Mountain Bar is. Let me enlighten you!
Mountain Bars are made by a company you may have heard of, Brown & Haley. They make that little candy bar called Almond Roca. They used to sell Mountain Bars all over the place (at least in California), but I haven’t seen them in years. My mom loved them when I was a kid, and I always remember the little blue wrappers in her candy stash.
I had an uncle who lived in Tacoma, just outside Seattle, where Brown & Haley is. They have this little teeny store under a freeway overpass where you can buy their candy in bulk. My uncle would come stay with us for two weeks every summer and he would always have a case of Mountain Bars (that is a lot of candy!) in his luggage along with his “borrowed” hotel towels. I would eat handfuls and handfuls of Mountain Bars, until I was sick from them.
Memories…
A mountain bar is a candy bar that looks like a mountain. The outside shell was milk chocolate with finely chopped peanuts and the inside was pure sugary vanilla heaven. Almost like a vanilla nougat, but a little smoother.
I have been wanting to make Mountain Bars for my mom forever. This Christmas I decided to give it a go, and I’m so glad I did. These are really easy to make, even though they have a few steps.
The center is a candy made of butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. It’s really a soft nougat that I could have eaten with a spoon.
And then it’s dredged in chocolate mixed with peanuts. Could there be anything better?
Even if you’ve never heard of a Mountain Bar before, you need these in your life. Or, if you’re lucky and live in Tacoma, drive down to that little offramp and get a box for me, mmkay?
Oh, and they make a peanut butter version of Mountain Bar too. Stand by…
Mountain Bars
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter softened
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk from a 14 ounce can
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 bag chocolate melts or almond bark 12 ounces
- 1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts
Instructions
- Beat butter, vanilla, salt, and sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl with an electric or hand mixer. Slowly beat in powdered sugar until mixture comes together. You should be able to form balls of candy that hold together.
- Drop tablespoon sized balls (rolled) onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Chill until ready to use, at least 30 minutes.
- When ready to make candy, line a new cookie sheet with wax paper. Melt your chocolate according to package directions. If it’s cold in your kitchen, it might be helpful to line an electric griddle with an old kitchen towel on low heat (about 200 degrees) and place the bowl of melted candy on top. It keeps the candy warm for you.
- Place 1 teaspoon of chocolate evenly spaced on the prepared cookie sheet, one for each ball of candy you made. Spread it slightly. Place a rolled ball of candy in the center of each teaspoon of chocolate.
- Mix the chopped peanuts into the remaining chocolate. Cover each ball of candy with 1-2 teaspoons of peanutty chocolate. Use your spoon to spread it so that the chocolate top meets the bottom under the ball, to seal. Chill to harden.
Recipe Nutrition
Like Candy Recipes? Check out my Candy Pinboard or these sweet copycat treats:
Homemade Twix by Miss Candiquik
Biscoff KitKats by The Domestic Rebel
BoBerry Biscuits Copycat by Something Swanky
Thanks for reading!
I have lived in Washington all of my life, and love Mountain bars. I have been to the little Brown @ Haley company in Tacoma a few times. I don’t know if you are aware of this or not, but many years ago, they also made chocolate filled mountain bars which were my very favorite. If you ever get or create the recipe for those,could you please e-mail the recipe to me? I would greatly appreciate it. In the mean time, can’t wait to try these ones!
Blessings,
Marie
OMG really??? CHOCOLATE ones? You have to tell me, was it just sweet chocolate truffle? Or milk chocolate? I have to recreate those!
Growing up, the choices were the original, which is the white center, chocolate, peanut butter and cherry. The chocolate was by far my favorite. It had the identical outside, and the center had the same consistency as the white, possibly a touch creamier, and of course a brown colored center.. Fabulous candy
. I just noticed you have a Pinterest account. I will gladly follow you in hopes someday, you will come up with the recipe.
Thanks for your quick response.
Marie Moore
Oh yes, Dorothy, CHOCOLATE!! LOL My mom was the vanilla Mountain Bar lover, but I always preferred the other flavors. It’s fun to introduce our local goodies to the masses, isn’t it?
By-the-way, I love that I happened upon your blog awhile back. I really enjoy your chatter and the recipes are fun, too!!
When I was traveling this past Dec and pre-Xmas, I was going to make Bounty Bars. Which are sort of like Mountain Bars. I never got around to it and then shelved the idea…and now, I want to make both of them. That center/filling – that is dreamy stuff Dorothy!
It totally is! It’s amazing it made it off the spoon into the chocolate instead of into my mouth, ha! 🙂
I had forgotten all about these wonderful candy bars. In High School I had one or two every day, then they suddenly disappeared. Thanks for taking the time to experiment and come up with the copycat. I made a batch and they went like “hot cakes” at work. Looks like another batch is on the way.
Yay! I’m so glad you liked them. 🙂 I need to make the peanut butter and cherry ones!
Am from PNW and always loved Mountain Bars, especially the cherry ones. Add a marachino cherry and some juice in the filling for a real show stopper. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Dorothy.
Thank you! I have to try making them now. 🙂
O.M.Gs, me, too!Born in the tri cities, Portland for evah, cherry Mountains are THE BEST!!!!! I cant thank/bless you enough!! I know what this girl is gonna be making!!! And Sandi for the cherry add, just what i was thinking!! Gee, i hope the filling survives…. Now I’ve gotta find a way to Tacoma.. Website, anyone?
I have never heard of these (I’m in Australia) but they sound and look absolutely delish.. i will definatley
be making these tomorrow.. there is no doubt my hubby and kids will love them.. if i don’t eat them
all first.
I hope you enjoy them! 🙂
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