How to Use Up Your Leftover Halloween Candy
Today: Get creative with all of that leftover Halloween candy.
Assorted halloween candy. (Photo: James Ransom)
Perhaps you bought tons of candy for all of those trick-or-treaters that will definitely hike up the five flights of stairs to your apartment door (five bags seems reasonable, right?). Perhaps you’re always amazed to find that almost all of the candy is still there come November 1st, even when you and a friend ate 2 bags on your own.
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So, what can one do with bags and bags of leftover candy? Eating it plain is obviously a great option, but things can start to get boring when you’re on your 100th Kit Kat. Before you start pawning your candy off on hungry coworkers, consider giving it a new life instead.
Here are some of our favorite ways to use up leftover candy:
Homemade ice cream with halloween candy. (Photo: Food52)
Stir them into your ice cream: Grab a pint of vanilla – or chocolate, or caramel, or whatever flavor you like – and let it soften for 20 to 30 minutes, until it’s soft enough to stir. Chop up your candy, then fold it in; store it in a tupperware or a loaf pan. (If you’re feeling lazy, you can always just sprinkle your candy on top of your ice cream, too. Call it a sundae.)
Related: 8 Homemade Halloween Candy Recipes
Or blend them with your ice cream instead: Blizzard, concrete, Friend-Z – no matter what you call it, ice cream swirled with chunks of candy is awesome. To make one at home, just put your candy bars and some softened ice cream in a blender and pulse until the candy is incorporated. If you want a thinner milkshake, add some milk in there, too.
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Trail mix. (Photo: Food52)
Add them to your trail mix: Because the best trail mix has chocolate in it. Or peanut M&M’s. Or both.
Related: 5 Links to Read Before Making Halloween Candy
Magical marvelous memorable cookies. (Photo: James Ransom)
Bake them into cookies: Next time you’re making chocolate chip cookies, reach for your leftover chocolate candies instead of the chips. Your cookies will be way more exciting. (Things like Heath Bars, chopped Snickers, and crushed peanut butter cups also work well here.)
Related: How to Make Twix Bars at Home
Put them in your lunch box: Remember when you were younger, and the weeks after Halloween were the best because you got to eat a few candies every day at lunch? Channel your inner child and throw a few little treats into your lunch box for lunch dessert.
Related: Homemade Tootsie Rolls
Halloween candy granola. (Photo: Food52)
Fold it into your granola: Bake your favorite granola recipe, then stir in Hershey’s kisses, chopped peanut butter cups (or mini ones), or any other melty chocolate candy while it’s still warm. It will melt and then firm up once your granola cools. Voilá! Now you get to eat candy for breakfast and call it cereal.
Freeze them for later: Candy can freeze surprisingly well, so you can save some of your Halloween spoils so they don’t, well, spoil. And if you’ve never tried a frozen Twix, Snickers, or peanut butter cup, you’re in for an amazing treat.
By Hollis Miller.
