Put That Leftover Halloween Candy to Good Use!

These Halloween candy cookie bars make all that trick-or-treating worth it.

We’ve all been there — our kids (or maybe us — no judgment!) go trick-or-treating on Halloween night and come back with a huge haul of Snickers, Milky Ways, Reese’s, you name it. That’s obviously too much candy for one child (or maybe even adult!) to eat at one time, so what ends up happening? Either the candy slowly gets picked off over the following weeks until everybody’s sick of sugar, or it gets dumped in the trash.

Allow me to present another option. I’m not a big candy lover, but I do love keeping food out of the wastebasket. A shocking 40% of food in America is wasted, with waste at the household level being the biggest culprit. Now, I’m not saying that Halloween candy is the most nutritious food source, but why throw it away if you don’t have to? When you throw away food, even candy, you’re also throwing away the labor and energy that went into producing that food.

That’s why I always try to eat my leftovers and, when all else fails, repurpose that food into something more interesting. In this case, that ‘something more interesting’ is a delicious, buttery, chewy, satisfying cookie bar that presents Halloween candy in a new way. Make these bars for parties, bake sales, potlucks, or even as Thanksgiving treats. Even though Halloween candy is the star of the show, elevating candy in a cookie bar keeps this treat from being too seasonal.

Plus, this baked good is sure to impress. With these Halloween Candy Cookie Bars, you can sample all your favorite candies in one delicious bite!

Recipe: Viggy’s Halloween Candy Cookie Bars

INGREDIENTS

1 cup white sugar

1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups flour

2 cups assorted candy, chopped (I used Reese’s, Crunch bars, Butterfingers, and Kit Kats!)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and butter a 9x9" square pan (I like this one from PerfectSlice — it allows me to cut perfect squares once these come out of the oven so that I can get a better handle on portion size).

2. In a large bowl, mix white sugar, brown sugar, and melted butter and whisk until the mix turns lighter (about 8 minutes or so).

3. Mix in the eggs and vanilla, then salt and flour until completely blended.

4. Mix in the chopped candy.

5. Bake for 45–50 minutes at 350F.

6. Let cool, then cut and serve! (Note: If you’re using the PerfectSlice pan, you can get precise portions like mine by cutting along every third line for nine perfect 3x3" squares! If you want something a little smaller, cut each square along the diagonal for beautiful triangles.)

Variations

As you can imagine, this recipe has tons of variations. Not a fan of Crunch Bars? Swap in some Snickers. Only have Reese’s on hand? Those will work perfectly! Here are a few other variations you might want to try:

• Nutty Candy Bars: Use Reese’s, Butterfinger, and PayDay candy bars, along with chopped, roasted peanuts.
• Coconut Paradise Bars: Use Mounds and Almond Joy candy bars, along with some sweetened shredded coconut and maybe even some sliced almonds.
• I Love Nougat Bars: Try adding Snickers, Three Musketeers, Milky Ways, and Twix to the mix.

Did you make these bars? I’d love to know how it went!