Candy bar blondies are everything you know and love about a good blondie—soft, chewy, thick, and buttery—plus, they’re packed with chopped chocolate candy bars. They’re easy to prepare, require minimal baking tools and just 8 simple ingredients, and always disappear. (People flock to these! Candy bars IN blondies is exciting!) Pretty much any chocolate candy bars work here, and my favorites to use are Milky Way, Snickers, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
As much as I enjoy making homemade candies like chocolate truffles and peanut butter Easter eggs (or anything from my candy cookbook!), no one can deny the convenience of the grocery store candy aisle. Whenever I have store-bought chocolate hanging around, it always seems to make its way into a baking recipe. Snickers cheesecake, M&M cookies, peanut butter blossoms, Butterfinger cookies, and today’s candy bar blondies are a few prime destinations for candy!
Everything to Love About Candy Bar Blondies
- Taste: Brown sugar, butter, and chocolate candy. All fantastic in their own right, but when they team up, you get a harmonious medley of flavors. Each blondie is distinctly buttery, but not to the point where the bars taste greasy—an unfortunate outcome for many blondie recipes. I always enjoy using candy bars with caramel in them, and recommend you try the same!
- Texture: These blondies are supremely soft, chewy, and thick—just like my reader-favorite chocolate chip cookies. Depending on the candy you choose to use, expect a variety of texture in each bite.
- Ease: When it comes to beginner baking recipes, this one is at the top of the list. Prep work is a breeze, and because you’re using melted butter, you don’t need an electric mixer. The next time you need a quick treat, whether for a party, get-together, or just because, keep these easy blondies in mind.
And best of all: These blondies cut and stack easily, making them super easy and convenient to transport. (No messy frosting or icing to worry about!)
Best Candies to Use in Candy Bar Blondies
Let your sweet tooth do the talking here. In the pictured blondies, I used a mix of Snickers, Butterfinger, Milky Way Midnight, and Twix candy bars. The blondie batter lends itself well to virtually any chocolate-based candy, so use whatever you have on hand, or take a trip down the candy aisle and pick out a few faves. You need about 1 and 1/2 cups of chopped candy bars.
I first published this recipe in 2013 when I found myself with a cauldron-full of leftover Halloween candy. While these have become a post-Halloween tradition in my home, we still find plenty of excuses to make them year round! The add-ins are customizable, so you can dress up a batch for various holidays throughout the year. A few ideas to get you started:
- Valentine’s Day: Don’t limit yourself to candy bars. You can use pink, red, and white M&Ms. I make these almost every February as a festive treat.
- Easter/Spring: Chopped Cadbury Creme Eggs, pastel M&Ms, and/or chopped Cadbury Mini Eggs (use any leftovers you have from making an Easter cake!)
- Halloween/Fall: Reese’s Pieces, chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Rolos, and/or candy corn candies.
- Christmas: Red and green M&Ms (like these M&M cookie bars), and any other assortment of candies that Santa leaves in your stocking.
I would just steer clear of gummy candies and hard candies.
Best Pan to Use for Blondies
Use an 8-inch-square baking pan. A 9-inch-square pan could work in a pinch, but the bars are pretty thin. If you bake often, an 8-inch-square baking pan will come in handy. It’s one of my must-have baking pans—you can use it for making coffee cake and oatmeal lemon crumble bars, too!
What about a 9×13-inch baking pan? Double all ingredients to yield a 9×13-inch pan of candy bar blondies. The bake time will be similar. Start checking them around the 28-minute mark. Or try my M&M cookie bars, and swap in 1 and 1/2 cups of chopped candy bars for the M&Ms and chocolate chips (or use a mix of M&Ms and chopped candy bars).
Print
Candy Bar Blondies
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Yield: 12-16 blondies
- Category: Bars
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is my favorite blondie recipe. Use whatever candy bars or goodies you have on hand like chocolate chips or nuts. No mixer required, very little prep work, and unbelievable results. Soft, chewy, buttery perfection.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (200g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (5 Tbsp; 70g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 and 1/2 cups chopped chocolate candy bars (I used Milky Way Midnight, Twix, Snickers, and Butterfinger)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the baked and cooled blondies out to cut. (Or spray generously with nonstick spray.)
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and vanilla together until combined. Add egg and mix well. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. Fold in the chopped candy bars. The batter will be very thick. Spread evenly into prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 24–26 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before lifting out and cutting into squares. Blondies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 8-inch Square Baking Pan | Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula
We had so much candy leftover from Halloween this year and when I was looking for something to back I stumbled onto this recipe. It is fabulous! I’m baking multiple batches and fuzzing them so I can use all the candy- and have small packs of wonderful blondies I can thaw as needed!
