Frugal Foodie Mama: Pumpkin Butterfinger Blondies

Monday, November 5, 2012

Pumpkin Butterfinger Blondies


Okay, who has leftover Halloween candy in their homes?  *Raises hand*  Due to the extremely miserable weather we had here the night of trick or treat, I was left with a little more than I had hoped.  I am in one of those rare Halloween seasons where the only candy that is in my house is the candy that we bought to hand out to the costumed little ones who came knocking at our door.  My son is now 14 and trick or treating doesn't really appeal to him anymore, and my daughter isn't even 9 months old so candy isn't really something she understands or can eat anyways.  Even though I handed out HUGE handfuls of candy to the kiddos who did bundle up and brave the 30 degree sleet nasty weather, I was still left with about a third of the huge bowl of goodies I had started with.  What to do?  What to do?

Oh yes!  How about some Pumpkin Butterfinger Blondies? ;)  I adapted this recipe from one of my absolute favorite brownie recipes, Cooking Classy's Secret Ingredient Brownies.  (Psssttt... the secret ingredient is evaporated milk!)

What you will need:
1 cup of flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup (4 tbsp) butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp canola oil
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
5 Fun Size Butterfingers, chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray a 9x9 inch baking pan with cooking spray.  Over medium heat, melt the butter into the evaporated milk in a small saucepan.  Heat and mix until the butter is completely melted and incorporated into the milk.  Remove from the heat.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and cinnamon.  Set aside. 
Pour the warm butter/milk mixture into a large bowl.  Whisk in the brown sugar and oil.  Then the eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla.  With a wooden spoon, mix the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture.  

Now chop up all those fun little Butterfingers. 

And then mix them into your blondie batter.  Pour into your prepared baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes.  Let the blondies cool for about 10-15 minutes before cutting them.  Depending on how large you cut them, you will have about 9-12 blondies from this recipe.

These Pumpkin Butterfinger Blondies are thick, chewy, and fudgy and studded with crispy, chocolaty goodness from the Butterfinger bars.  

What leftover Halloween candy is your favorite to bake with?  Have a great recipe for them? Feel free to leave the links in the comments below! :)  (Come on... it isn't nice to not share!)