What to Do with Leftover Halloween Candy

Halloween has come and gone and with its absence, we are left with an absolute ton of candy.  Between four hours of trick-or-treating and what we had leftover for our own trick-or-treaters, our sugar cup runneth over.  And I do mean runneth over.  So now what?  You and I both know if it stays in the house, it will get eaten.  Whether or not it’s your most favoritest candy e-v-e-r.  Because that’s just the way life is.  I didn’t have breakfast today.  But I did have a Butterfinger.  True story.  Not by design.  It’s that kind of day.  Clean eating freak or not.  But I’m here to help.  You.  And you.  And you.  Oh and me too.

1. Halloween Candy Buy Back.  Love this program.  Go on and punch in your zip code and you’ll find a local dentist who will buy your candy from you at $1 per pound.  How ya like them apples?  Or Kit-Kats?  And then they’ll send them to the fine men and women in our armed forces who are candy deprived.  So you’re helping yourself, your kids, your dentist and the troops.  Win, win, winners all around.
2. Call your local food pantry.  Ours is taking Halloween candy.  Is yours?
3.  If you happen to be in our local area, there is a toy store that is buying back candy for $1/pound also, and it will be turned into store credit (think holiday shopping!).  Smart marketing move on their part.  They’re taking the candy to the local food pantry and sending it overseas as well.
4. Use your favorite candy bits and mix it in with your ice cream like they do at those overpriced ice cream shops.
5. And lastly, cook or bake with it!  Easy suggestions would, of course, be to chop up some of your favorite candies and add them into your cookie or brownie batter, but there are tons of other recipes to make too, and I’ll share one I made yesterday.

I found this recipe for Halloween Peanut Butter and Toffee Candy Bark in the October issue of Bon Appetit magazine, and ripped it out when I saw it, because I thought it would be perfect for our pre-trick-or-treating Halloween party.  Ridiculously simple to make and a deliciously awesome way to use up some of your Halloween stash.

Even though I fully admit to shaking down my own children for their Butterfingers and SweetTarts, I also don’t have much of a sweet tooth (and by the way, there was a surprising lack of Butterfingers and SweetTarts).  Just a few things here and there, and nothing that I go out to actively satisfy.  That being said, this candy bark is not something to keep in the house.  Because besides being delicious, it’s addictive.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  I had two small pieces, sent a bunch home with our party peeps and the rest is going into the office tomorrow morning.  So much safer that way.

Project 365
November 1, 2010, Photo #201

When Nick woke up this morning, he remembered that the Halloween Fairy was coming and ran downstairs to see what she left.  After he checked it out, he asked me if she was real.  I didn’t answer right away, to see what else was coming, and he said a friend told him that sometimes after Moms are done with their work at night, after the kids are sleeping, they leave out the stuff, and there really isn’t a Halloween Fairy.  Can I just say how much I hate that?  It made me sad, because I am all for kids believing in a little bit of magic, that magical things are possible.  Of course, eventually they will really catch on and the jig will be up, but until then, I’m all for a wee bit of innocence.  I didn’t refute his friends’ story but I just said that everyone believes something different, and it was up to him to decide what to believe in.  And hey, if you know my kid, who still believes in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, don’t tell him otherwise.  He’ll grow up soon enough.  I promise to not let it go so long that kids make fun of him.  But he’s 8.  He’ll be there soon enough, and until then, we believe.

Halloween Peanut Butter and Toffee Candy Bark
Recipe courtesy of Bon Appetit magazine, October 2010

Ingredients

1 pound bittersweet chocolate chips
3 2.1-ounce Butterfinger candy bars, cut into irregular 1-inch pieces
3 1.4-ounce Skor or Heath toffee candy bars, cut into irregular 3/4-inch pieces
8 0.55-ounce peanut butter cups, each cut into 8 wedges
1/4 cup honey-roasted peanuts
3 ounces high-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Perugina), chopped
Reese’s Pieces and/or yellow and orange peanut M&M’s

Directions

Line baking sheet with foil. Stir chocolate chips in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted and warm (not hot) to touch. Pour chocolate onto foil; spread to 1/4-inch thickness (about 12×10-inch rectangle). Sprinkle with Butterfinger candy, toffee, peanut butter cups, and nuts, making sure all pieces touch melted chocolate to adhere.

Put white chocolate in heavy small saucepan. Stir constantly over very low heat until chocolate is melted and warm (not hot) to touch. Remove from heat. Dip spoon into chocolate; wave from side to side over bark, creating zigzag lines. Scatter Reese’s Pieces and M&M’s over, making sure candy touches melted chocolate.

Chill bark until firm, 30 minutes. Slide foil with candy onto work surface; peel off foil. Cut bark into irregular piece.  Chill it in an airtight container and let it stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.  Makes about two pounds.