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
Ingredients
Instructions
Line a small rectangular dish with parchment paper, leaving some overhang for ease of removal later.
Measure out peanut butter into a large mixing bowl. Add cornflakes and stir just to distribute, trying not to completely break up all cornflakes.
Add candy corn and water to a small high-rimmed saucepan, and melt over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning.
If you see or smell the mixture beginning to burn, immediately remove from heat and proceed to the next step.
Once the candy corn has completely melted and begun bubbling, carefully and quickly pour the molten candy mixture into the peanut butter mixture, stir vigorously until combined.
Quickly pour the combined mixture into the prepared dish, again acting quickly so it doesn’t set before it’s in its mold. Smooth the surface of the candy and allow to cool/set for about 15 minutes in the fridge. Once set, remove the now-solidified bar from the dish and cut it into 6 (or more) pieces.
(Optional: at this point, the bars should still be somewhat malleable, so if you like a thicker or thinner bar you can either flatten them out or fold them over on themselves to adjust size/shape).
Melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second increments on medium-high power, stirring between each increment, and stopping once no chunks remain.
Pour melted chocolate over bars and allow to set for 30-40 minutes at room temp. For a faster hardening time, throw the chocolate-covered bars in the fridge for 20 minutes, or into the freezer for 10.
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).