What to Do With Leftover Halloween Candy
Every year, we’re faced with the same parental dilemma: what to do with the leftover Halloween candy? I know that you can ship candy to the troops overseas, or sell it back to your pediatric dentist, but I’d rather encourage The Assistant to be a little creative with it.
Creative, he is.
He has a Halloween routine. As soon as he walks in the front door, he dumps the entire evening’s stash onto the floor. He divides the candy into piles, tosses the “junk candy” (Laffy Taffy, I’m looking at you), eats two items (his limit, not mine) and then questions me about the various types of chocolates and their viability in baked goods.
Yes. We bake with our Halloween candy.
This year he chose four varieties to test. From best results to worst, the candidates are:
- M&Ms (plain and peanut)
- Nestle Crunch
- Snickers
- Baby Ruth
This is why the Baby Ruths are at the bottom of the list:
Sadly, there’s just no good way to keep the ooey-gooey caramel from escaping the confines of the cookie dough. Even if it doesn’t leak out the side, it melts out the bottom.
Live and learn.
Anyway, we chopped up the various candy bars and mixed them into Alton Brown’s The Chewy recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies. I use a small scoop — mine has no number on it, but it’s 1.25″ diameter, pretty close to this one. At that volume, cookies take approximately 9 minutes to bake.
Please note that it’s important to chill the dough for at least 15 minutes after mixing. Otherwise they spread too much.
Basic Cookie Dough
Serves | 60 |
Prep time | 30 minutes |
Cook time | 45 minutes |
Total time | 1 hours, 15 minutes |
Allergy | Egg, Milk, Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Wheat |
Meal type | Dessert |
Misc | Child Friendly, Freezable, Pre-preparable |
Occasion | Christmas, Halloween |
Website | Food Network |
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted (8 ounces)
- 2.25 cups bread flour (10 ounces)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- .25 cup granulated sugar
- 1.25 cups brown sugar
- 1 egg (large)
- 1 egg yolk (large)
- 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 cups chopped candy
Directions
Results
The Assistant’s best friend was in the house while baking. If I’d left the kitchen unattended, he’d still be eating. This after he complained, “I don’t like nuts,” but then devoured the Baby Ruth and Snickers versions.
The Assistant said, “I’m kind of bummed about the Baby Ruth, but the Nestle Crunch is WAY better in a cookie than by itself. Everyone should do this.”
I won’t confess to how many I’ve eaten. *ahem*
If you are troubled with excess Baby Ruths in the future, I know someone who would take them off your hands…
I think that in the future I’ll have him set those candies aside so they will magically disappear.