Halloween Candy Cookies

If you’re wondering what to do with your leftover Halloween candy, try making them into Halloween Candy Cookies! Mix and match your favorite candy with vanilla or chocolate dough for a delicious Halloween treat.

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Who else is excited for Halloween? We love this time of year, when the weather gets a little bit colder, pumpkins decorate everyone’s doorstep… and it’s socially acceptable to eat way too much candy. But isn’t it funny that no matter how much chocolate you manage to scarf down throughout the month of October, there’s somehow always a bunch of leftover Halloween candy come November?

If your Halloween is anything like ours (i.e. you bought a ton of candy and no trick-or-treaters showed up to your house), you might be left wondering what to do with all these leftover sweets! Look no further, because we have the perfect idea for you: turn them into Halloween candy cookies.

A closeup of various Halloween candy cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are our favorite dessert, so it seemed like a no-brainer to mix chopped up pieces of chocolate candy into cookie dough. Halloween candy cookies give you a unique way to continue eating all that leftover candy throughout the holiday season, after you’ve gotten sick of eating individually wrapped fun size chocolate bars for a month straight. The best part is, you can stick these cookies right in the freezer and enjoy them over the course of a few months!

Whether you’ve got Kit Kats, 3 Musketeers, M&M’s, Milky Way bars, Reese’s cups or any other chocolate candy, this leftover Halloween candy cookie recipe is the perfect way to use it all up. Get the whole family together on November 1st and make a batch for yourselves, or host a post-Halloween party and give them out to your friends. They’ll thank you for the delicious treat and the great idea for what to do with their own leftover Halloween candy!

Halloween Candy Cookies Recipe Ideas

We’re sharing 6 variations on this cookie recipe, made with our favorite leftover Halloween candy, that we hope will inspire you to invent your own delicious candy cookie concoction! Each cookie type uses either vanilla or chocolate dough as the base, chosen to complement the flavor profile of each type of candy. And just to make things extra sweet, we mixed in a few extra elements – chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, caramels – but these are totally optional.

It’s impossible to make a bad cookie when it involves Halloween candy… as long as it’s chocolate-based. (We wouldn’t recommend trying gummy worms or lollipops in your cookies). So we urge you to mix and match all your leftover Halloween chocolate candies however you like, using our cookie recipe as a guideline to get you started. No matter what combination you create, we promise it’ll be delicious!

A tray of various Halloween candy cookies

6 Ideas For Using Leftover Halloween Candy In Cookies

To inspire your leftover Halloween candy cookies, here are 6 delicious flavors we made using our vanilla and chocolate cookie dough base recipes:

  1. 3 Musketeers Cookies – Vanilla cookie dough, chopped 3 Musketeers candy bits
  2. Kit Kat Chocolate Chip Cookies – Chocolate cookie dough, chopped Kit Kat candy bits, white chocolate chips
  3. Vanilla Milky Way Cookies – Vanilla cookie dough, chopped Milky Way candy bits, baking caramels
  4. Chocolate Milky Way Cookies – Chocolate cookie dough, chopped Milky Way candy bits, baking caramels
  5. M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies – Vanilla cookie dough, M&M’s, white chocolate chips
  6. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies – Vanilla cookie dough, peanut butter, chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups, milk chocolate chips

Our vanilla cookie dough is simply the base recipe we use when making traditional chocolate chip cookies. The chocolate cookie dough is a modification of the vanilla dough that replaces some of the flour with cocoa powder for a rich chocolate flavor. Both dough recipes are perfectly chewy, soft, and oh-so gooey when they’re hot out of the oven!

Mix and match your leftover Halloween candy with either flavor of cookie dough to make whatever combinations your heart desires. With these two delicious cookie dough recipes as your base, you really can’t go wrong!

Two trays of Halloween candy cookies on a table

How To Make The Best Halloween Candy Cookies

To really take your leftover Halloween candy cookies up a notch, you can mix in additional flavors! Here are two different techniques we used to flavor our Milky Way cookies and our Reese’s peanut butter cup cookies:

  1. Stuffed caramel centers: For the two Milky Way cookies, you can easily add an extra burst of warm, gooey caramel at the center of the cookie. After folding the chopped candy into the dough, roll out the cookie dough balls as usual, then flatten them between your palms. Place a baking caramel in the center of each disk, then mold the dough around it and shape it back into a ball.
  2. Peanut butter flavor: Add a scoop of peanut butter to the vanilla cookie dough base for a hint of peanut butter flavor in your Reese’s cup cookies. You can either make the vanilla dough as-is, then stir in the peanut butter before folding in the chopped Reese’s cups and chocolate chips. Or, you can mix the peanut butter into the wet ingredients when making the vanilla dough.

As for the rest of our Halloween candy cookie creations (say that 10 times fast), we simply folded candy bits into the dough and called it a day. It’s that easy to make delicious leftover Halloween candy cookies! My favorite were the 3 Musketeers cookies, and Alex loved the Kit Kat cookies. No surprise, since these are our favorite candy bars.

What leftover Halloween candy will you mix into your cookies?

