I know the food-oriented blogosphere has been abuzz this season about homemade butterfinger candy, and when I happened upon the recipe, it was too strange NOT to try.  Candy Corn and Peanut Butter?!  That’s it?!  What?!  It sounded so easy!  I immediately walked down to the store to pick up some Candy Corn to try it.  Which was momentous, as I had never bought Candy Corn before!

blech.

Line a 8X8 pan with parchment paper (though I think foil would be easier – not a big deal, I just had the paper right there and didn’t want to run upstairs to get foil!).  Measure 2 cups of candy corn in a pyrex bowl and microwave it for a minute on high, stir them up a bit, and microwave it for another minute until they were melty and bubbly.  Immediately stir in 2 cups of peanut butter.  Definitely use a hard plastic or wooden spoon, as the candy corn gets to be an extremely sticky, dense texture.  Then spread it in the prepared pan.

closer...

Stick the pan in the refrigerator for an hour or two until the mixture is set and solid.  Turn out the pan, or lift the parchment/foil right out and set on a cutting board.  Cut into any desired size, such as 1″X2″ for small bars.

almost there...

Melt semisweet or milk chocolate in a bowl.  Dip the pieces into the chocolate using a fork.  I had to dip about half of them, and put the undipped pieces back in the fridge for a little bit, as they softened up pretty quickly.  Another option would be to spread some chocolate on the top of the peanut butter/candy corn mixture while it is setting, and then just cut the whole shebang into pieces.  I just liked the idea of dipping them in chocolate.  Voila! Homemade Butterfinger Candy Bars!  Crazy!  They don’t have quite the crunchy texture of a butterfinger, but the flavor is spot on, and I actually like the chewy texture just a tad more (Justin said he still preferred the crunch).

be patient while the chocolate sets...

Store the candy in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Then go to the store and stock up on Candy Corn, as there is now a reason to keep this stuff around year round!

nom nom nom!