I remember my mom buying lots of  Halloween Candy to pass out to the neighborhood kids.  She would then buy a bag of something that she and my dad liked best.  They would hide half the bag so they would have a treat in the coming days while my sister and I made our way through our piles collected from our night of Trick or Treating.

Every year I ask Bryan what he would like and try not to buy too much.   Since I spend most of my days around sugar I try not to keep it in the house,  neither Bryan nor I have much will power.  So, today as I was home on my day off the bowl of candy was tempting me.  To combat the desire to sit down on the couch and eat the whole bowl with my cup of coffee I decided to get busy and do a little recipe development – what better way to use up some of that candy.  It is easier and more interesting to give away a baked good then lame left over candy!!! Since I had Hershey Kisses and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups left I decided on cookies.  Below is what I came up with, they will be going to work with Bryan tomorrow morning!

Halloween Candy Cookies

yeilds 2 1/2 dozen

2 1/4 cup      flour

1 tsp                baking soda

1 tsp                ground cinnamon

2 sticks          unsalted butter (room temp)

3 Tbsp           all natural, no salt, crunchy peanut butter

1 cup              dark brown sugar

1/2 cup          sugar

2 each            eggs

1 tsp                salt

2 tsp                vanilla extract

2 cups             chopped left over chocolate Halloween candy bars

Using an electric mixer, mix butter and sugar till fluffy.  Scrape bowl and add eggs one at a time mixing after each one.  Scrape bowl and add vanilla.  Whisk together dry in a bowl and add to egg/butter mixture.  Turn on low and mix till just incorporated.  Mix in candy.  Using a tablespoon scoop onto parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for 6 min, rotate the pan and bake for another 4-5 min till edges are just getting slightly brown.  Take out and transfer to cooling rack.