Homemade Butterfingers by Bridget

What do you do when you want to use a Halloween candy in a recipe AND make a homemade Halloween candy? You make a candy using a candy. Confused? I don’t blame you.

 
 

There’s a popular recipe floating around using melted candy corn and peanut butter to make homemade Butterfingers. For me, though, a big draw of Butterfingers is the crunch. Enter a recipe by the incomparable Stella Parks on Serious Eats for truly homemade Butterfinger bars, skipping the candy corn and making it all from scratch. Stella’s recipe adds the missing crunch.

 
 

So, here we have the best of both worlds: the ease of using melted candy corn and the crunch from a couple of add-ins. The process is simple and even a little therapeutic. If you love kneading bread, you’ll love folding and rolling this candy.

 
 

The only ingredients needed are candy corn, peanut butter, peanuts, cornflakes, and melting chocolate.

 
 

Whir up the salted peanuts until very finely chopped. Watch out for seasoned peanuts—those have garlic and onion powder. The best bet is to buy peanuts labeled as roasted and “lightly salted.” If you’ve ever eaten peanuts mixed with candy corn (the only way to eat plain candy corn, in my opinion), you’re going to love this combination.

Warm the peanut butter in the microwave, then melt the candy corn. Stir together.

Pour this mixture onto a sheet of parchment and press into a rectangle, about 10 x 12 inches. Press the peanuts lightly onto the top. Fold into thirds like a letter. (Keep reading. You’ll see this process just down the page.)

 
 

Use a rolling pin to roll into a rectangle. Note that the size and shape don’t need to be exact.

 
 

Lightly press the cornflakes onto the rolled mixture, crushing the cereal as you do.

 
 

Fold into thirds like a letter again. One side …

 
 

…and then the other.

 
 

Roll into a rectangle.

 
 

Fold into thirds once more.

 
 

Roll this into a square shape, roughly 8 inches in size. Place this into a pan lined with greased parchment paper. Press until flat. Let the mixture set up.

 
 

Cut into pieces and let cool completely.

 
 

Dip into chocolate. Milk chocolate is more traditional, but feel free to mix it up with dark chocolate. I like to use melting wafers. You can use almond bark or even candy melts.

 
 

Let the bars sit until set up. Store in an airtight container.

 
 

These bars seem too easy to be true, but my son declared them “really close to the real thing.” Transform candy corn into candy bars? Yes, please!