Well there’s truth to it with these because I wanted to hoard them.
I always loved Butterfingers as a kid and they’re still a gas station favorite treat for me. However, I’ve never made a single recipe that uses Butterfingers in the almost 5 years I’ve been blogging. It was high time to change that. As an aside, I have a recipe for Homemade Butterfingers. Ready in 1 minute in the microwave and they’re made with peanut butter and candy corn that are melted together, then topped with chocolate. So easy and taste eerily close to the real thing. If you have extra candy corn, make that recipe, stat.
But back to these bars. No-bake Cereal Bars are one of my favorite things to make. You can’t go wrong combining peanut butter, sugar, cereal, and chocolate in the microwave, with some candy bars tossed in to complete the elegant ensemble. They may not be the height of classy, but boy, they sure taste ridiculously good and you can’t beat no-bake.
According to Nestle, Butterfingers are gluten-free and since all other ingredients used are gluten-free, you’re looking a gluten-free dessert that comes together in minutes. If you want to keep the bars vegan and gluten-free, replace the Butterfingers with Peanut Butter Cups, since the Butterfingers are the only non-vegan ingredient used. Ironically, there’s no butter or buttery spreads used in these very buttery-tasting decadent bars.
They have the same base layer as Chocolate Peanut Butter Kit Kat Crunch Bars and the Chewy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cereal Bars have, except there’s cocoa powder stirred in. It gives just the right amount of chocolate intensity to stand up to the bold peanut buttery, caramely sauce that glues together the cereal to comprise the base layer. After making the base, I melted chocolate chips and peanut butter together and spread that over the top. A couple baking tips. I like melting 1 cup of chocolate chips to 1/4 cup of peanut butter. The peanut butter helps prevent the chocolate from scorching as easily. And it helps prevent the chocolate from setting up too firm and prevents it from cracking when sliced.
Then I sprinkled on crushed Butterfingers. I used 7 Fun-Size candy bars, and I simply squeezed them in my palm before unwrapping them to find orange flakes and chunks. They crush very easily so don’t squeeze to hard or you’ll have orange dust. Finally, I melted another quarter-cup of chocolate chips for a final drizzle. I did this to help ‘set’ some of the Butterfinger crumbly bits, and as a happy accident, the drizzle gives the bars a Halloween-ish look.
Biting through each of the layers is a texture lover’s dream. They’re firm enough so they’re not a gooey mess, and the texture is dense and exceedingly chewy, yet soft. The chewy and dense chocolate-peanut butter base with crispy cereal for texture is a great contrast to the the firm yet soft layer of chocolate-peanut butter, and the abundance of crunchy, salty-and-sweet Butterfingers.
It’s a requirement that you’re a chocolate + peanut butter fan for these because that flavor combo is what they’re all about. And of course, you have to be a Butterfinger lover.
Related Recipes
Chocolate Peanut Butter Kit Kat Crunch Bars (keep vegan and GF by using Peanut Butter Cups instead of Kit Kats) Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!
Chewy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cereal Bars (vegan, GF)
Peanut Butter Cocoa Krispies Smores Bars (almost no-bake)
No-Bake Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cereal Bars (GF)
Biscoff Marshmallow Chocolate Bars (no-bake)
No-Bake Nutter Butter Special K Bars
Special K Bars (no-bake)
Peanut Butter Caramel Twix Bars (almost no-bake)
Peanut Chewy Payday Bars (almost no-bake)
Double Chocolate Caramel Corn & Cocoa Rice Krispies Candy Bars (no-bake, GF)
Browned Butter Rice Krispies Treats (GF) – The best RKTs I have ever had. Double the butter and it’s browned, for great flavor and soft, buttery, chewy bars
Homemade Butterfinger Bars (vegan, GF) – Ready in 1 minute and taste dangerously close to the real thing
Fan of Butterfingers? Chocolate and peanut butter? Favorite no-bake bar recipe?
