Pastry Chef Attempts To Make Gourmet Kit Kats

[Claire] So I used to do this as a kid when I ate them,

where I would like separate out the layers.

[Chris] Oh my god.

This is definitely--

Does that surprise anybody?

No, not at all.

(Claire laughing)

(upbeat music)

Oh god,

I'm covered in chocolate.

Hey everyone, I'm Claire and today

I am making a gourmet version of Kit Kat,

one of my favorites.

(bright drumming music)

So this is the classic

four bar crispy wafers in milk chocolate,

you get that little snap when you break one of the bars off.

It has this sort of squared off base and then it tapers

as you get to the top.

It's really just a stack of three crisp wafers

with chocolate in between,

and think another big key

is this very, very fine,

very uniform cross hatch waffle texture.

That I think is going be challenging to get that texture

because we don't have anything that's that fine

in terms of a pattern.

It's very, very crisp and crunchy.

It's also really sweet.

This one is dark chocolate.

You can already see a big difference in how the

like chocolate kind of behaves.

It's like it has a more brittle texture

which you get with dark chocolate.

Not as quick to melt,

delicious.

This one, we really know what kind this is.

I'm thinking green tea matcha,

it's the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Mmm, no, not my favorite.

You wanna a Kit Kat?

Have a Kit Kat.

There is like a definition in the layers.

I was saying before, like stroopwafel

meets like a--

Meets like a Cheeto. Right.

Brad get the dehydrator out.

Will you set me up with the dehydrator?

I'm sorry (laughs) never mind.

Like what's the essential elements that I have to keep?

I think it's the crispiness.

It's gotta be a little trapezoid right

that's the shape, trapezoid right?

Yeah.

Line them all in and then we'll have a little trap.

Like what do you think we can improve upon?

A little less sweet.

I think you should take sugar down.

Yeah, the consensus is that the milk chocolate

has nice texture, but it's very, very sweet.

So I think to get a chocolate that

has that same like melty quality,

but is a little less sweet

I'm gonna mix dark chocolate and milk chocolate.

Clearly this has a snap.

That's because the chocolate is tempered

which means that it is in like a crystalline structure.

So I'm gonna attempt chocolate tempering

which I've never successfully done,

we'll see how that goes.

So now my favorite part, time to read the ingredients.

Ingredients: sugar, wheat flour, nonfat milk,

coco butter, chocolate, palm kernel oil,

milk fat, lactose, contains 2% or less of

lecithin, PGPR, soy, emulsifier, vanillin,

artificial flavor, salt, yeast, baking soda.

That's not that many ingredients.

I'm gonna have to Google PGPR

'cause I don't know what that is.

Okay so it stands for polyglycerol,

okay, but it's an emulsifier made from glycerol

and fatty acids in chocolate,

approaching the behavior of a newtonian fluid. (laughing)

I think my understanding of what that means

is that it makes it easier to pour.

Gonna just ignore that.

Kourtney Kardashian Kit Kat.

I am gonna show you guys how to eat a Kit Kat.

Pull the top layer off and eat that.

Oh, I think there's a lot to this, actually.

I'm gonna use this method for isolating the wafer.

Whatever temperature Kourtney Kardashian had her Kit Kat

it seemed really great for separating the layers

so we're gonna try to do that.

Okay that was, I think that was perfect.

As soon as I touch it

it very, very easily breaks apart.

I heard a rumor that part of what's in Kit Kat

is crushed up, like, imperfect pieces of Kit Kat,

that they can't use.

There's definitely, like, cookie crumb texture in there

so I think that kind of confirms that suspicion.

I am gonna start, I think,

with a base recipe for the wafer that's like stroopwafel.

They're very, very thin,

sort of like waffle textured wafers.

So that's where I'm gonna start.

(bright drumming music)

I looked up online

and there's a Martha Stewart recipe for stroopwafel

so I'm gonna grab those ingredients

and get it together.

So the first thing is to combine

one and quarter cups all-purpose flour,

a teaspoon of baking powder

and a pinch of salt.

