- [Babish] This episode is sponsored by Cash App.
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Send or request cash from friends and family
when they owe you for groceries,
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Cash App is available for anyone 13 or older.
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and $10 will be donated to No Kid Hungry.
- What's that? (quirky music)
Candy machine.
Mmm. Kelp Nougat Crunch.
(stomach grumbling)
I'll only be gone a second.
Hey! (growls)
- [Babish] Hey, what's up, guys?
Welcome back to "Binging with Babish,"
where this week, we're taking a look
at the Kelp Nougat Crunch from "SpongeBob,"
a candy bar I've been dreaming about since childhood
that contains only three known ingredients:
kelp, nougat, and crunch.
Here before me, I have some sheets of toasted nori.
I don't know if this is technically kelp or not,
but it's gonna bring some great oceanic flavors
to our candy bar.
Not something I ever thought I would actively seek out,
but here we are.
Now, for the crunch, I'm gonna make a layer
of good ol' fashioned Rice Krispie Treat.
I'm starting by generously lubricating a quarter sheet
with nonstick spray and lining it with parchment paper.
Molten Rice Krispie Treat
is about the stickiest substance known to man,
so the more nonstick precautions taken, the better.
Over on the stovetop on a high-walled saute pan,
we're going to melt and cook 20 grams of unsalted butter
for four to five minutes over medium heat
until it begins to lightly brown.
That's right: We're making brown butter Rice Krispie Treats.
Next up, we're adding 100 grams of miniature marshmallows,
stirring and cooking those for about a minute
until they're fully melted.
Add 50 grams of puffed rice bran cereal,
stir until homogenously gooey,
kill the heat, add a little bit of salt,
make sure that everybody has gotten to know everybody,
and then dump it out into your prepared pan.
Then you got about two minutes
before this guy starts to harden,
so while everything is warm and malleable,
try to get everything as flat as possible.
Like I always say,
an uneven candy bar is made by an uneven mind.
Now we're gonna let this cool completely
while we make an even stickier substance: homemade nougat.
In a small bowl, I'm combining 35 grams
of malted milk power, 40 grams of powdered sugar,
and nine grams of sifted wakame powder.
This is our actual kelp that's going in the candy bar.
Go ahead and tiny whisk that together
until no clumps remain.
Let's give this a little taste out of curiosity.
And it's good.
It's weird, but it's good, just like yours truly.
Now, nougat is basically a hot sugar meringue,
so don your safety glasses and in the bowl of a stand mixer
combine two large egg whites with 50 grams of glucose syrup.
Meanwhile, over on the stovetop,
we're combining 475 grams of granulated sugar,
550 more grams of glucose syrup, and 150 grams of water.
We're gonna bring this to a simmer
and continue cooking over medium-low heat
until it reaches 250 degrees Fahrenheit,
by which time we'll hopefully have completed
our unfinished business over in the stand mixer,
which is to whip the egg whites
and glucose syrup to stiff peaks before slowly
and carefully drizzling in the boiling sugar mixture,
trying not to hit the sides of the bowl,
but trying not to hit the wire whisk either.
Then, once all the sugar's been added,
we're letting this guy whip on high speed
for eight full minutes,
during which time they should become smooth and glossy.
At this point, we're gonna add a teaspoon and a half
of vanilla paste, and working quickly
so that the nougat does not drop
below 140 degrees Fahrenheit,
fold in our help and malted milk powder mixture.
And there you have it, folks: kelp nougat.
I don't recommend tasting this until it's cooled completely
if you at all value your mouth skin,
but I'm happy to report that this has graduated
from pretty good to surprisingly good.
So we're gonna scoop it out
onto our waiting Rice Krispie Treat
and once again try to press and spread it out
into an even layer while it's still warm.
You're gonna wanna keep whatever tool you're using lubed up
with nonstick spray, preferably sprayed at you by a friend.
But eventually you're gonna give up on that
when you realize you could just use another sheet pan
to press it out flat and even.
Just make sure that it's appropriately oiled,
press it down with all of your upper body strength,
and pull it off to reveal
that it didn't really make a difference
and if anything made things slightly worse.
So just press it out as evenly as you can
and remind yourself that it's not your job
to change people's perception of how well you make candy.
Oh, yeah, we're also gonna put down
a couple of those sheets of nori,
likewise while this guy's nice and warm.
Otherwise, it will not stick.
Now, once cooled,
sometimes nougat can turn out a little brittle,
so we gotta slice it into clean, even bars
while it's still a little warm.
Go ahead and turn it out onto a lightly oiled countertop,
admire the effectiveness of your nonstick precautions,
and I'm gonna start by trimming off the edges,
not only to make snacks,
but so our bars have clean, even edges.
Then we wanna cut this down into individual bars.
Now, the bars on the show looked
like a short, stout rectangle,
so I'm gonna make these a little inappropriately large,
and despite having a ruler right there,
I'm not going to use it and end up with uneven bars.
Might as well eat my mistakes, right?
But as it turns out, too soon.
The nougat hasn't set yet and needs to sit overnight
before its final texture is achieved.
Before that happens, I'm going to enrobe these
in white chocolate.
I did not temper this chocolate properly,
so I'm just hoping that it's going
to set at room temperature.
And about halfway through the process,
I had the bright idea to make these guys green
on account of them being kelp candy bars and what have you.
So once the chocolate has miraculously set,
we are left with the final product, the Kelp Nougat Crunch.
Let's take a look at that cross section.
Beautiful. Looks like a candy bar.
But how's it taste?
And I'm happy to report it actually tastes really good.
I'm sorry, you probably didn't understand that.
It (blows raspberry) tastes (blows raspberry)
really (blows raspberry) good.
Thanks again to Cash App for sponsoring today's episode.
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Cash App also comes with a customizable debit card
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When you download the app,
use code BABISH to get $15 for free,
and $10 will be donated to No Kid Hungry.
Cash App is available for anyone 13 or older.
Download it at the link in the video description.
(upbeat music)