It's Too Easy To Make This 3-Ingredient Butterfinger Dupe

There's nothing quite like the crispy, flaky peanut buttery filling of a Butterfinger. The bright orange hue and unique texture that make Butterfinger a fan favorite comes from a well-kept secret that manufacturers shared on an episode of Food Network's "Unwrapped." While they didn't divulge the methodology, Butterfinger makers shared the surprising combination of ingredients that make up their filling. The filling has a corn syrup and molasses base layered with a heaping serving of peanut butter, but the secret ingredient that gives it its crunchy, flakey texture is crushed corn flakes.

While the mass-produced recipe is far too complex for any home chef to attempt, there's a three-ingredient Butterfinger dupe that's too easy not to try. This one swaps corn flakes for another secret ingredient: candy corn. The list of steps to make homemade Butterfinger are as short as the ingredient list. Simply melt candy corn and smooth peanut butter together in the microwave in increments, stirring the mixture every 20 seconds until fully melted. Then, spread the mixture over a baking sheet or tin in an even, inch-thick layer to harden in the freezer for 20 minutes or at room temperature for an hour.

Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips in a microwave bowl; you can also use a blend of milk-chocolate and coconut oil to best mimic smooth Butterfinger coating. When the filling has hardened, you can cut it into candy-bar rectangles to dip into the melted chocolate before they spend another stint in the freezer to harden.

The genius of the candy corn in the three-ingredient butterfinger recipe is that it acts as both the coloring and textural agent. Made primarily of corn syrup and sugar, candy corn mirrors the sugary butterfinger base ingredients that crystalize to create the crunchy, stick-to-your-teeth texture. Furthermore, its white, yellow and orange stripes blend with the tan hue of peanut butter for the perfect burnt orange Butterfinger filling. Plus, if you're tired of making candy corn popcorn balls, Butterfinger filling is yet another way to use up a surplus of Halloween candy you'd otherwise throw away. Various homemade Butterfinger recipes using candy corn call themselves "copycat" recipes because they strive to recreate the texture and taste of the original recipe, albeit through alternative ingredients.

If you want to try a true copycat recipe that uses a larger overlap of ingredients listed on Butterfinger's label, die-hard fans have created one of those, too. It's more than three ingredients, but uses household equipment to help you combine the original recipe's filling layers into an even more accurate likeness. These recipes necessitate a silicone baking mat to help you fold the thick, crystalized molasses and corn syrup base over peanut butter and crushed corn flakes. While it takes more effort and finesse than simply heating up candy and peanut butter in the microwave, the corn flakes certainly provide that crumbly flakiness that the simpler recipes do not.