Who doesn’t love a gooey, caramel-y Snickers or peanut butter filled Reese’s Cup on Halloween night?! We all do! But, what’s even better is taking some of your favorite Halloween treats, chopping them up and tossing into these Leftover Halloween Candy Cookies for a decadent dessert. I love making these yummy cookies; they’re the perfect way to use extra halloween candy!
Back by popular demand! Last year, I tested a new version of this recipe and you all let me know (loud and clear) that you missed the original recipe. So I went back to the kitchen with the original recipe, took some notes…and you were right. They’re soft, chewy cookies, and still the best way to use up that candy bowl. The original recipe is back in the recipe card (right where it belongs🎃).
Need a recipe for Halloween Candy Cookies?
Don’t get me wrong, I love Halloween. It’s so fun to dress up and I have fond memories of trick-or-treating with my sisters and neighborhood friends growing up. But in all reality, the sheer amount of candy left in the house on November 1st seems absurd.
When you find yourself with an abundance of candy after the Halloween festivities, the best way to put it to good use is by transforming it into delectable leftover candy cookies. Now, I haven’t tested these with candy corn as I’m a chocolate candy lover, but if you do, tell me below in the comments! Candy Corn worked great in these Candy Corn Rice Krispies, so I think it’d be delicious.
Whether you’ve got kids around whose candy sacks are way fuller than they’ll ever need or you were passing out candy and had less trick-or-treaters than expected, this recipe is a great way to use a ton of candy!
These Leftover Halloween Candy Cookies have a base similar to a classic chocolate chip cookie – chewy, buttery, and soft! Once you’ve got your smooth cookie dough, chop up pieces of your favorite candy bars and enjoy those Halloween goodies in a whole new way.
And if you’re a cookie monster, also try these Kit Kat Cookies, these Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies, or these No Bake Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies that I’m sure you’ll love, too!
Recipe Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour – The base of these soft, chewy cookies.
- Cornstarch – My secret cookie ingredient! It keeps the centers soft and tender.
- Sugar – Mostly brown sugar, for that chewy, caramel-y flavor.
- Butter – Plays a critical role in the cookie structure. Room temperature!
- Eggs + Vanilla – for richness and structure.
- Leftover Halloween Candy – Use whatever chocolate/nutty or cookie candy you’ve got. Skip the gummy, fruity, or sour ones.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Tips for Soft & Chewy Candy Bar Cookies
Tips I noted while testing
- Soften Butter. Room Temperature butter should hold a fingerprint when pressed, without being melty. It creams with the sugar until light and fluffy. Because I wanted these cookies to work with an electric hand mixer and mixing bowl, the butter must be perfectly softened. Take it out of the refrigerator a few hours before using, or set in a warm, sunny windowsill for a bit.
- No stand mixer needed. I love my Cordless Electric Hand Mixer and am always trying to use it for recipes instead of dirtying the other one.
- Do not overbake. Pull them from the oven when the edges are golden brown. The middles will still be slightly soft but will finish cooking as they cool.
- Bake with Parchment Paper and on the middle rack. For even heat and for ease of baking another batch.
- Scoot for perfectly round cookies. Right out of the oven, place a round cookie cutter, glass cup (or small glass bowl that is just slightly bigger than the cookie), over each cookie and swirl it in small circles. It nudges the edges into a perfect, bakery-style round while the cookies are still soft.
Best type of candy to use
Although these Halloween Candy Cookies are meant to be “throw in whatever you’ve got”, I do advise against sour or fruit candies like Jolly Ranchers, Starbursts, Skittles, Swedish Fish, gummy bears, etc. Those candies are better in what I like to call a Candy Salad: toss them all together and eat by the handful.
These cookies go best with chocolatey, nutty candies such as Reese’s, Hershey’s, Kit Kats, Mounds, Almond Joys, Snickers, Milky Way, Rolos. Tweak to your liking and what you have left from Halloween.
Fun Idea
Make this recipe into cookie bars. Press the dough into a 9×13 baking pan and bake for 22-30 minutes at 350°F until the edges are golden and the center is almost baked. Press the toppings into the top of the dough before baking.
Recipe FAQs
If you’re using caramel candies (Snickers, Milkway, PayDays), pop the candy in the freezer for 15 minutes so they cut cleaner instead of smearing. Quarter fun-sized bars and chop full-sized bars into pieces. I leave M&Ms and Reese’s Pieces whole.
Yes! Scoop the dough balls onto a baking sheet and freeze for 1–2 hours. Once firm, transfer them to a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen, adding 1–2 extra minutes.I suggest adding parchment between layers to avoid cookies from sticking to one another.
Have you made these cookies and still have more candy? Here are a few other ideas of what you can do with extra trick-or-treating candy:
– Donate it – Treats for Troops and Operation Gratitude are both programs that will donate your candy to soldiers and first responders.
– Make it into an Advent calendar
– Or on the theme of Christmas, save it to decorate your gingerbread house with
– Use chopped up on these Apple Nachos
– Freeze it. Yes, packaged candy in its wrapper can sit in the freezer for months!
– Add on top of ice cream or yogurt, just like at your favorite fro-yo place.
other recipes that are perfect for Halloween…
More Recipes You’ll Love
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating and comment in the recipe card below. Thanks for visiting!
