What To Do With Leftover Halloween Candy And Why Target Is Dangerous

The bad news is that I bought WAY TOO MUCH Halloween candy. The good news is that I chopped it up and added it to blondies and brownies in the place of chocolate chips and nuts.

 

I will NEVER go to Target again to prepare for Halloween. They have the BEST candy, the most variety, and the prettiest, brightest colored bags all nestled close together. It’s impossible NOT to grab lots off the shelves. (Well, for me anyway.)

Of course, you can definitely freeze the leftovers. I've had perfectly good results freezing candy bars for a year. No, I wouldn’t hand that out to kids, but for MY kids when they come home, why not? But I had so much this year that I decided to use it in baking. It could go in just about any cookie, bar or brownie. (Not sugar cookies or shortbread, but chocolate chip cookie-type things.) In blondies, I used Snickers, Baby Ruth’s (my fav) and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (pumpkin shaped!!!). I considered them substitutes for both the nuts and the chips.  

In the brownies, I used White Chocolate Hershey’s Cookie ‘N Creme(sic) Bars (YUM!) and White Chocolate KitKats. (WHO KNEW?!!) I told you Target was amazing. 

 

Is there anything better than uncooked brownie batter?!! I don't think so. 

The brownies were big, gooey masses of yummiliciousness. That could have been because I didn't wait long enough for them to cool, which made them a bear to cut. The white chocolate candy bars became little molten bits within the brownie. It was definitely good that I lined my pan with waxed paper. (Parchment would have been fine too.)  

Chilling them for a while would have assisted in getting neat, nice brownie squares. And running a knife under hot water with each cut is always a god idea. It’s a pain, but it looks so much better. I think you can tell I didn’t chill the brownies or heat the knife, but I was going for the rustic look. ;-)  

               

I loved how the blondies turned out. They had toffee-esque bits all through them. The candy bar pieces didn't hold their shape like chocolate chips would, so they melted into the batter. And when they cooled, there were delightful sticky morsels in the middle of the butterscotch-type bar.

 

 

Enjoying Halloween candy twice is always a good thing, I think. Next year, though, I'll stay away from Target and buy it in the drugstore or supermarket…And the closer to Halloween the better, when (sorry, kids) all the good stuff is gone.