Leftover Halloween Candy Cookies

nmjunko's Note:

Crispy and chewy! I came up with these out of desperation as we ended up with a lot fewer trick or treaters this year. I used Twix bars, m&ms and pecans. If using candy with peanuts or peanut butter you might want to use peanuts instead of pecans, but pretty much anything goes!

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 60 cookies

• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter , softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
• 1 ½ cups crisp rice cereal
• 3 cups oatmeal
• ½ cup sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped nuts (peanuts and pecans)
• 1 cup raisins
• 2 -3 cups choppedchocolate candy bars (do not use hard candy, candy corn, licorice or gummy candy) or 2 -3 cups decorative candies (do not use hard candy, candy corn, licorice or gummy candy)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line cookie sheets with parchment or use silpats, as the melted candy is very sticky.
3. Cream butter and sugars together.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time until smooth.
5. Add vanilla.
6. Mix in baking soda and flour.
7. Stir in remaining ingredients with a spoon.
8. Roll dough into walnut sized balls, flatten slightly and place 2 inches apart on lined cookie sheets.
9. Bake 8 to 10 minutes.
10. Watch carefully as melted candy may burn.
11. Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheets before removing to wire rack.

Reviews

[internetnut]

I gave these 4 stars. Update: I'm updating my review for changes I've made to this recipe. This time when I made these cookies this time I used Splenda Sugar Blend for the sugar, Splend brown sugar, unsweetened coconut, golden raisins, I added baby ruth, butter finger, whoopers (left out the krackal, mr. goodbar, and hershey bars) and I added 1 scoop of protein powder to bump my protein. No difference these still turned out great. My only problem my now 7 yr old newphew and I were making these together and it took us longer to roll the dough so it had a chance to dry out which cause them not to roll so easy. I decided to try a bit of water which was a big mistake this made the cookies bake way to flat, so I ended up adding more flour which made them just right. The rest I left the same as my previous review. My previous review Jan 30th 2008. My newphews 3 & 5 and I loved these cookies. I was a bit worried about the amount of baking soda but all turned out fine. These are just as described crisp and chewy. I found this recipe just after this last halloween after we ran out of candy bars. So I recently purchased some candy bars to try these. I bought mini Twix, Snickers, Milky Way, Krackal, Mr. Goodbar, 3 Musketeers, Hershey Bars, and I had M&M's already on hand. These were very yummy. I made a few minor changes to the recipe. I only used 2 cups oatmeal as I thought that was plenty, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts nuts as we are not nuts over nuts, and no raisins as we were out of them. The rest I did as directed. I'm glad I made the few minor changes as I found this was a little hard to mix even in my extra-large mixing bowl. I also found the dough a bit dry after mixing everything in. I would recommend making the balls up first before baking as when I was baking my cookies I was using 1 cookie sheet (didn't want to wash more) and it took forever and my dough began to dry out and the last batch I tried adding a bit of water to soften and they crumbled and would not roll. Overall these were very good and I will make these cookies again for sure. Thanks for posting a really good recipe. Christine (internetnut)

[Lanie-Wife]

This recipe makes the perfect cookie! I discovered it in time for my children's school Halloween party and have made the cookies four times over the past month. The teachers confiscated the cookies at the Halloween party and kept them at the adult table; they said the cookies were too good to share with the kids. My favorite batch includes 16 snack-size Mounds bars, 2 full-size Snickers with almonds, and dark chocolate covered raisins. That batch was pretty and delicious. It was even better the second day; the cookies stayed chewy and wonderful. I added the salt in when I creamed the butter and sugar; I guess that was right. I also made a batch without oatmeal and used all white sugar, butter flavor Crisco instead of butter, and chopped almonds instead of peanuts or pecans that time...fabulous! No matter what way I make these, people rave about them and beg for the recipe. Even the men at my office, not normally big fans of dessert, ask for these cookies. I love chewy cookies, and this is my new standby recipe.

[cookie in calgary]

I found this recipe last year & didn't rate it. I am now going to make them again this year (lots of leftover candy) They are a very good chewy cookie with a crispy outside. The possibilites are endless with nuts & candies. I think I am going to use the glossete raisins in place of the normal raisins (maximize the useage of leftover candy) Thanks for a great recipe!!