Polar Bear Paws are filled with salty roasted peanuts and soft buttery caramel, all coated in sweet white chocolate. Perfect for the holidays!
How to make Polar Bear Paws {See’s Candies Copycat}
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See’s Candy has the absolute best chocolate! So good that Santa always made sure to fill my stocking with a box of my favorites (and of course mom’s Homemade Christmas Caramels). I am usually a fan of the candies that have milk chocolate and caramel (love the Patties and Pecan Buds) but over the recent years I have branched out and started trying new things chocolates like Polar Bear Paws.
These Polar Bear Paws have creeped into my Christmas box as one of my new favorites. The sweet and salty combo of the peanuts paired with the soft caramel and white chocolate
See’s gourmet chocolates are pricey ($23/pound for these Polar Bear Paws) so if you aren’t rollin in the dough or if you just don’t have a store in your area, you can just make them at home and for a lot less.
Polar Bear Paws are quite simple to make. You just mix some peanuts with melted caramel, spoon it onto a parchment paper
What is your favorite kind of chocolate/truffle? Is there a type of candy that you get in your stocking each year?
Tools used to make Polar Bear Paws:
White Melting Wafer– This is my favorite chocolate for candy making. It melts well and easily and tastes so good.
Small Cookie Scoop– I love using this little cookie scoop for making candy. It helps create the perfect bite size treats that are all uniform in size.
Silpat Mats– These are great for cookies and candy making. They make the process so much easier and clean up so much faster.
Polar Bear Paws {See’s Candies Copycat} Video Tutorial
Polar Bear Paws {See's Candies Copycat}
Ingredients
- 1 (11 ounce) bag Kraft Caramel Bits or squares
- 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup peanuts, roasted and/or cocktail
- 12 ounces vanilla almond bark or white melting wafers
Instructions
- Line a large cookie sheet with Silpat mats (or parchment paper) and grease it with butter. Set aside.
- Melt caramels with butter and cream in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring, and repeating until smooth.
- Mix in the peanuts and then let it sit in the bowl to cool for about 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
- Spoon onto the mats in tablespoon size mounds. Place in the fridge for 30-60 minutes until set.
- Place chocolate in a bowl and melt in the microwave on low in 30 second increments and stir until melted and smooth. Dip caramel cluster in the chocolate and use a fork to remove it. Holding it over the bowl, tap the fork on the edge to let any excess chocolate drip back down. Place cluster back on the parchment lined pan and repeat with remaining clusters.
- Put the pan back in the fridge for 30-60 mintues until chocolate is set. Remove and package up.
Notes
**If using my caramel recipe, you'll only use half of the recipe for the Polar Bear Paws.
Spread the holiday cheer with more Christmas treats!
If you use the homemade caramel recipe, how long after removing from the stove do you add the peanuts and spoon onto parchment?
I have made these two years in a row now at Christmas time and I LOVE the taste. However, my caramel doesn’t form as it should and I always have a flat mess. Looking at other recipes on Pinterest I have noticed that they did not add the butter (I used the Kraft caramels) and next time I make them I am going to omit that and see if I have better results. This is absolutely one of my favorite Christmas candies and I would not dare make them any other time of the year because I would eat every single last one of them myself.
These were delicious and I was pleased that they weren’t as sweet as I was expecting. I’m including them in Canadian-themed Christmas sweet boxes this year so thanks for sharing your recipe!
If I mix just caramel and. Peanut mixture can it stay in refrigerator over night
Yep!
These are good, but even using a tablespoon scoop to ensure they were all the same size, I only got 16, not 24 as the recipe says.
Melanie, I didn’t use a measuring tablespoon to measure exactly. I do use a small cookie scoop (as mentioned in the post) just because it has the trigger handle and I think it’s actually 2 teaspoons worth. You can really make them what ever size you want depending on how much of the candy to want to eat at one time.
