Halloween Hack: Make Trickerdoodle Cookies Using Leftover Candy

This post-Halloween spin on the classic snickerdoodle has a secret inside.

If your youngsters are aggressive trick-or-treaters or the turnout at your own front door didn’t meet expectations, there’s a good chance November starts off with a serious surplus of bite-sized candy. You can freeze some to be eaten later, you can give it away or you can eat it until regret sets in. Truth be told, it’ll probably be option three, but we’re going to keep it interesting this year with this fun recipe for a cookie with a surprise inside. Introducing the “trickerdoodle.” If you’re going to use Halloween candy to make a cookie, it’s got to have a cute name, right?

Basically a snickerdoodle with a little candy bar melted inside, part of the fun is not knowing exactly what you’ll get. Snickers? Milky Way? Mini Reese’s Cup, Kit Kat or Three Musketeers? Take a bite and see.

The cookie dough is wrapped around the candy to about golf ball size. Roll it in sugar and place it on a cookie sheet to bake. Don’t don’t flatten it. It will spread out on its own to become a soft, delicious cookie and the candy will melt to leave little trace of what lies within until you take a bite.

The best cookie in the world just got a little bit better. Or worse, depending on how you feel about Almond Joys. Or Twix. Or Butterfingers…

Trickerdoodles

Yield: About 2 dozen cookies

• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 24 pieces trick-or-treat size candy bars (any flavor)
• 1/3 cup sugar, for coating

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Cream 1 1/2 cups sugar, butter and shortening together in a stand mixer until fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time.

Add vanilla extract.

Add dry mix to mixer and beat on low speed until well combined.

Place 1/3 cup sugar in a small bowl.

Unwrap candy bars and shape some dough into a ball around each piece of candy just large enough to fully enclose (about the size of a golf ball).

Roll each cookie in sugar and arrange on ungreased and cookie sheet spaced at least 2 inches apart.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15-17 minutes or until lightly browned.

Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.