Recipe
DIY Butterfingers: From Candy Corn Leftovers to Homemade Halloween Candy
It seems there's no seasonal food quite so divisive as candy corn—when it comes to these waxy little Halloween treats, you either love or loathe them. Regardless of your position on the controversial candy, one thing is certain: melted down and whisked together with creamy peanut butter and crunchy cornflakes, they make for a delicious and shockingly easy copycat of the classic Butterfinger candy bar.
Whether you're looking to capture the hearts and taste buds of eager trick-or-treaters, trying to use up all that leftover candy corn piled up in your secret stash, or simply in the mood for a deliciously crispy autumnal confection, these homemade Butterfingers will be sure to put the treat in your trick-or-treat.
Why it works: If you're thinking there's no way real Butterfingers are made of candy corn, you're right. This recipe uses candy corn as a shortcut for a more complicated confectioning (candy-making) process used in commercial Butterfinger manufacturing. In the "real" process of manufacturing Butterfinger candy bars, peanut butter and cornflakes are combined with a molasses-based honeycomb toffee. In confection, honeycomb denotes a particular mixture of corn syrup, sugar, water, and another sweetener (in this case molasses) which produces a beehive-esque hard candy when cooled, hence the name.
Candy corn is actually its own variation on the honeycomb toffee—its manufacturing involves the combination of a simple honeycomb with fondant, the marshmallowy frosting responsible for the candy's waxy texture. This allows molten candy corn to effectively substitute the honeycomb toffee of the original Butterfinger recipe, making for a much more straightforward and home-friendly confectioning process.
DIY Butterfinger Candy Bars
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 4 oz smooth/creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup corn flakes cereal
- 4 oz candy corn
- 1 tbsp water
- 8 oz melting chocolate - semisweet chips work well but be adventurous!
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If you see or smell the mixture beginning to burn, immediately remove from heat and proceed to the next step.
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Voila! A delicious homemade version of the classic Butterfinger candy bar, one that’s just as, if not even more delectable than the kind you find in your trick-or-treat bags.
These candies make for an assuredly unique trick-or-treating experience; after all, how often do you get anything homemade trick-or-treating? But if you decide you can’t watch these precious confections be whisked away by just any random children of the night, I find they also make for a brilliant Halloween party hors d'oeuvre (consider serving them alongside any of these 13 spooky appetizers).
Still have leftover candy corn? Check out this article for eight more ways you can use up leftover Halloween candy (spoiler alert, one of them is just giving in to your gluttony and gobbling it up).