From @Claire Saffitz x Dessert Person
2 hr · Serves 6
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Ingredients
Whisk the melted butter, water, egg whites, and vanilla extract together in a tall container.
Add the cake flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Blend with an immersion blender until smooth and combined.
Preheat a pizzelle or waffle cone maker on high heat.
Lightly brush or spray the iron plates with oil.
Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the hot press, close the lid firmly, and cook until light golden, about 1–2 minutes.
Working quickly while hot, remove the cooked wafer and trim into rectangular strips measuring 11.5 cm x 2.5 cm (4.5 in x 1 in) using a ruler and a wheel cutter or sharp knife.
Repeat with the remaining batter to yield at least 24 uniform wafer strips.
Preheat the oven to 190°F (90°C) on a low warming or dehydrating setting.
Arrange the cut wafer strips in a single layer on wire racks set inside baking sheets.
Place another wire rack on top of the wafers to keep them flat as they dry.
Bake until completely crisp, dry, and no longer pliable, turning them halfway through, about 1 hour.
Then 60 min of waiting
Combine the peanuts, salt, and honey in a high-speed blender.
Process until the peanuts release their oils and turn into a completely smooth, fluid peanut butter, 2–3 minutes.
Transfer the blended peanut butter to a heatproof mixing bowl.
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, light corn syrup, vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, and water.
Cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, and bring to a boil.
Continue boiling without stirring until the sugar syrup reaches 248°F (120°C) on a digital thermometer, about 3–4 minutes.
Immediately pour the hot sugar syrup into the peanut butter while beating constantly with a hand mixer.
Add the softened butter and beat until fully incorporated, smooth, and firm like a soft dough, 1–2 minutes.
Place the warm peanut butter dough between two sheets of parchment paper.
Roll it out with a rolling pin into a very thin, uniform sheet less than 1/8 inch thick.
Peel off the top sheet of parchment paper from the thin peanut butter layer.
Arrange 18 dried wafer strips over the peanut butter layer in parallel rows.
Trim the peanut butter layer around the edges of the wafers so each wafer has an identical layer of peanut butter attached.
Peel the paper backing off the peanut butter-covered wafer strips.
Stack 3 peanut butter-covered wafers on top of each other for each bar, and top with a 4th plain crisp wafer to create 6 four-layer wafer stacks.
Gently press the stacks together, then trim or grate the side edges with a microplane or rasp grater until neat, square, and uniform.
Melt the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water, stirring until it reaches 115–120°F (46–49°C).
Remove the bowl from heat and allow the chocolate to cool, stirring frequently, until it drops to 82–84°F (28–29°C).
Briefly return the bowl to the hot water bath for a few seconds at a time to bring the working temperature up to 88–90°F (31–32°C).
Dip each assembled wafer stack into the tempered chocolate, turning to coat all sides completely.
Lift with a fork or spatula, tap off excess chocolate thoroughly, and set on a parchment-lined tray.
Chill in the refrigerator until the chocolate shell sets completely firm and snappy, about 10–15 minutes.
Then 15 min of waiting
Dehydrating the wafers thoroughly in a low oven is critical to replicating the crisp texture of commercial wafer cookies.
Tempering the chocolate coating gives the bars a glossy shine and a clean snap at room temperature.
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