I love your recipes and thought this would be an option similar to the s’mores cookie bars that my friends love so much. I used an 8″ metal pan lined with parchment paper. The dough baked nicely and rose all over, but as it cooled, the middle fell flat and the edges were twice as high and a bit crispy. I was taking them to a party, so I cut off the outside edge and only took the middle part. They were well received, and the middle was done, unlike some others have said. But do you know why the middle fell? I’d like to be able to make a double or triple batch, but if I have to keep cutting off the outside edge, it’s going to take a lot of batches to get enough bars to take to parties. I used Milky Way, Butterfinger, and Heath bars.
Hi Yvonne, we’re glad the blondies were a hit! Some sinking in the middle is completely normal and to be expected for blondies. However, for optimal rise, make sure your baking powder and baking soda are fresh. We find they start to lose their power after about 3 months, even if not technically expired yet. Thank you for giving these a try!
Hi Jane,
I saw in one of the earlier comments that it was mentioned that you could freeze the blondies. Can you freeze the dough?
Hi Kayla, you could, but it will be a bit tough to spread the frozen batter into the pan before baking. We’d recommend baking and then freezing the blondies instead. (They still taste fantastic that way!)
Absolutely stunning, what an easy peasy recipe. I’ve been using browned butter…my mouth is watering thinking about them
Delicious! I made these using English toffee and chocolate chips! Thank you so much! ☺️
I made these today for my husband’s birthday and I really liked them! I have a convection oven so I reduced the temperature to 160°C and baked for 25mins. They were crispy on the edges and chewy in the middle and delicious. Mine sunk a bit in the middle too but I thought that was just because my baking powder was a little old and I still haven’t perfected baking in my convection oven.
I saw other people commenting saying they were raw in the center? I think they are supposed to be kind of fudgy in the middle aren’t they? I’m not sure but they’re delicious.
I used KitKat, milk chocolate chunks and crunch
Absolutely delicious – crispy edges and a chewy centre. I didn’t have any chocolate bars so I used 1.25 cups of choco chunks, choco chips, and mini M&Ms. I baked them for 27 (ish) minutes in a foiled lined metal pan, as directed. I did not have the same issues as others with a raw/underbaked centre.
Thanks Sally!
The baking pan must matter?
Oh man, I would love to figure out what I did wrong. I love Sally’s recipes SO much — probably make 5 or 6 a month and I’ve never had one not work. The only thing I can think of is that making these in a metal pan must really matter? I didn’t have a metal baking pan so I used a glass one. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. I had to keep the dish in the oven for 40 min to get it to cook, I covered it with tinfoil which helped stop the browning, but the result was still a blondie you need to eat with a fork in a bowl because it falls apart so easily. I mean. We’re obv eating them because they taste great. But I’m interested in what I did wrong re: the texture. Was it the pan?
Hi Sarah, Thank you for trying so many of our recipes! Either pan should work just fine. We usually use light colored metal baking pans.
I had the same issue as most other people here – made them the first time in a glass 8inch pyrex and they looked cooked but middle sank after cooling and are totally greasy and gooey. I found this awesome article on Food52 https://food52.com/blog/21928-why-your-blondies-are-raw-in-the-middle-the-stella-parks-cure. So the second time I used a mixer to whisk up the butter/sugar/egg mixture to ensure more air and a 9inch metal pan. Still waiting for them to cool but they haven’t sunk yet and were solid when I pulled them out of the oven.
Meh. These taste good but like all of the other reviewers, mine turned out to be complete mushy goo on the inside and crunchy/almost caramelized on the outside. I used the same chocolates that were used in the recipe, and didn’t make any substitutions or changes. I wouldn’t recommend this recipe, which is a rarity for a Sally recipe!
Hi there!! These look really good… I was wondering if I could substitute anything for the brown sugar since I don’t have any??
Hi Olivia, the brown sugar is really key for giving these blondies the right amount of moisture. You could try subbing with coconut sugar if you have that on hand, but we haven’t tried it ourselves and are unsure of the results.
