Candy Bar Blondies Recipe

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.. 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:

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).