Crispety, crunchety, deliciously peanut buttery homemade healthy Butterfingers!
Healthy candy bars that defy all logic
As if by magic, the homemade Butterfingers have that exact same toffee-like crunch of store-bought peanut butter Butterfinger bars!
Yet these are whole-grain, high in iron, vegan friendly, and completely free of high-fructose corn syrup. It’s one of those recipes you really have to try to believe.
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Homemade vegan Butterfingers
The inspiration for these healthy butterfingers came from a dollar-bin cookbook that I saw at the fabric store a few weeks back.
The book recipe, which yielded an 8×8 pan just like mine, called for a full 1 cup of sugar, 3/4 cup of corn syrup, and 1/3 cup of shortening!
Yes, 3/4 cup of corn syrup in addition to the cup of sugar…
It was basically screaming for a healthy makeover!
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Healthy Butterfinger recipe video
Screaming so loudly that I had to get to work on the challenge as soon as I got home.
Luckily, this is one of those recipes that turned out perfectly on the first try – they really do taste like actual Butterfinger candy bars!
If you’re looking for a healthy or vegan dessert that will impress even the most skeptical or pickiest of eaters, these healthy Butterfingers are definitely the recipe to try on all your friends.
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In the years since I first posted them here on the blog, it’s become one of the site’s most popular recipes.
Readers often write in to tell me that even their health-food-hating dads, moms, brothers, sisters, girlfriends, or boyfriends love the bars too!
Healthy Butterfingers
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, honey, or agave (For keto, try these Keto Candy Bars)
- 1 tbsp regular or blackstrap molasses – Or omit and increase agave to 1/3 cup
- 3 1/2 tbsp sugar, unrefined if desired, or additional maple syrup
- 1 cup peanut butter or allergy-friendly sub
- 1 1/2 cups bran flakes or corn flakes, or another flake cereal (56g)
- 1/8 tsp salt, plus a little extra if using unsalted pb
- optional topping: 2/3 cup chocolate chips or 1/4 cup virgin coconut oil mixed with 1/4 cup cocoa powder and vanilla stevia drops or liquid sweetener to taste
Instructions
- Notes: Honey works, but it’s not for strict vegans and will also add a slight honey flavor. Corn syrup will also work, and commenters have said brown rice syrup works as well. If subbing out the molasses, the bars will taste less authentic but still delicious. Almond butter or Sunbutter work, or use peanut butter for the flavor that most closely resembles real Butterfingers.Homemade Butterfingers Recipe: Combine first three ingredients in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil on medium heat. Boil about a minute, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Add the peanut butter and salt, and stir until it makes a paste. Add the cereal and stir very well to coat, partially crushing the cereal flakes as you stir. Make sure the flakes are very evenly coated. Press into an 8×8 pan—either lined with wax or parchment paper, or greased very well—and freeze until completely hardened. (Cut into bars while only somewhat frozen, or thaw the block a little before cutting.) If you wish to cover in chocolate (they’re good even without it), you can cover them at any time—either pre-cutting or post-cutting. Simply melt the chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth, or mix the coconut oil with the sweetener and cocoa. Then spread over the bars with a spatula and re-freeze to harden. Store in the freezer for optimum “snap.”View Nutrition Facts
Notes
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You are a genius! Creations like this make me wonder why companies continue to make unhealthy candy. The chocolate/candy industry needs you!
How funny! I had about the same Idea when I thought about healthy butterfingers! Great minds think alike 😉
Why do I have to be stuck in a college dorm? I need to make these now!
I just love Butterfingers, especially healthy ones! There one of my favorite candybars to eat frozen! Yum! I have to make these as soon as I get home from work! I can’t wait! Think I’ll take a half day! 🙂
Uhhm, yup, love the sound of these. I need to bring a gluten-free dessert to an office party, and these would be so easy to make GF with the right cereal!
I love reading your recipes, but this is the first one I’m going to make. I can’t wait!
As for the quiet game, my cousins and I played when our grandparents visited and the winner would get a quarter. I would keep on talking, and when Mom asked why I said “Cause Grandma will give me a quarter anyway.” And of course she did. Laughing. (It pays to be the youngest and the cutest!) Thanks for the amazing blog!
I love this! I can’t believe they’re healthy and yet still look so wonderfully good!
I liked the warning about not eating the entire pan in one sitting! These look amazing and I really shouldn’t make them until someone is here to help me eat them.
The quiet game? Oh yes I use to have my kids play that game!
Ever since you were thinking about adding a butterfinger recipe to your blog, I have been anxiously and excitedly awaiting it!!! Can’t wait to try these Katie! 🙂
These look delicious and this background color is much better than the old one!
Must make these NOW!! Thanks for the inspirations! 😛
These look delicious!! I have an idea for a challenge for you if you’re interested – healthified breakfast cereals!! Like cereal-and-milk cereal rather than oatmeal. I can’t even buy breakfast cereal because for some reason that’s one of the only unhealthy foods that’s like crack to me, I would eat a whole box in like a day if I let myself. Please!!!!!! 😀
Cool idea! And I know what you mean… frosted chex cereal and cinnamon toast crunch are my major weaknesses!
The quiet game is my fav!!! Let’s play now! Ready, 1, 2, 3, (*shhhhh*) …..
Haha I’m just kidding! Why be quiet when you can talk about how wonderfully delicious these healthy butterfingers are?
Wow those just sound tasty!
These look awesome. Going to try them this weekend, along with the peppermint patties my husband has been bugging about since I made the reese’s eggs.
Kit Kats, Katie! We need Kit Kats!
Hey Katie, I love this idea – but let me ask you something, I can’t have gluten, so most flake cereals are out, and also can’t have corn. Any suggestions? I know it’s a silly one, but am hoping I can still make this somehow!! It’s my favorite candy bar!
I left some specific brand names on the “view nutrition information” link. There are actually a lot of gluten-free cereals nowadays and many don’t have corn! 🙂 Look for some of the brands I mentioned either at Whole Foods or in the natural food section of a regular grocery store.