Turn Your Leftover Halloween Candy Into Something Even Sweeter

Image credit: Pixabay

You never outgrow that October urge to binge watch every Halloween movie and to devour every piece of chocolate and bag of candy corn. Our houses are filled with variety bags of miniature chocolates: Kit Kat bars, Reeses, Snickers and so many more. The only problem is that even after we consume these sweets until our stomachs hurt, there’s still candy left over. Before we know it, October has turned into November, and the leftover candy is still sitting in the pumpkin shaped bowl waiting for trick or treaters.

To give leftover candy a new purpose, here are three recipes to turn your plain candy into something sweeter.

This candy bar pie from Crazy for Crust combines all of your favorite leftover candies into a mouthwatering pie.

“Every year, my family makes this pie filled with our leftover candy and watches Hocus Pocus together,” said Catherine Nicholas, a sophomore cell biology and genetics major.

Ingredients:

1 pie crust
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter (softened)
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 cup candy bars (you can mix miniature candy bars, miniature Reeses, Rolos, M&Ms, etc…)

How to Prepare:

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place the pie crust in a nine-inch pie plate and press it in to ensure that it is securely attached to all sides.
In a bowl, use your choice of an electric or hand mixer to beat the brown sugar and butter. Mix in the eggs and vanilla followed by the baking powder, salt and flour.
If you are using an electric mixer, mix in your candy bars on medium-high. If you’re using a hand mixer, break up the candy by hand, then mix it into the dough.
Put the dough on top of the pie crust and press it across the pie plate. Place some remaining candy on top of the pie. Fold down the top of the crust so that it’s not falling over the sides of the pan.
Bake the pie for about 24 to 30 minutes, until the crust is brown and cool completely before cutting.

Next, you could make Crazy Confetti Compost Cookies from How Sweet Eats and incorporate all your favorite candies into a single cookie.

Ingredients:

1 ½ sticks (12 tablespoons) of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup loosely packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup crushed salt and vinegar potato chips
¾ cup chocolate chunks
½ cup crushed salted pretzels
⅓ cup graham cracker crumbs
⅓ cup chopped Heath bar
⅓ cup peanut butter chips
⅓ cup assorted sprinkles
½ tablespoon coffee grounds
Whatever extra candies you may want to add

How To Prepare:

Preheat oven to 325℉.
Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl.
Mix the butter and sugars in a different, larger bowl.
Add in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and mix until combined.
Add in the the pretzel crumbs, cracker crumbs, Heath bar, peanut butter chips, sprinkles and coffee groups and mix until a dough forms.
Add any extra candies that you want into the dough.
Roll dough into balls and place on a nonstick baking sheet, making sure to leave 2 inches between balls.
Bake for 9 minutes to 12 minutes and make sure cookies are cool before eating them.