Then I'll whisk the egg whites and the sugar until light,

then stream in the vanilla extract and the melted butter,

mix dry into wet

and I can go ahead and start to cook it.

The only thing we have in the kitchen that I could think of

that has that waffle texture

was the bottoms of these springform pans.

My idea of how to do this is to

heat them up in the oven,

grease them, put the batter onto them

and then stack them.

I don't know, put them back in the oven

till they're kind of baked through.

Okay, so five minutes.

Okay.

It's definitely too thick.

I need it to be very, very crisp.

It has a cake-like consistency,

which is not really what I'm going for.

(sighing)

Okay, so this time I'm gonna add

some cornstarch for that crisp texture

and a higher portion of butter.

Ooh, that's melting all over the place.

I have some ooze, oh god.

Oh no, oh no.

(laughing)

That did not work, too much butter.

I don't know, this is the time of day

where I don't really care any more.

Wait, let me think,

hold on, let me think about it.

I can't rush this process.

Or wait, I have an idea,

let's take that batter from before

and add some more cornstarch

and see what happens.

My timer's going off.

(laughing) No.

And, we're done for today.

So I did think about

that combination of lightness and airness with crunch

so I don't think this is cheating,

Rice Krispies is just basically puffed rice

so it's really an ingredient.

My idea was maybe to make basic sugar cookie,

crush it up, add crushed Rice Krispies,

bind it together and then bake it again.

Well, I did a sugar cookie base.

My idea is to grind up sugar cookie,

mix is with ground up Rice Krispies--

It is not a Kit Kat.

No, I'm not, I didn't say it was a Kit Kat.

Obviously, Brad, it's not.

This is not, it's not like I made a Kit Kat, here try it.

And then add the Rice Krispies.

Don't want to add too much,

but I also, well, whatever.

Um, I think I add too much Rice Krispies treats,

a little bit.

It's a little too thick to spread.

Oops.

Ooh, okay.

(sigh) It's total different than the first one.

It's like not airy enough.

I mean, it's flat, nailed that.

(laughing)

Maybe scratch the cookie and just go Rice Krispie

with a light dusting of flour.

Spritz it with a little bit of water,

now you got a little bit of a paste.

I don't think it's gonna work.

Oh, what's this?

That's a waffle cone maker.

[Brad] Then you just gotta cut it into a rectangle,

but still it's gonna come down to the batter.

Do you want to try that Rice Krispie thing

and let me know how it turns out?

Do I wanna try it?

Yeah.

What're you doing right now?

Are you busy?

I think it's crazy enough to work.

You wanna whisk?

Negative.

Do you wanna scoop?

Like how long does it take?

It looks pretty good.

Oh my god, it's a freaking wafer!

(laughing)

[Claire] Hold on, I gotta write this down.

What'd you add?

[Brad] I don't know, I kinda blacked out.

No, you don't need richness, it's a Kit Kat.

If there's milkfat in it. Yeah.

So now I'm starting off

with a little bit of whipped cream.

Instead of grinding Rice Krispies treats,

I'm just gonna use rice flour.

Need a splash of water?

No, uh, no.

Put in a splash of water.

[Claire] No, Brad.

[Brad] Open it.

(laughing)

Looks good. No, it's not good.

[Brad] Of course, it's all that cream you put in there.

Uh. Eh, no.

It tastes good.

I tastes like burned milk.

Right Claire, let's try this out.

I'm gonna measure some stuff out--

Yeah, I'm gonna write it down.

One cup. Rice Krispies.

Third of a cup all-purpose flour, 10x

Nice pinch of salt,

3/8ths powder.

One tablespoon of cream, that's your call.

And then we're gonna go straight to water, huh?

That looks pretty good.

Oh, it looks great.

It's a little chewy.

And it's a little sweet.

It looks crispy!

[Claire] It sure does.

So is that, say 20 sides a second?

20 seconds a side?

Yeah, it's what I said.

