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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!
These both sound super. My favorite flavor was always the cherry. Feel like pounding that one out into an awesome recipe? Love your blog!
A blog reader added some maraschino cherry juice to the mixture to make them cherry. I’ll have to give it a go! I’ve never had the cherry ones: was there an actual cherry in there or just the flavor? And did they still have the peanuts in the chocolate? Let me know and I’ll try a copycat!
Hi Dorothy! I made these AMAZING candies for Christmas this year, and they were a huge hit with my family! No one could believe I made them myself because they looked so professional! My Grandma is my toughest critic (the type of lady that will tell you if it tastes/looks like crap) and she LOVED them! In Canada, where I’m from, we have a chocolate store called Laura Secord, which has been around for eons, and my Grandma said my chocolates were 100% better! Thanks for the amazing recipes! I’m addicted to your site!
All the best for the new year!
Wow! I’m so happy you liked them! And I love these so much party for that reason – they’re foolproof!! Thanks so much for reading!
omg!!! peanut butter mountain bars!! we used to have to sell these and almond roca when i lived in Spanaway,WA in elementary school! forget about going around the neighborhood–i’d have mom and dad buy the box of them!!! i can’t wait to try these…but how do i change the recipe to make the peanut butter ones?? thanks for posting and taking me back to my childhood! 🙂
You are in luck Aimee – I just made the PB ones for Christmas!! I’ll be posting them in a few weeks. They are SOOOOO good! 🙂
Thank you for pinning this….I grew up in Tacoma, Wash. and I loved these…I will definitely try, but would love your pin of the peanut butter ones (those were my favorite) I live in Pa now and so miss them.
I need to make them! I’ve been saying for a year I’ll make them and I haven’t. Guess what’s going on my list this week??? 🙂
Hi! these are my dad’s favorite, was going to make some but he loves the cherry one’s–and brown and haley wants too much for shipping…do you know how i’d create these but cherry?
thanks!
I’ve never eaten the cherry ones. Is there a whole cherry in it? If so, this recipe might be good: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-covered-cherries-2/. If it’s just the flavor, you might try adding some maraschino cherry juice to the vanilla mixture in my recipe, and adding more powdered sugar to get the right consistency (to offset the extra liquid). Let me know if you try it, and what works!!
I tried! just replaced your vanilla extract with 1/2 teaspoon of cherry extract, then poured a few teaspoons of maraschino cherry juice for color and flavor, turned out just like the cherry ones!
YES! That’s SO awesome Addie! I’ll have to try that. I just made the PB ones for Christmas…on the blog in Jan!
Thanks so much for getting back to me. Could I make the almond joys without the brownies?
Yes! That should work, but you may need to add a some powdered sugar to get the texture right – not sticky but able to hold together. 🙂
Thanks so much for your advice.I will give it a try. What’s the worst I could do? Turn a great candy bar into a cow patty!!HMMM,cow patty may be a new discovery!!!
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