I found these easy enough to make but I was making a quadrupled batch for holiday gift bags and it took 5 hours so in that regard it was NOT easy. I also had trouble with the chocolate sweating afterwards and right now I have a fan on them trying to decide if they will hold up in a treat bag without melting. Our weather is neither hot nor wet/humid so ???. I followed the directions to a T, even buying the recommended white Giradelli wafers and using Kraft caramel squares. I will not make them again as a gift.
Can these be frozen? I wanted to freeze them for about 5 days before I hand them out.
Why would you use almond bark in the polar bear paws? I would not use them but white or vanilla wafers. The chocolate coating would be lumpy and dumpy with the almonds from the bark.
Hey Susan, Almond bark is candy coating that comes in a huge block that you chop up. It doesn’t actually have almonds in it. I’m not even sure why they call it that. You can definitely use white chocolate melting wafers (ghirardelli makes really good ones).
Wow! Thank you for posting this recipe. I make lots of varieties of Christmas cookie each year, & try to pick a new recipe to try out. These Polar Bear paws were super easy to make & oh so rich & delicious. I used the Ghiradelli white melting wafers & then made some with Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate wafers. Everyone raved how good they were. They came out so pretty, people were thinking they were store bought. Will be keeping this recipe forever 🙂
I’m going to try your caramels recipe next. Do you remember where you bought those little snowflake white tin buckets? Thinking Target or craft store would have something like that.
That is so awesome to hear! I’m happy they were such a success! I have been loving the Ghiradelli melting wafers too. My favorite chocolate to work with for dipping. I got those tin buckets at Target in their dollar section. They usually always carry them for each season/holiday. I have bought way too many.
Just got done with your caramel recipe, it smells amazing! Do I need to let it cool before I continue with the rest of this recipe?
Sticky process but worth it. Everyone loved them thank you
They are! Glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Do you store these on the counter or in the fridge? Thank you!
On the counter.
So i just learned not to uae wax paper. Carmel will not come off . Was so looking forward to tasting oe of these 😫
Hello,
I have the same question as Amy. Although, I plan to make your caramel recipe and keep what I don’t use for this recipe. About how many home made caramels should I use for this recipe.
Thanks!
Susan
Susan, Sorry to just see this! Use about half (or less) of my caramel recipe for making the Polar Bear Paws.
Hi Melanie – thanks for the fun recipe!
Questions – how much of the homemade caramel recipe do I need for this? I don’t want to end up with 58023090 nut clusters and having to dip them all, haha. Can I half your caramel recipe and will it be enough? (I also don’t want to end up with extra caramels… I am making a treat-gift box and have already planned to make a pumpkin caramel for it.)
And, at what point (temperature would work) do I need to put the nuts in when making the caramel from scratch? Please let me know!
Thank you,
Amy
I was wondering the same… I ended up making the homemade caramel and adding about a cup and a half of peanuts, because that was all I had… If I’d had more I would’ve used two cups. It made quite a few – probably close to 80 clusters.
Sorry to just see this MaryAnn! You’ll just want to use half the caramel for making these Polar Bear Paws.
How long do they keep?
About a week.
I would not dare make this. I would hide and eat every bit myself. Better to just pass on this one, but I sure would love to have a tiny corner of just one.
I did give it a rating because I am drooling on my keyboard.
haha! I love the review Marilyn! Yeah, if you really want to test your self-control these are the treats to make! Make them, eat a small one, and give the rest away!
In the body of the post you linked to white chocolate but in the recipe you call for almond bark. Quick one is preferred? Thanks!
Bryn, You can use what is linked (white chocolate melting wafers) or almond bark (which is white chocolate made for candy coating). Melting white chocolate chips didn’t work well for me. It was too thick to work with. You should be able to find the white chocolate melting wafers in your local grocery store or super market.
So White Vanilla Almond Bark is actually white chocolate?
It’s not technically based on the % of certain ingredients but it tastes just about the same. Ghirardelli’s “melting wafers” are also not technically called chocolate either. I think it’s due to a higher fat content but that is what helps the wafers and bark be easy to work with to make candy because you don’t have to temper it.
