If you’re stuck with a ton of candy after Halloween and don’t know what to do with it, then I have you covered! Check out this easy and fun leftover Halloween candy cookies recipe!
Whatever kind of candy you have leftover from the holiday will work just fine. It’s a great way to use it up, and do something fun with all the leftover holiday candy. Plus, my favorite part about this recipe is you can just keep the dough in the freezer, and then pull out a few cookie dough balls when you are craving them to cook!
I am always craving some yummy cookies so it is ideal for me to always have cookie dough on hand! Keep on reading below for the full recipe card and see just how easy these delicious leftover candy cookies are to make!
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What Kind Of Candy Works Best For This Recipe?
Really the sky is the limit when it comes to candy for this recipe. Whatever your favorite leftover Halloween candy is, that will do just fine! You’re just going to chop everything up into pieces anyway so anything goes with this recipe.
Like I said above, it’s just a great way to get rid of a bunch of leftover candy you have laying around. But basically, any of the mini chocolate bars such as Milky Way, Kit Kats, Almond Joys, Reese’s peanut butter cups, etc. will do!
I did a mixture of Reese’s, Kit Kats, Hershey’s Cookies and Cream mini bars, and peanut M&M’s for my cookies since that is what I had on hand and they are all my favorite candies for the season! So whatever type of candy you prefer will be perfect for this cookie recipe.
Ingredients Needed For Leftover Halloween Candy Cookies
- 1 cup of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2–1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups of leftover Halloween candy- chopped into little bite sized candy pieces.
How To Make Halloween Cookies
First, sift all the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) into a large bowl and set aside. Then, in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugars together until smooth.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract until combined at medium speed. Slowly, add in the flour mixture at low speed and mix well. Then, add in all your chopped candy.
You can mix it in by hand if you don’t want your pieces to get chopped up more by the electric mixer, but I just used the mixer on low speed to do this. The dough is quite thick so this seems to be a little easier.
Now, using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out cookie dough balls. Place the dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Once you’re done, you can press more candy pieces into the top of the cookies too if desired.
Place cookie dough in freezer for at least 30 minutes before baking. If you want to make the cookies sooner, you could place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes instead of the freezer too.
How to Bake Leftover Halloween Candy Cookies
Now, you have the choice here to keep your dough in the freezer for later, or go ahead and bake them now. If you want to just make a batch of these cookies now and freeze the rest for later, that’s always ideal too!
After the cookie dough balls have been in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, you can place them into a freezer bag to continue to keep them frozen. But, to bake them, simply preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Then, place cookie dough balls a few inches apart on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake cookies for about 12-14 minutes or until they reach a nice golden brown color. Baking time varies depending on your oven and whether or not the cookie dough is frozen.
If you just refrigerated the dough instead of freezing before baking, I would try baking them at 9-11 minutes first so you don’t over bake them. Cool the cookies on baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy Your Candy Bar Cookies!
Now that you have these baked cookies all ready to go, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did! These are definitely a huge step up from the traditional chocolate chip cookie.
These cookies would also be perfect for a Halloween party too! Just chop up pieces of your favorite candy bars, and you have some tasty treats that are perfect for Halloween!
To store baked cookies, just place them in an airtight container for up to 5 days. I just love this time of the year because I love seasonal desserts like this! So this recipe is right up my alley! And if you’re looking for more just like it, check out my iced Halloween sugar cookies I made last year too!
You could even do this again with leftover Christmas candy as well when the time comes. How fun would that be?! Well, if you make these delicious cookies, let me know what you think about them. And I hope you all have a Happy Halloween my friends!
Leftover Halloween Candy Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups leftover Halloween candy chopped into bite sized pieces
Instructions
- In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) and set aside.
- In an electric mixer combine the butters and sugars together. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and mix well.
- Slowly, add in the flour mixture at medium speed until completely combined.
- Then, mix in your candy pieces.
- On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, roll out cookie dough balls about 2 tablespoons thick. You don't have to space them out, because we will be freezing the dough before baking.
- Once you have your cookie dough balls all on the cookie sheet, you can press more chopped up Halloween candy onto the top of the cookies if desired.
- Place cookie dough in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before baking.
- To bake cookies, place in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until cookies become golden brown.
- You can also keep leftover cookie dough in a freezer bag or freezer safe container for up to three months.
- Let bake cookies cool on baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to let them cool completely and enjoy!
- Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days as well.
Molly | Transatlantic Notes says
What a really great idea, and such a useful way to use up the candy that is left over. I love this!
Charity Gentry says
Thank you! It definitely is a great way to use up all the leftover candy!