Leftover Halloween Candy Cookies
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- electric hand mixer
- Measuring cups and spoons
- 1.5 tbsp cookie scooper
- knife & cutting board
- Baking sheet
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup cane sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened, room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp of salt
- 1 ½ cups leftover Halloween candy, chopped, plus more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar and cane sugar with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. Beat until well combined, about 4–6 minutes. The mixture will look like damp sand and hold together when pinched
- Add the eggs and vanilla and beat again until smooth.
- Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Mix on medium speed until the flour is incorporated. Use a rubber spatula to ensure all flour is mixed. Dough will be crumbly until a rubber spatula presses it together.
- Fold in the chopped candy with a rubber spatula.
- Use a medium cookie scoop (heaping 1.5 tbsp) to portion the dough onto the baking sheet. Recipe makes 24 cookies so 12 on each sheet. Gently press a few extra candy pieces into the top of each one.
- Bake on the middle rack for 11-13 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Be careful not to overbake. Note: middles may look slightly underdone and they will slightly spread in the oven. They will continue to bake as they cool.
- Cookie-scooting trick. After removing the cookies from the oven, they will have lost their shape. Swirl a small glass bowl (or round cookie cutter/glass) around each cookie to shape it into a perfect circle. Give the swirl a shake while doing so to get bakery style cookies and better form.
- Visually, here is what the cookies will look like when you remove from the oven vs. after cookie-scooting.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring the parchment paper with all the cookies to a wire rack, allowing them to cool until centers firm. Repeat baking instructions for the second batch of cookies. Optional: press extra candy into the tops while they're still warm.
Nutrition
Notes
Looking for this in MyFitnessPal?
If you’re using MyFitnessPal, search ‘A Paige Of Positivity’ and find LEFTOVER HALLOWEEN CANDY COOKIES calories and nutrition facts. Disclaimer: for most accurate macronutrients and caloric breakdown, it is recommended that you input each ingredient into your MyFitnessPal food diary.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. It’s my passion to create dishes that can be shared with others. Tell me something you loved or just say hi!
These are absolutely INSANE cookies! I loved using reese’s and kit kats. so so good!
I included snickers in mine and the way the caramel filling oozed into the cookie was life changing. The crunch of the peanuts in them too, YUM
My kiddos (and I!) loved these cookies. So easy to prep and bake. My littles ages 4 and 6 loved chopping up their leftover Halloween candy to put in the mix. Will definitely make this one again!
Made this recipe for a football watch party and it was a hit! Everyone loved the cookies!
Hi Kim, thank you for calling that out. It should be 1 tsp. The recipe card has been updated to reflect this.
Thanks the cookies were delicious.
super tasty! We had a ton of halloween candy so this was the perfect recipe
omg courtney brought these to pilates and they were INSANE. 10/10 recommend
Perfect to make with all our extra candy!! We love doing m&ms, KitKats, and snickers!
Looks like a great recipe! Has anyone tried freezing the dough and defrosting to bake later?
Love to hear it! Prep like you’re about to bake, but then freeze the dough balls on the baking sheet for 1-2 hours. Then transfer to the freezer bag (this prevents them from sticking together). Hope this helps!
LOVE
I followed the recipe exactly, and my cookies turned out to be very crunchy and hard on the outside, but not fully cooked in the inside as they did not spread at all.
Hey Cass! Ahh, bummer to hear that. It sounds like it could be because of the oven? Always bake on the middle shelf to avoid a hard/crunchy cookie.
The cookie won’t be completely cooked once removed, but will firm as it cools. Happy to help troubleshoot!
my kids and I made these after school today. They turned out so soft and delicious. Will save this recipe again for next year!
Unfortunately this recipe was terrible for me. Followed it to a T but the dough was dry and crumbly, and all of the bottoms of my cookies burned while the tops were slightly under
So sorry to hear that, Theresa! It sounds like there could be a few errors for the dough being dry. If you used different mix-ins than I did, sometimes drier candies can soak up more moisture, so adding 1–2 teaspoons of milk can help pull the dough together. That’s often caused by the baking sheet or oven running hot. A dark baking sheet can brown the bottoms faster, and some ovens run 15–25°F hotter. Try lining the pan with parchment and baking on the center rack to help with even heat. You can also reduce the bake time by 1–2 minutes or drop the oven temp by 25°F. Hope these suggestions help in the future!
I just made these exclusively with milky ways as my husband and I don’t eat those but WOW they are amazing! I didn’t end up topping with the last half cup of candy because I thought it had plenty. I shaped them into tall domes and they turned out incredible
LOVE to hear this!
This recipe is so good! I know someone who does not usually like cookies, and she loved these ones! These cookies were very easy to make, especially because you need to use cold butter, so I did not need to take extra time for the butter to melt.
Overall, this is a great recipe and a good way to use up the abundance of candy you receive on Halloween. This recipe makes amazing cookies!
These cookies are amazing!! Aside from the candy, the base cookie was crunchy on the outside and doughy on the inside; my favorite type of cookie!!
Beware, I did make these prior to Halloween, so I did not yet have any “leftover” Halloween candy. I subbed the leftover candy for fresh candy I bought from the store and they were still delicious!
Wish I could give these higher than a 5!! The best dough with a fun surprising candy bite. Must make! And so easy!
Save your Halloween candy to make these!! 🎃 The cookie base for these are sooo good & then add in the Halloween candy?! Next level! Ready for another batch!