Stop Eating! Recycle Halloween Candy

As I sit here looking at the bowl of candy ready for trick or treating, trying to convince myself I will only eat “one”. I decide to take action by moving the candy so it is not wearing on my self control. By “Storing” (hiding) it in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight until ready to “use”. Most candy will easily keep four to six months. Check the best if used by dates on packaging to be sure. To take my mind off eating candy I have decided to share some creative ways to recycle Halloween candy. I sometimes even buy half price candy after Halloween for holiday baking. Many types of small individual candies such as M&M ® can replace chocolate chips or nuts in your favorite recipes that incorporate ingredient as mix-ins.

The traditional chocolate bar (dark or milk) is great for drizzle or icing on many different items such as ice cream, cakes, cookies, or fresh berries. Simply replace the chocolate chips with candy bars chopped into chuck size pieces. CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE 1/4 cup Chocolate Chips 1-1/2 teaspoons shortening (do not use spread or oil) 1. In small microwave-safe bowl microwave chocolate and butter at MEDIUM (50%) for 30 seconds; stir. 2. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 10 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth when stirred. Other candy bars with filling such as nugget, nuts, mint crème or caramel can all be used as filling or topping for different types of cookies. I have shared a new recipe my children love.

EASY CANDY BAR COOKIES Dough Base 1 cup Granulated Sugar ¾ cup Butter 1 tsp vanilla 1 egg 2 cups all purpose flour 1. Heat oven to 350⁰F. Spray sides and bottom of 9x13x1 inch pan with baking spay. 2. In large bowl, combine sugar and butter beat until light and fluffy. 3. Add vanilla and egg; blend well. 4. Add flour mix well. Spread half dough in bottom of pan and ½ inch up the sides. 5. Cut unwrapped candy in half lengthwise then arrange single layer candy on top of dough in bottom of pan. 6. Roll out remainder of dough and cover candy making sure candy is sealed inside dough. 7. Place pan on baking sheet in oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. 8. Cool cut into bars. Gummy candy works well for decorating gingerbread houses or, making sand or dirt cup desserts. Stained glass cookies are a great creative way to use hard candy many recipes are readily available online. That leaves us with one of my favorites Tootsie® rolls. Pastry chefs refer to this product as molding chocolate with its main ingredients consisting of heavy corn syrup and melted chocolate. These ingredients enable this product to be molded and shaped with your hands to use as decorations on cakes, gingerbread houses or individual shaped candies think hearts. I saved you this time from eating all the Halloween candy, so you have time to either build up your will power or give the joy away to others as gifts. Enjoy.

Gift Giving Time

Did you ever give a present to a young child only to see them rip open the package and quickly abandon that carefully selected gift you purchased or made? Or worse yet, observe your own child as they did this to a gift from a grandparent, relative or friend? It often leaves parents in the embarrassing role of giving a quick thank you and assuring the giver that the present was appreciated and would indeed be put to good use.

I heard recently about a mom who experienced that embarrassment with her children once too often and took steps to correct the behavior. She instituted a game with her young children to let them practice both giving and graciously receiving gifts. She gave each of them an empty gift bag and let them find an object in the house to “give” their sibling. The other child did not actually get to keep the item, but just used it for the play activity. When one child gave the other one the filled gift bag, the recipient had to say “thank you” and then give a sincere compliment about the gift when he took it out of the bag. This might range from a comment about it being his favorite color to how he was going to put it to use.

The children opened their gift bags one at a time instead of ripping into them and became adept at giving positive comments regardless of how unusual the “gift” might be. The mother also found, in addition to teaching manners, the game taught her children the fun in giving gifts to others.

What a great idea and a fun activity for the whole family. It might be something you will want to try before attending a big family gathering this holiday season. Happy gift-giving!