What are you gonna do with ALL that Halloween candy?

A few years ago after Easter, I got tired of all the candy hanging around (really I needed to stop myself from eating it all) so I decided--either throw it all in the garbage--or chop up the candy and use it to make cookies. I went for the latter--to help save the landfills from all that candy, of course. I just used my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, and substituted the chocolate chips are for chopped up candy bars. They turned out great, and now my neighbors expect candy cookies after any holiday.
This year, I was just getting sick of looking at the huge bowl of candy my kids collected and the fact that we are living in a new neighborhood and I waaaaay overbought (we had 5 Trick-or-Treaters and I bought 4 huge bags!!) when my mom mailed me a recipe for Halloween Candy Cookies. I figured I would try it, and see if it worked better than my regular chocolate chip recipe. It recommends using Twizzlers etc. in addition to chocolate, and I must say--the chewy candies were a yummy addition! We used: Dots, m & m's, Reeces, Twix, Butterfinger, Twizzlers and even a few Tootsie Rolls got tossed in--among all the other chocolate candy bars that happened to be in the bowl. It did make a nice, chewy soft cookie that held in all that candy.
I didn't really look at the recipe before I started it, but we had so much candy that I doubled the recipe, not realizing how big the recipe was. We made a looooot of cookies, but ended up passing them out at work and sending some to a friends house. We didn't end up with too many left (but I still managed to eat one for breakfast today).
The Dirty Boyz loved helping unwrap and chop and, of course, in true Dirty Boy fashion, couldn't help getting thier (pre-washed) hands in the mix. Oh well. My kitchen will be clean, someday.



Here's the recipe if your interested in recycling your candy: (It was a clipping, but looks like its from AmericanProfile.com)

3 2/3 cups flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. kosher salt
1 cup butter (YIKES!)
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
2 cups chopped candy bits

*Preheat to 350*. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in bowl and set aside. Beat butter, sugars well until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time then vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until combined, then add chopped up candy. Drop by Tablespoon onto baking sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes (I recommend 13! I like them soft). Makes about 4 dozen.