These Halloween candy cookies are the perfect way to use up some of your leftover trick or treating candy. Halloween is my favorite holiday and some of my best rated recipes are cookie recipes, it seemed only natural to develop a halloween candy cookie.
Using my culinary program training, this recipe was tested 6 times before I perfected this cookie recipe. These cookies are not only delicious but can easily be customized to your preference.
Why you'll love these leftover Halloween candy cookies
Leftover Halloween candy cookies are a delightful way to repurpose those extra sweet treats into a delicious dessert. Here's why people love them:
- Nostalgia: The cookies evoke childhood memories of Halloween and trick-or-treating.
- Unexpected Flavor Combinations: The random assortment of candies creates exciting and unpredictable taste experiences.
- Easy and Fun: These cookies are simple to make, making them a fun activity for kids and adults alike.
- Less Waste: Instead of letting candy go to waste, this recipe transforms it into a delicious treat.
- Customization: You can tailor the cookies to your specific candy preferences, making them a personalized dessert.
- Perfect for Sharing: These cookies are great for parties, potlucks, or simply sharing with friends and family.
Ingredients needed for these leftover candy cookies
- Salted butter
- Cold water
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Large egg
- Pure vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Baking Powder
- Kosher salt
- Reese's peanut butter cups
- Snickers
- M&M's
Instructions for these extra halloween candy cookies
Start by browning your butter, place the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and allow to melt down and brown. This will take about 10 minutes. Once browned remove from heat and allow to cool.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place browned butter and little bits from the pan into a stand mixer along with the brown and granulated sugar. Beat to combine then add egg and vanilla beating to combine. Add your flour, cold water, pudding mix, baking soda, corn starch, salt. Continue mixing with the mixer until combined.
Fold in the Reese's, snickers and m&'m's until just combined.
Scoop the cookies onto your prepared baking sheet and place them in the refrigerator to cool for 1 hour. I like to add some extra chopped candies to the tops of the cookies for extra color.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.
Variations and substitutions
The best part about these cookies is you can add whatever different kinds of candy you want. You can swap our the snickers for milky ways, you can swap the reese's cups for kit kats, Swap the m& m's for heath bars.
Cookie Base Tweaks:
- Gluten-Free: Use a gluten-free flour blend to accommodate dietary restrictions.
- Nut Butter Base: For a protein-packed twist, consider a peanut butter or almond butter cookie dough base.
Candy Substitutions:
- Dried Fruit: Replace some of the candy with dried fruits like cranberries, raisins, or apricots for a healthier option.
- Nuts and Seeds: Add chopped nuts or seeds like almonds, walnuts, or chia seeds for extra texture and protein.
- Baking Chips: Consider white chocolate chips, toffee chips, or butterscotch chips for a different flavor profile.
Cookie Variations:
- Monster Cookie Madness: Add oats, coconut flakes, and dried fruit for a classic monster cookie twist.
- Cookie Bars: Press the cookie dough into a baking pan for a gooey and chewy treat.
- Icebox Cookies: Shape the cookie dough into logs, freeze, and slice before baking for a fun and easy option.
Storage
unbaked cookie dough storage
I'm a big fan of making a big batch of cookie dough and freezing the bulk of the dough in order to have fresh baked cookies whenever I want. This is my process for freezing cookie dough:
- Using your ice cream scoop, scoop out your cookie dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet in a single layer
- Chill the scooped cookie dough balls in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Remove the cookie dough from the freezer and place the cold cookie dough balls into a freezer safe zip-top bag.
- Place the freeze cookie dough for up to 2 months.
- When it’s time to bake the cookies, bake them for two minutes longer since the dough is frozen.
baked cookie storage
To store your baked halloween cookies, place them in an airtight container. They will keep at room temperature for upto 3 days.
Tips
- Use fresh and good quality ingredients.
- When browning your butter, watch it carefully. It will go from brown to burnt in seconds.
- Be sure to allow the browned butter to cool, otherwise it'll melt the chocolate candy and sugar in your dough.
- Measure the flour correctly. If you pack in too much flour, these cookies will puff up and be dry, rather than soft and chewy. Spoon flour into the measuring cup and level with the back of a butter knife.
- For the perfectly round cookie, the minute the cookies come out of oven, use the largest biscuit cutter you have or the opening of large round cup if the cookies are too big (anything round and wider than your cookies) Place the biscuit cutter over the cookies on the hot cookie sheet and move your hand in a circular motion for about 10 seconds.
Check out these other cookie recipes
Halloween Candy Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup stick salted butter
- 2 tablespoons of cold water
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup chopped Reese's
- ½ cup chopped snickers
- ½ cup m&m's
Instructions
- Start by browning your butter, place the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and allow to melt down and brown. This will take about 10 minutes. Once browned remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place browned butter and little bits from the pan into a stand mixer along with the brown and granulated sugar. Beat to combine then add egg and vanilla beating to combine.
- Add your flour, cold water, pudding mix, baking soda, corn starch, salt. Continue mixing with the mixer until combined.
- Fold in the Reese's, snickers and m&'m's until just combined.
- Scoop the cookies onto your prepared baking sheet and place them in the refrigerator to cool for 1 hour. I like to add some extra chopped candies to the tops of the cookies for extra color.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and move the cookies to a wire rack to allow them to cool down.
Notes
Variations and substitutions
The best part about these cookies is you can add whatever different kinds of candy you want. You can swap our the snickers for milky ways, you can swap the reese's cups for kit kats, Swap the m& m's for heath bars. Customize these cookies with your favorite leftover halloween candy combination.Storage
unbaked cookie dough storage
I'm a big fan of making a big batch of cookie dough and freezing the bulk of the dough in order to have fresh baked cookies whenever I want. This is my process for freezing cookie dough:- Using your ice cream scoop, scoop out your cookie dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet in a single layer
- Chill the scooped cookie dough balls in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Remove the cookie dough from the freezer and place the cold cookie dough balls into a freezer safe zip-top bag.
- Place the freeze cookie dough for up to 2 months.
- When it’s time to bake the cookies, bake them for two minutes longer since the dough is frozen.
baked cookie storage
To store your baked halloween cookies, place them in an airtight container. They will keep at room temperature for upto 3 days.Tips
- Use fresh and good quality ingredients.
- When browning your butter, watch it carefully. It will go from brown to burnt in seconds.
- Be sure to allow the browned butter to cool, otherwise it'll melt the chocolate candy and sugar in your dough.
- Measure the flour correctly. If you pack in too much flour, these cookies will puff up and be dry, rather than soft and chewy. Spoon flour into the measuring cup and level with the back of a butter knife.
- For the perfectly round cookie, the minute the cookies come out of oven, use the largest biscuit cutter you have or the opening of large round cup if the cookies are too big (anything round and wider than your cookies) Place the biscuit cutter over the cookies on the hot cookie sheet and move your hand in a circular motion for about 10 seconds.
Mary says
These were so good and easy