Turn Your Leftover Halloween Candy into the Best Cookies Ever

So at a time of year with a surplus of candy in my life, my mind gravitates to a wonderfully adaptable cookie recipe developed by my co-worker Mark Huxsoll.  

For this recipe, you start with a base of flour, melted butter, brown and granulated sugars, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. This recipe has a slightly higher amount of baking soda than the average cookie recipe and calls for baking the cookies in a 425-degree oven. The combination of extra leavener and a hot oven makes the cookies soufflé in the oven and collapse on themselves. It sounds chef-y (or maybe like a mistake), but the end result is a cookie with a delightful mix of a crispy exterior and a gooey, barely cooked inside. And this technique keeps the cookies chewy and fresh-tasting for a couple days after baking. 

With this basic formula, the world is your proverbial oyster (though I doubt oysters would be good in a cookie). Once you mix the dough, you can add 1½ cups of just about any mix-ins—including all that halloween candy—into the cookie dough before baking. 

I’d stick to chocolate- or nut-based candies, but otherwise, have fun with it. 

Mark made versions with chopped mixed chocolate; marshmallows, milk chocolate, and graham crackers; and, my personal favorite, Reeses pieces and cooked bacon. Yes, Mark put bacon in a cookie—and the result was delightfully salty and sweet. You can chop up Snickers and peanuts or Twix and caramel chips or just a mix of whatever chocolate candy you have. 

I promise you, your kids won’t be sad to trade their halloween candy for these cookies.