Sure, you can donate your leftover Halloween candy to hospitals, food pantries, churches and shelters. You could also send excess hard candy (chocolate melts in the desert) to troops based overseas. There are even some dentists and retailers who are buying kids’ Halloween loot. However, none of those ideas scream F-U-N to me the same way eating does.
When I was young I refused to part with any of my sugar stash. After all, I schlepped for three hours collecting all that junk, and by gosh, I was going to devour every last calorie… unless it started with Laffy and ended with Taffy.
These days I feel the same way about my daughter’s Halloween candy. Actually, I don’t want her to eat it all because I have more fun finding ways to add the free sweets to various desserts.
This year I am trying a bunch of recipes from Real Simple that feature popular Halloween candy. They really are easy to make. In fact, they are such a cinch to whip up your kids can probably make the following with very, very little help:
Twix Cheesecake: Beat two, 8-ounce bars of room temperature cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar and 2 large eggs. Chop up 16 chopped fun size Twix bars and fold into cream cheese mixture. Pour into an 8-inch chocolate cookie piecrust. Bake at 325 degrees until set (about 45 minutes). Allow to cool, and then sprinkle with 6 more chopped Twix bars. Refrigerate until firm.
Twizzler Popcorn: Cut 12 cherry or strawberry-flavored Twizzlers into 1-inch pieces. Combine with 4 cups caramel corn and 1 cup toasted pecan halves.
SweeTarts Shake: Blend 16 SweeTarts candies with one pint of softened strawberry ice cream and 3/4 cup milk until smooth. Pour shake into glasses and garnish with additional SweeTarts.