Any time I'm browsing food blogs and come across a recipe for cheesecake bars, I immediately bookmark it. The same thing goes for finding recipes that involve Butterfingers. Obviously the glorious merger of the two is something I had to try for myself.

These were everything you'd imagine them to be. The Nutter Butter crust was a new concept to me that I will absolutely be trying with other desserts in the future. Don't let the thought of three layers scare you away from making them. This is an easy and delicious recipe start to finish. It may be a diet-killer, but it's worth it.

Enjoy!
 
Butterfinger Nutter Butter Cheesecake Bars
Recipe from Lauren's Latest

Ingredients:
For the crust-
16 whole nutter butter cookies
1/4 cup melted butter

For the cheesecake filling-
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 tablespoon all purpose flour
6 fun size Butterfinger chocolate bars

For the topping-
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9×9 square dish with foil or parchment and set aside. {If you are lining your pan with foil, lightly grease with non stick cooking spray.}

Grind nutter butter cookies in a food processor until the consistency of graham cracker crumbs. Pour in melted butter and pulse a few times to mix. Press into prepared dish and set aside.
 In a large bowl, whip cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Stir in egg, vanilla and flour. Finely chop butterfingers and fold into the cheesecake mixture. Pour over top nutter butter crust and bake for 18-22 minutes or until cheesecake has set. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until completely chilled.

Pour chocolate chips and butter into a small bowl and microwave using the ‘melt chocolate’ function, stirring every 20-30 seconds. If your chocolate is almost melted, don’t put it back into the microwave! Just keep stirring- the residual heat will continue to melt the chocolate completely. {If your microwave doesn’t have this function, zap your chocolate at 50% power at 20 second intervals, stirring in between.} Spread melted chocolate overtop of the bars evenly and place back into the refrigerator 5-10 minutes to harden the chocolate. Remove from refrigerator and using the foil or parchment, remove the entire block of bars from the pan. Cut into bars and serve.

Recipes Notes: If you leave the bars in the refrigerator longer than 10 minutes after you’ve topped it with chocolate, cutting into the bars might be more difficult and the chocolate is more likely to crack.

I've been on an ice cream kick recently. I like to make at least one container of homemade ice cream every week. It's cheap to make. It can be made ahead. Varieties are endless... What's not to love? Well, the answer is that I make a container of homemade ice cream every week, and I eat a container of homemade ice cream every week (with a little help from my friends). I've determined that I'm a diet-killer for anyone around me. 

A few weeks ago I shared the amazing Double Oreo Ice Cream that I've declared my all-time favorite ice cream. I love the Jeni's bases, so the Oreo layers just really took it over the edge. Since I make that ice cream all the time, I began wondering how I could mix it up in other incredible ways. Then it hit me: Butterfinger Ice Cream. Let me tell you, the Oreo has some stiff competition with this recipe.

The key is to have a candy that can crush up easily and is still very flavorful. Butterfingers are my all time favorite candy. I don't even really know what they are. What is the flavor of a Butterfinger? "Crispety, Crunchety, Peanut Buttery!" ...their tagline is obviously no help. Anyways, I started with the Jeni's ice cream base, infused it with crushed Butterfingers, put the base in the ice cream maker, and then when it came out, layered the Butterfinger base with more crushed Butterfingers. It was crushed Butterfingers, Butterfinger ice cream, crushed Butterfingers, Butterfinger ice cream, etc. 

I'm not sure it's even necessary for me to tell you this was heaven in ice cream form. Every scoop has swirls of Butterfinger combined with the already flavorful, smooth, creamy Butterfinger base. Sorry for being a diet-killer, but you need to make this as soon as possible. And once again, if you don't have an ice cream maker, it's a fantastic investment!

Double Butterfinger Ice Cream

Recipe made using ice cream base technique from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home

2 cups whole milk

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 ½ oz. cream cheese softened

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1 ¼ cups heavy cream

2/3 cup cane sugar

1/8 cup light corn syrup

3-4 king size Butterfingers (3.7-ounce each) bars or 5-7 regular sized Butterfingers (2.1 ounce)

Crush up all Butterfingers and place in bowl. Butterfingers should crush easily, so you can do this by breaking them up while in the wrappers, or placing in a plastic bag and crushing them in there.

Fill a large bowl with ice water. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch. In another large bowl, whisk together cream cheese and salt.  Set a fine mesh sieve over the bowl and set aside.

Combine the remaining milk with heavy cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a large saucepan.  Bring milk mixture to a boil.  Cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves, 4 minutes. Off the heat, gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Return to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until the mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

Gradually pour the hot milk mixture through the sieve into the cream cheese. Whisk until smooth.  Place 1/4 cup crushed Butterfinger in the bowl with the hot milk mixture.  Steep for 30 minutes to dissolve candy and impart flavor.  Whisk to incorporate.  Set the bowl in the ice water bath and let stand, stirring occasionally, until cool.

Chill the mixture thoroughly (at least 4 hours or overnight). Once chilled, whisk ice cream base to break up any remaining candy pieces.  Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Sprinkle a layer of crushed Butterfinger into a plastic container (or other container for ice cream) and lightly spoon a layer of ice cream on top.  Continue to alternate layers of candy and ice cream until the container is full, topping with a sprinkle of candy pieces.

Place plastic or parchment over ice cream (to prevent ice crystals) and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.