These were a baking fail tonight and I’m not sure where I went wrong. I have made a lot of Sally’s recipes that have all turned out delicious so this was disappointing. I made two batches tonight because I am baking for an event at the youth center where I work tomorrow. First batch I baked for 26 minutes. Edges were crispy and center was all mushy. I didn’t want to cook longer for fear of over cooking. Middle immediately fell as it cooled. They look so thin and bad, I’m not sure I can bring myself to bring them in to the event. The second batch I covered with foil. After 24 minutes, it was still completely raw and unset. I took off the foil and baked 5 more minutes and then the edges were raised and hard and middle was still mush. I added the foil back on and did 5 more minutes and they are still complete mush. Overall disappointing after all the reviews about how easy they are 🙁 I am likely going to need to pick up something store bought in the morning.
Hi Lauren, Thank you for trying this recipe. We are happy to help troubleshoot incase you wish to try it again. Did you happen to make any ingredient substitutions or bake it in a different size pan? Are you using conventional heat settings on your oven (convection settings can bake unevenly leaving you with dry edges and un uncooked middle).
I am going to try this recipe the very first time. I am curious if I should add Take5 candy bar since there are pretzels in it..Any advice? Thank you
Take5 Bars would be delicious here. Enjoy!
I made these as an afternoon snack for the kids. Overall, the flavor is great and they are pretty enjoyable to eat. However, two pieces of feedback:
1. I used whoppers, which didn’t work out as I’d hoped. The malt centers get really hard and chewy when you bake them, so stick with other candies instead.
2, Took a really long time to bake – nearly twice the recommended cook time- and they never really set, as other have mentioned. Not a total loss, if you don’t mind eating them with a fork. Wondering how to fix this next time. Maybe more flour?
Can i freeze these?
Yes, blondies freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then bring to room temperature before serving.
Im making these for 60 people. Should I work in double batches (as I usually do, i.e. 24 at a time instead of 12)?
Hi Myrna, You can double all of the ingredients and bake in a 9×13 pan. I am unsure of the baking time, though. At least 35 minutes. Keep your eye on them.
I love your site and recipes!
I just finished baking this to bring to a small dinner party. After letting it cool for almost an hour, I sampled it.
Definitely tastes great, but it’s almost raw in the center.
I followed the directions exactly.
My husband and I could eat this ourselves, but it’s too raw in the center to bring as a dish to a party.
Everything else I’ve made on your site has been perfect.
Maybe there’s a tweak that could help this one?
Loved this recipe! I always come to your blog to do your version of the recipe I want to try, and I wanted to make classic blondies with chocolate chips. The only tweak I’ll make next time will be adding a little more salt if the add-ins are just chocolate chips instead of the more interesting candy situations– otherwise, these were perfect, as I’ve come to expect from your recipes!
I’ve made these so many times! I use a small bar stone pan. They are always perfect!
OMG.
These are perfection…I thought they would be too sweet…..I used Butterfinger; Baby Ruth and Nestle Crunch…and some peanut M&M’s. About a cup of candy.
These are like the best cookies you will ever eat.
I made them in a long rectangle tart pan lined w/ parchment paper.
I am baking another batch as we speak!
SO GOOD!
The Blondies came out delish. They came out of the pan thin in the middle and thick on the edges. I flattened out the batter in the pan prior to baking. This is the first time I made Blondies. Did I do something wrong? Followed the recipe as written. Flavor was great. Not sure about the appearance.
Oh my gosh this is GOOD!!!! I was actually a little skeptical despite loving your recipes because I thought it might be too sweet because it’s not modified no matter what you put in it. But nope! YUM. I replaced eggs with plain yogurt for my boyfriend, doubled it for Halloween party, and used Butterfingers, Twix, Heath, Rolos, and then I ran out of candy (any guesses why?) and used chocolate chips for the last half cup. I did a lot of things wrong (like randomly forgot I was doubling it and probably so was a little off with baking soda in remembering). It’s forgiving. I will definitely be making a caramel pecan version for Thanksgiving because it’s easy and SO GOOD
Do you have a preference between a metal (non-stick) pan or a Pyrex pan for these? Definitely going to try these this week with my extra Halloween candy!
Either work just fine. I usually use my light colored metal baking pans.
Made these tonight for Halloween. Used dark brown sugar, Heath and Snickers bars (per the wifey). Used baking spray instead of foil. The edges rose and crisped significantly more than the center, and the center was a little bit gooey, but I didn’t hear any complaints until I prodded my wife for suggestions. Ideas on how to get a more even bake, for future endeavors? Thanks Sally!
Hi Tyler! So glad you tried these blondies. You can slightly reduce the oven temperature and cover the blondies with foil as they bake. This should help for next time.