It's a little ricey.

It doesn't really do the, like,

dissolve in your mouth thing.

Not totally sold on the ground Rice Krispies,

but I do think it has to be made in an iron

so we have that coming in a couple days

and I still haven't even touched

the tempered chocolate thing, so.

I just pray this doesn't take me five more days.

What I think was wrong with the wafer yesterday,

it was almost too lacy, too delicate.

We do have cake flour,

I could see a more tender, light result.

I think I'm gonna get rid of the cream

and just go butter.

We're trying again.

I'll let you know.

You want to take a look, take a look.

Watch me make this one.

Ah! The whole darn thing?

I think you're in the cookie/cake region again.

(sobbing)

A little bit of oil.

Oil instead of butter?

Yeah.

I am going to ignore what Brad said.

This time I'm gonna use the same batter,

I'm gonna practice cutting it,

put 'em in the oven and see what happens.

I just wanna make sure it's not browning.

Oh my god, you're kidding me.

I'm truly shocked, slightly horrified

and mostly impressed that this arrived.

Ta da, I think this looks like

a really, really good surface.

Let me check on these.

It could be a little more tender in texture.

Maybe a little more cornstarch?

Okay, I can see through it, it's that thin,

which I think is really, really a good sign.

This is a guide for me for the width

so let me immediately give it a trim.

So here's that crisp edge that I trimmed off,

that one's definitely the best one yet.

I'm so relieved, actually.

Hey, Brad.

Oh yeah! Right?

This is the best one yet. Yeah, yeah, best one yet.

Ship it. Right?

Pretty close.

All right, so should we try a couple more of these?

I think it's like two millimeters,

I think it's the same thickness as the Kit Kat.

It's basically perfect.

So I think next time

I'll have to crush these really, really fine,

stack, fill, cut across, temper, set, unmold,

and I'm done, thank god.

So now I want to get some chocolate melting for the filling.

Dark chocolate and milk chocolate

temper at different temperatures

so what I'll do is do a dark chocolate filling

and then a milk chocolate exterior.

Salt.

Mmm, it's really good.

Salty.

Pop this in the fridge so that it sets.

Gimme, gimme, gimme, okay great.

So I'm gonna check on the status of these wafers

and I'm gonna try cutting them.

Is it?

How many do I need to make total?

(groaning)

So I'm happy with the way these turned out.

Now it's time to temper,

I've been avoiding it long enough.

So I brought some light reading.

It's just like an encyclopedic reference

for all things pastries.

The ideal ambient temperature for chocolate tempering

is 70 Fahrenheit.

What do we think it is in here?

Yeah, it's hot.

(groaning) Listen to this!

In a room that warmer than 70

the chocolate may never be able to be tempered.

May, keyword may, Claire.

Doesn't look good.

I'm gonna use something called the seed method

which is basically you melt chocolate,

you add some chopped chocolate to it

to bring the temperature down

and then you heat it back up.

These here are my molds.

I'm gonna put two side by side wafers in each one.

I wanna bring this up to 110.

Oh god, now it's climbing.

(gasping)

Whatever.

There's still so much seed chocolate in it.

(groaning)

This is supposed to set within two minutes,

but it should have a snap, shiny finish.

(alarm ringing)

So that was two minutes.

It's still a little bendy.

Yeah it won't, it doesn't really snap.

Undertempered?

I think so.

Even though I don't think that temper test

was totally successful

I'm still gonna do a test

because I'm that impatient and stubborn.

(exciting jazz music)

That looks terrible,

but I'm gonna pop it in the fridge

and we're gonna see if they set.

Ready?

Nope.

Okay, I'm extremely relieved that they came out of the mold.

So I'm gonna cut into it.

Oh yeah, this one didn't hold together very well.

The whole thing just fell apart.

See, I can't really split them

without one of them kind of breaking.

Here, now try it.

Who the hell cuts Kit Kats anyway?

I want you to know

that I can accept zero criticism right now.

Oh it's perfect, nailed it, Claire!

