Homemade Nutty Buddy Bars

Method

1. 1
   Make the wafer batter

   Whisk together cake flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a separate container, combine melted butter, water, egg white, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until smooth. The batter should be thin and pourable — thinner than pancake batter. If it looks grainy, blend briefly.
2. 2
   Cook the wafers

   Heat a waffle iron (thin Belgian-style plates work best). Lightly oil the plates. Pour a thin layer of batter — you want the thinnest possible wafer, not a thick waffle. Cook until golden and set. Remove carefully and immediately cut into rectangles while still pliable. Aim for pieces you can stack 3 wide. Work in batches.
3. 3
   Dehydrate the wafers

   Arrange cut wafers on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Place a second rack on top to keep them flat — they will curl badly without it. Dehydrate in a 190°F (88°C) oven for about 1 hour, flipping halfway through. They will still feel flexible when hot; they crisp fully as they cool. You want them completely dry and glassy.
4. 4
   Make the peanut butter filling

   Blend peanut butter with honey and a pinch of salt until very smooth. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and a splash of water. Cook over medium heat, without stirring, to 248°F (firm ball stage). With a hand mixer running on medium, stream the hot syrup into the peanut butter, then beat in the butter. The filling should look like a soft dough — pliable, not greasy, and it should peel cleanly off parchment.
5. 5
   Assemble

   Lay out wafers in groups of 4 matched by size. Spread a paper-thin layer of filling on one wafer, top with another, repeat for 4 layers total (3 filling layers). Press gently to fuse. Trim the edges with a sharp knife to even out the sides. Refrigerate 15 minutes to firm up.
6. 6
   Temper the chocolate and enrobe

   Melt 12 oz chocolate over a double boiler to 115–120°F max. Remove from heat and cool to 82–84°F — stir in the 3 oz finely chopped chocolate to seed the temper, or briefly touch an ice cube to the outside of the bowl while stirring. Return to the double boiler and bring back up to 88–90°F working temperature. Dip each bar, tap off excess so the waffle pattern shows through, and set on parchment. Refrigerate until set.

Tips

• The cornstarch is non-negotiable — it's what gives the wafer its glassy, crisp texture rather than a chewy one.
• Weight the wafers flat during dehydration. Without a rack on top they curl into chips and won't stack.
• The filling should be paper-thin between layers — almost translucent. Too thick and the bar won't hold together.
• Milk chocolate is more faithful to the original. Semi-sweet works but the result tastes more like a fancy confection than a Nutty Bar.
• Bars keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. The wafers stay crisp because the filling has very low water activity.