Halloween candy cookies with MnM's, Kit Kats, and white chocolate chips on a serving tray

We had so much fun creating different combinations of Halloween candy cookies. If you’re looking for an activity to do with friends or family this time of year, bake a batch of these cookies together with your leftover Halloween candy! They make a delicious themed treat for parties or potlucks, so it’s a win-win.

This recipe is the perfect way to use up leftover Halloween candy if you didn’t get enough trick-or-treaters… or if you impulse-bought too much chocolate on sale on November 1st 🙂 Mix and match your favorite Halloween candy with our vanilla and chocolate cookie doughs, or try one of the combinations we made, using the recipe below!

Don’t forget to share your creations with us on Instagram and mention @candidcooksblog or tag #thecandidcooks. We’d love to see what you come up with!

Happy Halloween!


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5 from 2 votes

Halloween Candy Cookies

If you're wondering what to do with your leftover Halloween candy, try making them into Halloween Candy Cookies! Mix and match candy with vanilla or chocolate dough for a delicious Halloween treat.
Servings 30 cookies
Prep Time 50 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour

Equipment

Ingredients

Vanilla Cookie Base (1 batch, ~30 cookies)

  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • cups light brown sugar tightly packed
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 3 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Cookie Base (1 batch, ~30 cookies)

  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • cups light brown sugar tightly packed
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 3 tsp vanilla extract

M&M Cookies*

  • 1 cup M&M's
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips

3 Musketeers Cookies*

  • 3 cups 3 Musketeers bits cut into approx. 1/4" pieces

Kit Kat Cookies*

  • 2 cups Kit Kat bits cut into approx. 1/4" pieces
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips

Milky Way Cookies*

  • 2 cups Milky Way bits cut into approx. 1/4" pieces
  • 15 individually-wrapped baking caramels cut in half

Reese's Cookies*

  • 2 tbsp peanut butter
  • 1 cup Reese's peanut butter cups cut into bite-size pieces
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Instructions

Vanilla Cookie Base

  • Melt unsalted butter completely, then set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes.
  • While the butter is cooling, add flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt to a medium bowl. Whisk to combine, then set aside.
  • Add light brown sugar and granulated sugar to a large bowl, then add melted butter and stir to combine.
  • Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and beat until well-combined.
  • Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients a little at a time, stirring until just combined.*

Chocolate Cookie Base

  • Melt unsalted butter completely, then set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes.
  • While the butter is cooling, add flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt to a medium bowl. Whisk to combine, then set aside.
  • Add light brown sugar and granulated sugar to a large bowl, then add melted butter and stir to combine.
  • Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and beat until well-combined.
  • Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients a little at a time, stirring until just combined.*

M&M, 3 Musketeers, or Kit Kat Cookies

  • Fold in chopped candy and chocolate chips (for M&M and Kit Kat) and chill dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  • Scoop dough into 1-1/2 tbsp rounds and place on cookie sheet, at least 2 inches apart.
  • Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until edges start to turn golden.
  • Let cool for at least 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Milky Way Cookies

  • Fold in chopped Milky Way candy and chill dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  • Scoop dough into 1-1/2 tbsp rounds, then flatten between your palms to form a disc. Place a candy caramel in the center of the disc and gently wrap the dough around it, then roll between your palms to re-shape dough into a ball.
  • Place on cookie sheet at least 2 inches apart.
  • Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until edges start to turn golden.
  • Let cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Reese's Cookies

  • Add peanut butter to the dough and stir until well-combined.
  • Fold in chopped candy and chocolate chips and chill dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  • Scoop dough into 1-1/2 tbsp rounds and place on cookie sheet, at least 2 inches apart.
  • Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until edges start to turn golden.
  • Let cool for at least 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Notes

Candy toppings: Amounts listed for each type of candy-themed cookie are for 1 full batch of base dough. (So if you want to use 1 batch of vanilla dough for 2 different types of cookies, for example, you would need to halve the amounts of candy ingredients).
Adding dry ingredients to wet ingredients: Be careful not to over-mix your dough! Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure all the dry ingredients are incorporated, but don’t mix more than you need to.
Scooping cookie dough: We use this cookie scoop to get perfectly sized cookies! Just grease it lightly with cooking spray before using and the dough won’t get stuck in it.
Baking time: To get perfectly gooey cookies, take them out of the oven a little before you think you should. They should just be starting to firm up around the edges.
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Author: Nicole
Calories: 464kcal
Course: Dessert, Desserts, Snack, Snacks
Cuisine: American
Keyword: baking soda, brown sugar, butter, candy, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, cornstarch, egg, flour, granulated sugar, halloween, vanilla

Nutrition

Calories: 464kcal | Carbohydrates: 60g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 38mg | Sodium: 204mg | Potassium: 132mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 50g | Vitamin A: 283IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 98mg | Iron: 1mg

If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.

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  1. 5 stars
    Made the 3 musketeers version with the vanilla base and brought them to the office. They were gone in minutes.

    1. Nicole Author says:

      Amazing! So glad you and your colleagues enjoyed this recipe 🙂

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