Tricks for Your Treats by Various Authors on Creators.com

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Tricks for Your Treats

By Caroline Dipping

Leftover Halloween candy. What's that?

It's when your overzealous trick-or-treater returns home after a successful night of marauding, his pillowcase bulging with Butterfingers and Necco Wafers.

Or, it's the vast remains of the ginormous mixed bag you bought at Costco when you were planning for hordes of trick-or-treaters invading your front stoop. And you only got one lone ranger and a witch.

Here are some ways to enjoy (cope with?) the cornucopia of Halloween's bounty.

If the thought of choking down one more "fun-size" Nestle Crunch is anything but fun, here are some ways to incorporate that leftover candy into your post-Halloween lifestyle.

Top it. Chop up mini-candy bars and sprinkle on ice cream. Likewise, strew some M&Ms or gummy bears on your sundaes.

Mix it. Make your own Dairy Queen-like Blizzard by freezing 1 Butterfinger. Crush the frozen bar into tiny pieces. In a blender, place 2.5 cups chocolate ice cream, one-quarter cup milk and 1 teaspoon fudge topping. Blend for 30 seconds, add candy, and mix with a spoon. Continue blending until you get a smooth texture. Don't overblend. It is supposed to be thick.

Melt it. Make S'mores in the microwave. Place a chocolate bar and a marshmallow between two graham crackers. Microwave about 20 seconds.

Preserve it. You can make Halloween candy last until Easter if you freeze it.

Infuse it. Try dissolving some hard candy in booze for a flavorful belt. Jolly Ranchers in your vodka? Why not?

While no formal studies have been done to determine if Bit-O-Honey candy bars can be used to caulk loose shower tiles, there are plenty of other ways to dispose of excess treats besides eating them. A few considerations:

Instant recycling. Screen the candy your kids bring home. Save the stuff they like, and send the rest back out with other trick-or-treaters.

Jewelry anyone? The National Confectioners' Association suggests making a candy necklace from an assortment of lollipops and colorful candies with twist-wrap ends.

Cut a 14-inch strand of thin twine or fabric ribbon. Tie one end of a wrapper of candy or lollipop stick tightly to one end of ribbon or twine (leave about 2 inches of ribbon free for tying at the end).

Attach candy by knotting the ribbon around the wrapper ends or lollipop sticks until the necklace is complete. Leave 2 inches at the end. Tie the ends together, and voila! Joan Rivers would be envious.

Housing. Use Halloween's leftovers to decorate Christmas' gingerbread houses.

Cram it. Stuff the leftovers in a pinata, and crack it open at the next birthday party.

Share the wealth. Spread the sweetness and donate leftovers to nursing homes, doctor's offices and women's shelters. Easier still, take your leftover candy to the office, and wait five minutes. Your Halloween largesse will soon be a thing of the past.

LEFTOVER HALLOWEEN CANDY BUNDT CAKE

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 cups chopped chocolate Halloween candy bars (such as Snickers, Twix, Milky Way, etc.)

Makes 16 servings

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking power and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Working in two or three additions, alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the butter mixture, ending with flour. Stir in chopped Halloween candies.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 15-20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

— bakingbites.com

Caroline Dipping writes about food for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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