I can’t find vanilla almond bark…any other suggestions on what else could be used, or where to buy it? I’m in Canada.
Julie, It’s in the baking aisle next to the chocolate chips. It should be by the chocolate bark or candy coating. It might just be called Vanilla Candy Coating. It’s sold in a big brick (like 2 pounds). If you still can’t find that you can use white chocolate chips.
Do you think using pecan pieces would work just as well. I’m not crazy for peanuts.
Yeah! I recommend roasting them first for better flavor/texture. Just put them on a cookie sheet and bake for 7 minutes at 350 degrees F. Enjoy!
Could I use white chocolate chips in place of the Almond bark? What store bought caramels would you recommend?? would those LG caramel bars that Come in the red box with the green and gold striping possible work? – tho I have not seen them in stores For a while now! Also can I use different types of nuts or will they not work as well??
I’m trying to give my kids a different perspective on Christmas this year. We are going to be doing alot of baking and crafts ect. 90% of all gifts this year will be made by the giver and the other 10% are to be purchased handmade. Our goal is to not involve big retailers in our christmas cheer this year. I can remember when I was growing up and we were happy with getting what we got non of this $100 minimum per purchased gift or tantrums cause we didn’t get an IPhone or IPAD or the latest game and gaming system…… So any ideas for unique and tasty treats that you can share – which are not to difficult to create or ideas for how to package the yummy treats festively including what combinations of goodies to put together would be openly appreciated & extremely helpful!!
I wish everyone a very merry Christmas season and a much better new year to come!!
You can but I feel like white chocolate chips are a little more difficult to work with but that could just be the brand I used. It tended to thicken quickly while I was working. I used the Kraft brand caramels. I haven’t tried the LB bars.
What a great idea for Christmas! Plus, handmade gifts are the best! My family always made HUNDREDS of caramels and everyone very much enjoyed them. In fact member of families begged to recipe secret personal bags of caramels that they didn’t have to share with the rest of their family. haha! These White Chocolate Gingersnap Cookies and Soft Sugar Cookies are awesome too! You can stack the gingersnaps and wrap it in cellophane and tie with ribbon. You can do a similar thing for the sugar cookies but put them on a plate and wrap them. For the caramels, we always used the decorative candy bags (you can get a pack of 20 for $1 at the dollar store). Hope that helps! Have a wonderful Christmas! Let me know if you have any other questions. 🙂
I made these last night, made the recipe as instructed, set in the refrigerator for hours. When I went to take them off the parchment paper they were so sticky I had to use a knife to pry them off. Dipped them in white chocolate. I thought these are so sticky to work with, they do not release from the parchment paper at all. I did use kraft caramels from the store. Well, after the taste test, THEY ARE SO WORTH THE TROUBLE, ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!! I will have to make the homemade caramels next time to use!!
I make homemade turtles and learned waxed paper works much better. I still use a frosting knife to scrape up.
Next time put the caramels on a silpat. That will work much better.
I’ve made these the past 2 years at Christmas….everyone loves them. I spray my parchment paper with cooking spray and that helps them to not stick. I think next year I’m also going to dip some in milk chocolate….sounds Delicious ❤
Super easy & yummy. My grocery store didn’t have the vanilla almond bark so I just melted some milk chocolate and used that. I will make these again
Mmmm! Milk chocolate sounds awesome in these Marie!
Very tasty, next time I will put them in the freezer, or just take a few out of the fridge at a time when dipping. The caramel warmed to room temperature pretty quick and they got real sticky/gooey while dipping.
Mine did the same, they soften VERY quickly. Dipped just 2-3 at a time while the others stayed in the freezer. Very tasty treat!
I’ve never heard of this candy. but it’s basically everything I could have ever wanted! Pinning 🙂
These look amazing! Derek is a caramel junkie and would totally be obsessed!
Paige
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