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, 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 (75g) 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
Keywords: candy bar blondies
can you substitute margarine for butter in this recipe? Would all the other procedures be the same?
I don’t recommend margarine.
Amazing! I love your peanut butter blondies as well. Your recipes make me smile : )
Could you double these for an 9×13 pan? Would you change the baking time? Thanks!
Doubling works, yes! Unsure of the exact bake time, probably somewhere around 35 minutes.
Hello! I made these to send to my husband, who is currently deployed on an aircraft carrier. I send him a variety of baked goods in each care package, but these blondies have been his favorite thing that I’ve sent him so far. He shares his care packages with his co-workers, who also loved them! His only complaint was that they were gone too quickly 🙂 They were in the mail for 8 days and held up very well. Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi! Whenever I make these they turn out a little cakey and not chewy looking like yours do. Do you have any suggestions as to what i’m doing wrong? Thanks in advance
Overbaking could be the culprit. Perhaps reducing the time down by a few minutes?
OH MY!! Fantabulous, and I’m not a big sweets fan – thank you Sally!
Do you think it would be possible to make these as cupcakes? Or would that be a strange consistancy for a cupcake?
Not at all strange. They’ll be very dense blondie cupcakes– sort of like cookie cupcakes almost.
Made these Blondies yesterday for a baking group picnic. I think—although I’m biased—they were the favourite amongst the many, many sweets. I’ve tried a few blondie recipes before, but this one’s by far the best!
I absolutely love these bars!!! I have made them so many times!! I was wondering if I could make these and put Cadbury Mini Eggs in them. i have seen some recipes for Cadbury Mini Egg Blondies but I only use your recipes when I bake because I know they will always turn out. I was wondering if you would be able to let me know how many Cadbury Mini Eggs I should add to these? Thank you so much!!!
They would absolutely work in these! I’d use 1.5 cups.
I made these for my husband last weekend, using his favorite bar… Twix. He took one bite and said it was in his top 3 desserts of all time. When I told him it was your recipe (since his #2 fave is your chewy chocolate chip cookies), he said, “That woman is a genius!” I just wanted to pass along that compliment. Thanks for such a quick and delicious recipe!
I made these today with a friend and they were delicious! They were gooey and chewy, just how I like them, but my favourite part was the batter. 🙂 I couldn’t stop scraping out the remains. Definitely my go-to blondie recipe. 🙂
midnight craving for something sweet always means blondies because they require only basic pantry ingredients. This is by far my favorite blondie recipe. I just made it for the first time last night and it is like one of the best things i have ever made.
seriously delicious. i can’t stop eating them. i live alone and keep thinking i should bring some to my friends so i don’t eat them all, but i won’t because i don’t want to give any up! yum 🙂
I agree with the other posters–By far the BEST blondie recipe I have ever tried! No matter what candy or other yummies I toss into the mix, the bars always come out with the perfect consistency of chewy, buttery, flaky goodness! As always, thanks for sharing with your fellow baking addicts, Sally:)
Do you have any tips for mailing blondies like these? I was thinking of making either these or a typical chocolate chip cookie recipe but using chopped up Milky Way Midnights instead. I wasn’t sure whether blondies or cookies would hold up better and also how to package them.
I always wrap up two blondies stacked one on top of the other or for cookies, sandwich them back to back and wrap the pair tightly in plastic wrap and put them into a tupperware to ship. Either blondies or chocolate cookies ship well.
Would I be able to make this recipe in a “brownie” pan? It has individual squares so the end product is essentially pre-cut. I am nervous about overcooking.
Yes, but I am unsure of the bake time.
Could I sub the light brown for the dark brown sugar? Would they still come out good?
that would be just fine!
OMG! These are terrific! I’m not a fan of blondies, but I make them for my husband. He liked the ones I’ve made before from other recipes — but he loved yours the best!
This recipe is definitely a keeper. Thanks for sharing!!
I made these tonight as an after dinner snack for my partner and I and they were delicious! I also sprinkled some quick oats and a lil’ dessicated coconut on top though which made the top nice and crunchy. Great recipe! Definitely going to try some others. 🙂
I just made these today… and they were very delicious. I look forward to trying another recipe of yours!
Tried this recipe this weekend and loved it! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes. Your photos are great and your site is beautiful! Thanks!
These were awesome. I used heath bar, resees, and rolos. Everyone at work wanted the recipe!
Fabulous recipe 🙂 I made mine yesterday with Snickers, Milky Way Midnight and a handful of Sno-caps… So delicious! I’m an “edges” kind of girl, and I’ve already eaten the perimeter of the pan! The recipe comes together so quickly and easily, so it’s definitely in my go-to rotation. Thanks for another great recipe!
I made these with Reese’s piece, Milky way’s, and Twix – delicious! I also doubled the recipe and baked it in a 9×13 for a few minutes longer.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi, Sally. Since discovering your web site I think I may have gained a few pounds! lol. I just made these with Milky Way bars since my kids had full sized ones from Halloween and I chopped them up. I truly think these are one of the best bars I’ve ever eaten. They are beyond fabulous. Thank you so much for this recipe (although my thighs do NOT thank you!).
These are quite possibly the most delicious things I have ever made! I used snickers, heath, kit-kat, and butterfinger, but what I really love about this recipe is that the base is so great and that it’s completely customizable as far as what candy you put in it. Your website is amazing and I can’t wait to make the peanut butter/rolo cookies next 🙂
I made them yesterday and they taste absolutely amazing! Everyone in my famiy loved them 😀 It was my first time making blondies ( or brownies ) so I was really happy they were so easy to make. Your repices are so awesome, I’ve become a total baking addict since I discoverd your blog!
My youngest son and I made these these today, a very rainy morning. We used Hershey bars, whoppers, reeses pieces, and kit kats. They turned out fantastic. A perfect treat for my boys after a long walk and lots of puddle splashing! Another great one Sally!
My 5 year old daughter and I made these with her left over halloween candy! They are so yummy. My picky husband and sons even loved them!Thank you for the recipe and we can’t wait to try more of your wonderful recipes!
I just made these blondies with craisins and diced walnuts-sooooo good! This recipe is definitely an awesome base to add whatever add-ins you have on hand. Unfortunately, I only had a few trick or treaters as well. But I still somehow managed to consume almost all of the Halloween candy! 😛 I’m sure these would be amazing with leftover Halloween candy, but I’m not going to tempt myself and buy another bag. haha Perfect recipe, as always Sally!
Hi Sally, I just made these tonight! They were amazing. I used a combo of dark milky way, hersheys choc, and carmello (the caramel choc)
Thanks for the recipe. My mouth feels sinfully sweet. 🙂