Monday, November 03, 2008

Ideas For Using Up All That Halloween Candy

Is your home overflowing with lots of little candy bars and sugary goodness right now? If you're anything like me, having all of those little goodies around makes it too hard to resist eating just a few, or a dozen. So why not save some money and calories by putting that candy to good use in other ways?

Here are just a few ideas:

  1. Little Hershey bars can be melted for fondue, chopped for chocolate chip cookies (freeze the dough for a time when all of the other treats are gone), or shaved to decorate other baked treats.
  2. Many of the chocolate candies can be chopped and stored in individual baggies for topping ice cream, in homemade blizzard-type drinks, or for parfaits or other desserts. If you store all of the chopped candies in freezer bags, it will stay good for a long time.
  3. Pick some of your favorites and hide them in the back of the freezer. Snickers, 3 Musketeers, and Milky Ways were some of our freezer favorites when I was a kid. My dad always claimed his portion of 3 Musketeers for the freezer right away.
  4. Freeze some of the gummy-type candies to use for Christmas cookie/gingerbread house decorations.
  5. Do a quick search for recipes to use up some of your candy. There are tons of ideas out there. Here's one to get you started.
Championship Cookies
  • 2/3 c. butter or margarine
  • 1 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 1 1/2 c. flour
  • 1 t. baking powder
  • 1 t. baking soda
  • 1/2 t. cinnamon
  • 1/4 t. salt
  • 8 miniature Snickers bars, or 3 regular sized bars
  • 1/2 c. quick-cooking oats
1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter or margarine with brown sugar. Stir in egg and vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add to the mixing bowl, until all combined. By hand, stir in the Snickers and oats.
3. Drop by tablespoon onto a greased or lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.

**This dough freezes just fine and the cookies can be baked without thawing the dough first.

Tammy's Recipes has lots more kitchen tips.

There are more frugal tips at Tightwad Tuesday.

Also, don't forget to stop in at Blessed With Grace for more recipes to tempt your tummy.

14 comments:

Sherry @ Lamp Unto My Feet 10:47 PM  

YUMMY! Thanks for the great ideas for leftover candy. :D The cookies sound delish!

Anonymous,  11:19 PM  

Those are great ideas! I always save the chocolate for "blizzards." Perfect for date night!

We got home so late from our road trip that we didn't hand out ANY of our three bags of Butterfingers...

Deanna 12:11 AM  

I bought a bag of dark chocolate Snicker bars. I hope my boys don't kill me when I chop them up for these cookies!

Anonymous,  7:32 AM  

Thanks for the recipe. We don't celebrate Halloween, but at least I can buy some snickers bars and make the cookies later. I'll just have to make sure that I hide the candy bars from dh! :-)

Anonymous,  7:54 AM  

Wow the cookies sound very yummy! I plan to try them soon.

CC 9:33 AM  

Love the ideas BUT my kids came home with almost all lollipops and other candies I don't like. :( I brought most of them into work to get rid of. Wish there was more chocolate so I could do your ideas!

Lynn 9:39 AM  

Those cookies sound great!

Live.Love.Eat 10:52 AM  

Awesome ideas. I especially love the freezing of the candies. Thanks for sharing! Happy TMTT!!!!

Lisa 7:10 PM  

Great ideas, unfortunately with 2 parents and 5 kids, leftover candy isn't available in our house!

Lisa@BlessedwithGrace 8:42 PM  

Thanks for all the great tips for the candy. That all makes sense, but I know I didn't think about it. I just look at the candy, and end up eating it.
The cookie recipe sounds wonderful. I am sad that I don't already have some snickers here!!
Thank you for participating in TMTT.

Lora @ my blessed life 10:13 PM  

Yes, I am looking for ways to use up the over-abundance of candy that we've got--thanks for these great ideas!

A happy heart at home 6:08 AM  

There wouldn't be any leftover chocolate in this house LOL!

My husband likes 3 Musketeers, too.

~Susan

Anonymous,  8:21 AM  

No Halloween for us but the sales on the candy just afterwards Is GREAT ! So for what ever wasn't gotten can be bought'n for a GOOD price. [0; I love the idea of the gummy candies for gingerbread cookies ! I am going to have to look into getting some sales this week. [0=

Blessings in Him<><
-Mary

Bethany Moran 4:06 PM  

I buy as many kisses as I can & sort them out. Red&Silver=
Christmas; gold=snacks (or Thanksgiving, but I doubt they last that long. After Christmas kisses can be sorted into: Silver=New Years; Red=Valentine's' Green=St Patricks
(Hope I did this right, I'm a big ol' newbie to this process!)

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