Recently I saw a recipe circulating on Facebook for a Butterfinger Pie with the above photo. It made my mouth water. I have no idea where the recipe or the photo originated because there wasn't a link to a website, but it was all I could think about for days. It only had three ingredients for the filling so I figured I couldn't screw it up. But could I make a gluten-free version?
An internet search revealed that the original Butterfinger candy bars (including fun-size) were gluten-free. (Some Butterfinger bars including the Giant Butterfinger bars are not so this needs to be taken into consideration if GF is your goal.) I already knew that Cool Whip and cream cheese are gluten-free. Obstacle 1 was out of the way.
In the Facebook photo the pie appears to have a chocolate crumb crust. Sounds delicious, but not worth tracking down a bag of gluten-free Oreo knock offs and making one from scratch. Luckily I happened to have a gluten-free "graham style" crust in my pantry just waiting for something wonderful to happen to it. Obstacle 2 was out of the way. It was game on.
This is the recipe found on Facebook:
BUTTERFINGER PIE
- 1 (12.5 oz) bag Fun Size Butterfinger candy bars, crushed
- 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 (12 oz) container Cool Whip
- 1 pre-made graham cracker crust
Directions:
Reserve 1/2 cup of crushed Butterfingers.
Combine remaining candy bars, cream cheese, and Cool Whip in a large bowl.
Pour into graham cracker crust.
Sprinkle reserved candy bars on top.
Chill for 2 hours before serving.
Since I rarely cook with processed stuff I had no idea there were so many different Cool Whips out there. There were original, lite, fat-free, and extra creamy versions. I developed frostbite from staring into the frozen food section for a ridiculous amount of time, but finally decided to go with extra creamy because it just sounded better.
Also, there was no such thing as a 12-oz container. I found 16-oz containers and 8-oz containers. I wound up buying two 8-oz containers and (being the math whiz that I am) used 1 1/2 containers.
Also, there was no such thing as a 12-oz container. I found 16-oz containers and 8-oz containers. I wound up buying two 8-oz containers and (being the math whiz that I am) used 1 1/2 containers.
Next challenge was the 12.5 oz bag of Fun Size Butterfingers. My store only had 11.5 oz bags so I bought two bags. The 11.5 bag was plenty and MoonPie happily ate all the candy bars in the extra bag.
I unwrapped the Butterfingers, put them in a ziplock bag, and smacked them with a hammer to break them up. It was a great stress reliever. (If you aren't stressed, you could use a food processor and get more uniformed-size pieces.)
I mixed the softened cream cheese with an electric mixer to fluff it up and then folded in the Cool Whip and Butterfingers. I filled the crust, sprinkled the reserved Butterfingers on top, and popped it in the refrigerator. Done! How easy is that? (There was a good bit of filling left over so MoonPie ate it out of the mixer bowl so it didn't go to waste.)
Mine turned out a bit chunky so next time I'm going to get a bigger hammer and crush the candy bars a little finer. I also think it would have sliced better if it had been popped into the freezer before cutting it. Regardless, MoonPie absolutely loved it and is already asking for another one so I would call it a success.
Note: Before making this pie I hadn't eaten a Butterfinger in years and had forgotten that they aren't a favorite of mine. I think I would have preferred Heath Bars or just plain Hershey's Chocolate. (Here is a list of all Hershey's Gluten-Free Products if you would like to see other GF candy bar options.)
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