Halloween Candy Cookies

First, let me just say these candy cookies are life changing.

Who else always has a ton of leftover Halloween candy? If I don’t buy too much candy to hand out, then my kids bring home ridiculous amounts of candy that haunts us for weeks and sometimes months. Dentists say it’s better to OD on candy over a few days rather than every day for weeks or months at a time. Therefore I’m actually doing you a favor. This is the perfect way to get that candy out of your house. You’re welcome.

So along the lines of using up all of our leftover candy fast, we’re making candy cookies. It’s the only natural thing to do. And I have to point out, as a self-proclaimed chocolate snob, I was completely shocked that I LOVED the way these tasted. I grabbed the core cookie recipe from my Salted Dark Chocolate Tart Cherry Cookies and then added in three cups of chopped halloween candy. Done. I used peanut butter cups, 100 Grand bars (Didn’t these used to be $100,000 bars? Why the marketing shift? How did I miss this? And does it matter?), Snickers, Three Musketeers and Twix. This latter candy bar was one of my favorite candy bars to chop up and throw on top of brownies when we lived in Beijing. Because brownies need to be sweeter. Eye roll. And why Twix in China? I don’t have the answer. I have no idea. But it works. Try it.

Any who… Chop up the candy and throw it in the cookie dough. It’s that easy. The only special note for these candy cookies is that the caramel in some of the bars, with its high sugar content, will liquify and bleed out of your cookies making them a touch misshapen in spots. We can’t have that. As soon as they get out of the oven, nudge them back into shape with the edge of your spatula. If that won’t work and they won’t nudge back, let the cookies cool and then gently tear off the abscess.

We actually had a decent rain storm this past week. I know. Shocking. It woke me up at 1 a.m. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I recipe tested these until 6 a.m. By noon I was ready for bed. But I wanted to write this up before I called it a day. Thank god for the weekend.

Let’s bake candy cookies, betches!!!

Halloween Candy Cookies

Makes About 3 Dozen Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar (you can use dark, muscovado or light, your call), packed
• 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sunflower seed oil or other neutral oil*
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cup white whole-wheat flour**
• 1 cup bread flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 cups assorted Halloween candy bars, chopped (peanut butter cups, Snickers, Three Musketeers, 100 Grand Bars, Twix…)
• Sea salt flakes for the tops (optional)

*You can omit the oil and use an additional stick of butter (4 ounces)  in its place. It will change the taste and texture of the cookie a bit, but will still be delicious.

**I love white whole-wheat flour. It makes the cookies come out lighter than if you use regular whole wheat flour. However, if regular whole wheat is all you have, it is fine to use…just know the cookies will be denser than if you had used the other!

**One last quick note on flours. I have only tested with the flours listed above. I use these flours often in my cookie and baking recipes…so if you get them, I’ll have lots of recipes for you to use them with. I wouldn’t have you go to the trouble of using different flours if I didn’t think it was worth it. If you happen to make these cookies using other flours, would you please note your results in the comments below so others can see? Thank you so much!! xo

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Make sure you have a rack in the top third of your oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
2. In an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream your brown sugar, butter, oil and granulated sugar on medium speed until fully incorporated. Add the eggs + vanilla and mix on medium until everything is well blended.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together whole wheat flour, bread flour, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt.
4. Dump the flour mixture into the electric stand mixer and mix on low until the cookie dough is barely blended. You still want to see streaks of flour. Take the bowl out of your stand mixer and fold in the Halloween candy until just mixed.  (Side Note: You can put the dough, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, in the fridge for several days at this point, if you want to make the cookies another day. Additionally, you could also roll the dough into balls, freeze in a single layer on a cookie sheet and then shove them in a resealable plastic bag and put back in the freezer to have cookies on-demand…just add a minute or two to the bake time.)
5. Roll into balls of about 2 tablespoons each and allow about 2 inches of space between the dough balls. I like to freeze the dough balls for about 10 minutes prior to baking…this step is optional, but I like how it helps the cookie maintain their shape whilst baking (I don’t like super flat cookies).
6. Bake the cookies in the top third of the oven for about 12 minutes. Fresh out of the oven, sprinkle with the sea salt flakes.  Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes post baking and then move to a cooling rack to finish cooling down.
7. You’re done. They’re a revelation, am I right?
8. Be sure to tag me @displacedhousewife #displacedhousewife so I can see your cookies!!

On My Mind

• I use white whole-wheat flour and bread flour a TON in my cookie recipes…and pancakes and waffles… Please please PLEASE buy some. You’ll be so glad that you did.
• I reshot the photos for my Smoked Salt Chocolate Rye Cookies…they’re amazing. The cookies, that is. And the photos are an improvement. Go take a looksie.
• Stella and I made my Apple Spice Cake for @thefeedfeed’s Instagram Stories. You can watch it here. This one’s a quickie.
• This is an interesting read.
• More Fall Recipes: Brown Butter Pumpkin Donuts, Apple Cinnamon Muffins, Slow Cooker Spiced Apple Cider, Spiced Apple Cake, Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Petite Pumpkin Scones, Pecan + Tart Cherry Granola, Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies (one of my favorites!), Fresh Fig + Pecan Fall Salad, Thai Thai Scones and Breakfast Crack Cookies, Maple Oat Scones, Harissa Steak Chili, Pumpkin Gnocchi and Dark Chocolate + Espresso Babka.
• Sending lots of love + peace.

–Rebecca xo