How to Make Rolos - Easy!

by In The Kitchen With Matt

23K17646

Intro: How to Make Rolos - Easy!

In this instructable I will show you how to make Rolos. This recipe for homemade Rolos is super easy to make, and they taste really close to the real thing, a bit better in my opinion. Chewy caramel covered in milk chocolate...mmm yummy, who can resist that? If I can make these you can make these, let's get started!

If you have any questions or comments put them down below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

If you enjoyed this instructable, I would appreciate your vote in the Copycat Recipe contest :)

Follow these easy steps or watch the video tutorial, or better yet do both! :)

STEP 1: Ingredients

Print the recipe here if you like.

Ingredients/Tools:

Silicone Chocolate Mold

1 milk chocolate candy bar 4.25oz (or any chocolate, candy melts, chocolate chips) -120g

12 caramels (I use the Kraft brand) - 110g

1 tbsp. of milk or cream

Straw (or some kind of tool for "painting" the chocolate on sides of mold)

Spoon

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STEP 2: The Mold

For these I purchased a cheap silicone round mold. It works great and has a cool little design on the top. It was the closest thing I could find to a Rolo shape. Plus I am a little bit addicted to buying silicone molds and making chocolate treats with them. You can use any silicone candy mold you like.

STEP 3: Melt Your Chocolate

Now we want to melt our chocolate. I am using a Hershey's Symphony bar. I really like the taste, but you can use whatever kind of chocolate that you like. Chocolate chips will work find too, or candy melts. I would suggest using chocolate candy melts, if you are going to have these sit at room temperature for a long time, like for a party or something, otherwise if you use real chocolate you will need to temper that chocolate. Or just keep the treats cool so they don't get too soft at room temp. I just store mine in the fridge. To melt the chocolate I am using the microwave, just put the bowl in the microwave, and microwave on high for 30 seconds, then stir with a spoon, then microwave again on high for 25 to 30 seconds, then stir, then 10 seconds. The chocolate should be nice and melted at this point. Now spoon a little bit in each piece. About a third of the way full.

STEP 4: "Paint" the Sides of the Mold

Now we need to "paint" the sides of the mold with a straw or some sort of tool. I like to use straws because they are cheap and I can just throw them away after. Just dip the straw in the chocolate and move it around the insides walls of the mold. The reason we paint the sides of the molds with chocolate is we want to create a little crater of chocolate for the caramel to set in, this way we won't see any caramel. But if that is the look you are going for, then skip the painting part. Now just place the mold in the fridge for the chocolate to set, about 20 minutes.

STEP 5: Melt the Caramel

After the chocolate sets, we add our milk or cream to our caramel. We add the milk or cream because this will keep the caramel from getting really hard after it sets. Just like we did with the chocolate let's melt our caramels with the milk or cream in a small bowl in the microwave, start with 30 seconds, stir, 30 seconds stir, 10 seconds.

STEP 6: Fill, Top Off, Tap

Now we take our melted caramel and fill up the little chocolate craters until they are almost full. Then we cap them off with more chocolate. At any time during this step, your caramel or chocolate gets too thick to pour, go ahead and pop it back in the microwave for 10 seconds. After we cap them off with chocolate gently tap the mold on the counter for the tops to even out. Now place it in the fridge for about 20 to 30 minutes to fully set. If you are in a hurry, the freezer works great too.

STEP 7: Remove Candy From Molds

Now after our chocolate and caramel has set we are ready to remove the tasty morsels from their homes. Using your finger just push up on the bottom and they will pop out. You also can gently tug on the sides of the molds to help them release the chocolate. There you go! Awesome homemade Rolos, that in my opinion, are better then the real thing. :) Enjoy!

STEP 8: Video Tutorial

Now watch those steps in action by checking out the short video tutorial!

45 Comments

CaroleL44 1 year ago

I'm wondering if I can melt mini rolos to dip my shortbread in it. Have you ever tried it? Do you think if I add a bit of cream that it might work? I am looking forward to your response.

In The Kitchen With Matt 1 year ago

Yes you can melt Rolos and use it for dipping. You can see how running it is first, but a little cream will help.

offseid 7 years ago

Nice one. Thanks for posting this!

ohoilett 7 years ago

These look delicious.

annekagrace 7 years ago

Just wondering, with the amount of chocolate and caramel you used, how many Rolos were you able to make? I am looking into making this for a class project and I have around 35 or so kids in my class

In The Kitchen With Matt 7 years ago

Very fun!! It made about 15 Rolos. For that many kids, you will be safe if you buy one of those Kraft brand bags of caramels. I believe it is like 11 oz size. And 3 or 4 chocolate bars. It's ok to have a little more then you need. :) Since I am a silicone mold collector, if I ever have extra chocolate leftover after making a specific project I usually just fill up some of my other molds haha. That would be so fun for the kids! Let me know how it goes if you wind up doing it! :)

annekagrace 7 years ago

Just letting you know, it worked out great! Everyone in my class loved them, a great project for the kids! Thank you so much for the help, great DIY!

annekagrace 7 years ago

Thank you so much! I'll let you know how it goes!

JohnE12 7 years ago

Hey, great recipe/idea, thanks. Voted!

(When I melt chocolate I break it up in a small bowl then float this in a larger bowl with water before microwaving - it prevents the chokky being over-cooked, is more controllable and then stays warm longer as I can leave it in the water bath - but of course it does take a couple of minutes to melt the chokky. I also use a fine art brush -which I save for the job - to paint my molds)

Thanks for the great idea to make rolos.

In The Kitchen With Matt 7 years ago

Thank you so much for voting!!! Yeah that is a cool method, essentially it is a double boiler but in the microwave and not on the stove, awesome! :) I actually just got some art brushes now specifically for my candy decorating needs! haha :)

menglor 7 years ago

I have never tried it, but I was told once that if you freeze your mold, then then melt the chocolate, take the mold out of the freezer, fill it with melted chocolate for X seconds, then pour out the soft chocolate (that didnt harden), you get a mold that has a bottom and walls, fill with Caramel, then pour more chocolate on top, then you have Rolo's

or "the secret on how to get caramel into the "Cadbury Caramilk bar"

In The Kitchen With Matt 7 years ago

That sounds like a pretty good method, seems like it could get a bit messy, but worth trying for sure!! :) Thanks for sharing!!

lbrewer42 7 years ago

Hershey chocolate is mass produced on a huge scale. A mold release agent is needed to speed up the process of removal of chocolate bars from the molds. Hence the wrappers tell you carnuaba wax is an ingredient - which also dilutes the chocolate since less actual chocolate is used.

This info is complements of my friend who recently retired from heading the engineering department at Hershey. He told me that to make the candy they themselves ate in the office, they would go dial back the controls to add more chocolate. He said it was the best Hershey candy "you will never eat."

He also told me that when costs needed to be cut, the chocolate was dialed back on the machines and more additives put in, so a Hershey bar of 10 years ago is very different from a modern one, but most people won't notice b/c they cannot compare them side by side.

If there is a local Aldi, go get some of their Moser Roth chocolate bars. Being produced on a much similar scale than Hershey, these also have a higher, richer chocolate content. And the Moser Roth bars are not expensive. Do a side by side taste test with Hershey. You will be very surprised at what chocolate actually tastes like when not as diluted. You may find your tastebuds have slowly acclimated themselves to sugary carnuaba wax with a bit of chocolate flavoring.


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