Oh no, this one already set.

It's all set and I don't want to waste any more of these.

I can't do it any more.

I quit.

We're finishing today, no matter what.

I've tempered chocolate again.

My seed chocolate was too coarse

so I'm going to put it in the food processor

to grind it up pretty fine.

So it's nice, this looks smooth.

We're at 86.

It is, I do think it looks shinier than yesterday.

Okay, I mean I definitely tempered this chocolate,

because it is setting.

Once I turn them out

and set them into the loaf pan to make that base

that will get coated.

Looking very good.

That one stubborn guy.

(gasping)(bleep)

All right, so you know,

my yield is getting smaller and smaller as we go on.

I think I'm gonna use our torch

to basically get a blade very, very hot

so that it will melt the chocolate

rather than causing pieces to splinter off.

This is set.

Oh, that is a thick layer of chocolate.

Whoa.

I have an idea,

let me trim these sides.

I'm gonna heat up this sheet tray.

I'm gonna go from the hot sheet pan

onto this chilled tray right here,

melt off a layer of chocolate.

Back into the fridge.

Our homemade Kit Kats.

Here's the real test, does it have that snap?

Very snappy.

Oh, look at that.

Just tell me that I did it.

Oh my god, Claire!

I did successfully temper chocolate.

It's definitely not as sweet.

Little thick on the walls,

but other than that I think you did a great job, Claire.

Did you taste it?

Visually. Thank you.

I'm gonna taste it now.

Okay. I'd say you improved it.

Definitely.

Oh my god, thanks.

Carla, please try it.

You know what I'm gonna say.

It doesn't say Kit Kat on it.

No, it's not supposed to say Kit Kat,

it's supposed to say half sour cat.

(chocolate snapping)

Oh! Right?

Oh, look, multi layers.

Mmm, so snappy.

Thank god.

Yeah, Claire, it's good.

I'm very happy.

Very, very happy.

Here's how you make a Kit Kat at home.

Pulse one cup cake flour, half cup cornstarch,

third cup powdered sugar,

one and a half teaspoon baking powder

and half teaspoon kosher salt in a food processor.

Stream in half cup melted cooled unsalted butter,

three-quarter cup water

and two teaspoons vanilla extract until smooth.

Cook batter in batches in a greased waffle cone iron

then trim to width of chocolate molds.

Bake wafers in a 300 degree oven until crisp.

Crush wafer trimmings and pass through a sieve.

Bind crumbs with melted dark chocolate

and stir in a generous pinch salt.

Spread filling in a thin layer over rectangular wafers,

layering in stacks of three.

Wrap stacks tightly in plastic,

place between two baking sheets

and weigh down with cans to flatten.

Chill until filling is set

then slice crosswise into 7 millimeter wide strips.

Chill strips and lightly spray chocolate molds

with nonstick cooking spray.

To temper chocolate melt 12 ounces milk chocolate

over a double boiler until smooth

and temperature reaches 110 Fahrenheit.

Add in three ounces finely chopped milk chocolate

and stir just to incorporate.

Let sit 3 minutes then stir without incorporating air

until chocolate is smooth and registers 86 Fahrenheit.

Do parchment strip test.

Transfer tempered chocolate to a piping bag

and snip an opening.

Pipe chocolate into three molds at a time

then place two wafer strips side by side in each mold.

Chill until chocolate is set

then invert molds and tap out onto surface.

Use a propane torch to heat a thing bladed knife

then slice chocolates in half lengthwise

to separate wafers.

Chill chocolates until set again.

Lightly spray a standard loaf pan

with nonstick cooking spray

then fill three millimeters deep

with more tempered milk chocolate.

Set chocolates into pans side by side

and chill again until set.

Remove from mold and trim with a hot knife

and separate into groups of four.

I really am happy with the final product

and I feel

I was gonna say proud of what I have achieved,

but I don't know was it?

Should anyone spend five days

trying to make three homemade Kit Kats?

Seems dubious.