How to Use Your Leftover Tootsie Rolls After Halloween

Few kids are excited to be handed Tootsie Rolls on Halloween.

Those who give them out run the risk of being thought of as cheap or unimaginative or both. Compared to, say, a Snickers or a Butterfinger, the Tootsie Roll can seem bland and boring. Perhaps it’s the wrapper—which doesn’t appear to have been updated since the candy’s invention in 1907—that gives this impression. Or maybe it’s the fact that Tootsie Rolls are usually sold in bulk, which might create a sense of worthlessness. Perhaps it’s just because they look like small turds.

Whatever the reasons are, Tootsie rolls certainly aren’t well liked, and can often linger at the bottom of a Halloween candy bowl weeks after the holiday has transpired and all the more desirable candy has been eaten.

But Tootsie Rolls are in fact delicious—what’s not to like about a bite-sized, taffy-textured chocolate candy?—and should not be overlooked. If you have ever experienced a post-Halloween Tootsie Roll glut and don’t know what to do with the leftover sweets, there are a number of fun and easy ideas for ways you can make the most of the iconic candy.

WATCH: How to Make Instant Pot Tootsie Rolls

For example, you can melt down your Tootsie Rolls, spread them onto a pan and let them cool into a fudge, adding whatever other ingredients you’d like, including nuts and perhaps another candy such as M&M’s or Goobers. It’s likely that whomever you’re serving the fudge to won’t notice that it’s made from Tootsie Rolls, and if they do, they will probably be pleasantly surprised. (One of the early marketing slogans associated with Tootsie Rolls was that they “melt in the mouth” but “never in the case,” though they do melt over a flame.)

Alternatively, melted Tootsie Rolls can also be included in a cheesecake, added to the cream cheese mixture that makes up the dessert. Or you could simply slather some of the melted stuff onto a graham cracker and create a little Tootsie Roll sandwich.

You can use your imagination. Perhaps a Tootsie Roll could simply adorn the top of a cookie, creating a textured bite. You could dip Tootsie Rolls in batter and deep-fry them. You could dip them in caramel, too.

There are many possibilities, and as Halloween approaches, you would do well to keep them in mind. That is, if you don’t like throwing away uneaten candy in November.

And, if all else fails, you can always just eat your leftover Tootsie Rolls on their own. They’re good that way, too. No matter what the kids say.