What to do with leftover Halloween candy
Last year, despite my bizarre candy system*, we ran out of candy before the last trick or treaters came by. This year, knowing the weather would still be warm and there’d be an extra hour of daylight, I bought an extra bag. Of course we didn’t have nearly as many trick or treaters as we usually do and now I’m left with an obscene about of full-size (for the kids we know) and snack size (for everyone else) candy. What on earth are we going to do with it all? If I can dig up the receipt I’ll return the one un-opened bag, but as for the rest, who knows.
I found a great article about tips for using your extra Halloween candy. Here are some of the good ones.
Peanut butter cups: Mitchell suggests using a double-boiler or microwave to melt Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for a sauce over cake or ice cream. Werner presses the mini cups into the middle of cupcakes or on top of thumbprint cookies (in place of the jam).
Candy corn: Fold candy corn into pancakes or roll them into popcorn balls and puffed rice treats. When she’s icing a cake, Werner uses candy corns as a bottom border, in place of piped icing. But they work as well on top of iced cupcakes.
You can even accent chocolate bark or chocolate-dipped pretzel rods by dotting them with candy corn.
Lollipops or other hard candy: The obvious choice is stained glass cookies, says Deanna Cook, director of creative development for FamilyFun magazine. Make a 4-inch sugar cookie and use a two-inch cutter to remove the center. Place the cookie on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and fill the center with crushed hard candy. Bake until the candy is melted, then let it cool before moving it.
Snickers, Baby Ruth, Heath toffee bars, M&M’s and other chocolate candy: There are so many options you may never eat these candies straight up again. Use a food processor to quickly chop bars into bits, then fold them into cookie dough in place of chocolate chips. Or use them to top brownies and other baked bars.
And my personal favorite: Save it for a birthday party pinata.
Maybe I’ll even drop some into my next batch of pancakes. Who needs chocolate chips when you’ve got M&Ms?
*I wrote the following about my candy system last Halloween. At the time I was sad I didn’t stash any candy. Now I know better.
Children with good costumes, handmade or store bought get a few more snack size bars than those wearing street clothes and a hat dressed as a race car driver. Children with good costumes who say “trick-or-treat� usually get a handful of candy. Children under three only get one piece of candy, regardless of manners or costume, because they don’t need all the sugar and their parents and older siblings are going to eat all of the good stuff anyway. Teenagers in their own clothes who say they’re high school students get two year old tootsie pops, classroom prizes I’d originally purchased for a school-wide activity that was cancelled.
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