No Half Measures

14 Sep 2025

They don’t sell Peanut Butter Twix anymore. They came back briefly in 2017, but were discontinued again sometime around 2020. Because they’re delicious, I’ve tried making them a couple of different times with varying levels of success. There are, of course, many recipes out there imitating Twix, but none were focusing on Peanut Butter Twix as much as I would’ve liked.

I started out with the basic components: shortbread crust, peanut butter filling, chocolate coating.

It took me a while to find a shortbread recipe that was easy enough to make and had the right amount and consistency, and actually a lot longer for me to learn how to make shortbread correctly. It turns out to be really important to mix the creamed butter and sugar with the flour and salt until it starts forming lumps on it’s own. At first, I was so afraid of overmixing it, I was trying to press the dough into the pan while it was still too dry, which meant that my shortbread often cracked when I tried to cut it because the butter wasn’t fully incorporated into the flour.

In about 2015 I had worked on a peanut butter filling for my peanut butter bars that has less powdered sugar in an attempt to make them as healthy as you could expect a dessert bar made with peanut butter to be, by adding crushed graham crackers. I figured that was a good place to start for the filling.

The chocolate was the easiest - we use chocolate almond bark to make ritz cookies, so I figured it was good enough for this.

At first, I baked the shortbread base, then spread the peanut butter filling over the top and chilled it. Then I poured the chocolate over, hoping it would work out like Millionaire’s Shortbread and be a simple, cut-able bar.

However if the chocolate is very stiff (not enough shortening) then when you cut it into bars it squishes the peanut butter filling out.

Then I tried cutting the shortbread into rectangles, dipping the bottoms into the chocolate, and piping the peanut butter filling on top. Then, I’d set a wire rack over a bowl and slowly spoon the chocolate over the peanut butter and cookie, tapping the rack to get extra chocolate off.

This honestly produces a pretty satisfying Twix imitation, bcause the chocolate is in the right proportion to the cookie and peanut butter. It does take significantly longer!

I was still a bit frustrated with the shape, because piping the peanut butter onto the shortbread fingers meant that it was shaped like a log on top of a rectangle, and that was hard to dip in the chocolate. They were also quite large, and it was difficult to cut the shortbread smaller without it cracking. At this point I was still struggling with the shortbread recipe itself, so I wanted to make that easier as well. I ended up doubling this shortbread recipe from Christina’s Cucina, and watching her video on when to stop mixing the shortbread, which made it significantly easier to press into the pan.

I also decided to spread the peanut butter filling over the base before cutting it, and to cut the shortbread while it was still slightly warm. I was able to cut them into 3” x 3/4” bars once the peanut butter filling was on top.

These worked out better than I expected! I might even be able to make them a bit thinner, maybe 1/2”. The shortbread only broke in one place, which was impressive.

Then I proceeded to chill the fingers and then dip the bottoms into the melted almond bark.

Then into the freezer again, and back out for the rest of the chocolate layer. If I’m careful about shaking the extra chocolate off, they turn out quite well! I dip them with one hand and then use a fork in the other hand to help me get them back on to the tray to finish hardening.

These still take a ridiculous amount of time to make - but they’re quite delicious, and by cutting them to this size it makes a decent number. If I get a bit better at dipping them in chocolate, I’ll be pretty happy with this recipe!