Butterfinger Cookie Bars

Name: Butterfinger Cookie Bars
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 3 dozen.
Ingredients: 1 package dark chocolate cake mix (regular size); 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate pudding mix; 1 tablespoon baking cocoa; 1/2 cup 2% milk; 1/3 cup canola oil; 1/3 cup butter, melted; 2 large eggs, divided use; 6 Butterfinger candy bars (2.1 ounces each), divided; 1-1/2 cups chunky peanut butter; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided

My boys went through a phase where they loved Butterfingers. We made Butterfinger shakes, muffins, cookies and experimented with different bars; this one was voted the best of the bunch. Make sure you have an extra candy bar on hand because it’s hard to resist a nibble or two while you’re chopping. —Barbara Leighty, Simi Valley, California

Ingredients

1 package dark chocolate cake mix (regular size)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate pudding mix
1 tablespoon baking cocoa
1/2 cup 2% milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 large eggs, divided use
6 Butterfinger candy bars (2.1 ounces each), divided
1-1/2 cups chunky peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, flour, pudding mix and cocoa. In another bowl, whisk milk, oil, butter and 1 egg until blended. Add to dry ingredients; stir just until moistened. Press half of the mixture into a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop two candy bars. Stir peanut butter, vanilla and remaining egg into remaining cake mix mixture. Fold in chopped bars and 1 cup chocolate chips.
Chop three additional candy bars; sprinkle over warm crust and press down gently. Cover with cake mix mixture; press down firmly with a metal spatula. Crush remaining candy bar; sprinkle crushed bar and remaining chocolate chips over top.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Store in an airtight container.

Nutrition Facts

1 bar: 305 calories, 16g fat (6g saturated fat), 16mg cholesterol, 284mg sodium, 39g carbohydrate (22g sugars, 2g fiber), 5g protein.

Originally published as Butterfinger Cookie Bars in Simple & Delicious August/September 2013

Reviews

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Average Rating:

Linda

Jan 15, 2018

Regretfully, made these for church choir treats. (No one asked for the recipe!) Very dry & tasteless. Time-consuming and not worth the expensive ingredients needed to make.
doucar

Dec 20, 2015

Expensive , time-consuming, dry, and a boring taste!
Creamsoda

Dec 15, 2014

This is the worst cookie I've ever made and I've been baking for over 60 years. It is expensive, takes way too much time to make and the end result is something I would be reluctant to serve and admit I made.
LDKRM

Nov 13, 2014

Thought the bars were very dry. I couldn't taste the Butterfingers, only peanut butter and bettersweet chocolate. I'll just make a cake and sprinkle the batter with crushed Butterfingers, next time
delowenstein

May 13, 2014

I'm rating this as a 5* recipe! I used a dark chocolate fudge cake mix & I used creamy peanut butter instead of chunky peanut butter. I also crushed the Butterfinger bars in my food processor: 2 for the balance of the cake mix mixture, 3 for sprinkling over the crust and 1 for the topping. I did keep the amount of chocolate chips the same: 1 cup for balance of cake mix mixture and 1/2 cup for the topping. I did grease AND flour the 15x10x1" baking pan and baked 25 minutes, then I baked 5 more minutes, using a cake tester! The bars tested done at 30 minutes for me. I plan to take the bars to my volunteer assignment at the hospital & I'll see how they like them! I admit that these bars did take longer to prepare than 20 minutes, considering that the candy bars were crushed in my food processor and the bars were prepared in the layers! Thank you, Barbara Leighty, for taking the time to share this recipe! I had been wanting to try it out and today was the time to do it!! I did sample 2 and they were reasonably firm! I did purposely try cutting into bars ahead of time to see how well they'd go through being cut! I used my brownie bar cutter to cut the balance of these bars and for the first row of bars, I'd used a sharp paring knife. These bars turned out to be delicious! I found that the yield was 38 bars!
transcona

Mar 3, 2014

We don't have Butterfinger bars in Canada, can you suggest a substitute?
Barbleig

Sep 7, 2013

Next time I would leave out the extra flour. Not sure it really needs this addition.
pamlackey

Sep 2, 2013

Very dry.took much longer than 20 min to prepare.
gmknipp

Aug 14, 2013

Not sure I consider these "simple" but they were very good. Adult son really liked. Fairly expensive, but moist and good.
WendyKat

Jul 28, 2013

Disappointing and expensive to make. Really expected better with all the work and ingredients.