If you still have Halloween candy hanging around, you either have incredible restraint, or you didn’t get any trick-or-treaters. Whatever the reason, turn those leftovers into a cookie: more calories, less unwrapping.
For my candy-cookie concoction, I used Butterfingers and Milky Ways (thanks to some encouragement from my favorite food blog, Picky Palate). I was a little worried about the Butterfinger remnants getting stuck in my teeth, as so often is the case with the candy bar itself, but crushing it up into the mix actually alleviated that problem and gave the cookies a light peanut buttery flavor. It also somewhat caramelized the bottom of the cookies, which added a little textural variety.
Feel free to improvise with whatever Halloween candy you have around, so long as it’s not, like, Skittles. Or that ghastly candy in the nondescript orange and black wrappers. My brothers and I used to use those as missiles when we were younger — pelting each other if an offensively imbalanced candy trade was offered.
A helpful hint from my co-worker, Molly, who — unlike me — knows what she’s doing in the kitchen: My cookie dough was unmanageably sticky as I tried forming it into balls on the baking sheet. The reason? The butter was too soft. Keeping it at room temperature might make mixing a little more difficult, but the dough will be much more obedient, according to Molly.
♦2 sticks softened butter
♦3/4 c. brown sugar
♦3/4 c. granulated sugar
♦2 eggs
♦1 tsp. vanilla
♦3 c. all-purpose flour
♦1 tsp. baking soda
♦3/4 tsp. salt
♦6 fun-size Butterfingers, broken up
♦6 fun-size Milky Ways, broken up
♦1/2 c. chocolate chips
Beat butter and sugars until well combined. Slowly add in eggs and vanilla until well mixed. Place flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl; mix to combine. Slowly add to wet ingredients, along with the candy bars and chocolate chips until just combined. Scoop onto greased baking sheet. Bake for nine to 11 minutes at 375 degrees.
This recipe yielded about three dozen cookies, and they sure went fast. If you come up with a winning combination of candy for your cookies, please share!
Total time? About 20 minutes prep, 11 minutes bake.
Cost? $2 for each bag of fun-size candy, $1.67 for chocolate chips and assorted costs for all other standard baking ingredients.
Overall success relative to expectations? 7 out of 10. These were good cookies, but they lost a few points because a couple were really weak on candy bits. Next time, I’d pump up the count to eight to 10 fun-size bars — hell, maybe even a whole bag.
that's forking good 
How is it less unwrapping? Every piece enjoyed – by itself or in a cookie – needs to be unwrapped first.
Less unwrapping for whomever eats what you’ve created. Or if you make three dozen cookies and eat every single cookie yourself (which, for you, I know is entirely possible), then you’re still on the better end of the enjoyment-to-unwrapping ratio, as you spent only one sitting unwrapping, but reap the benefits of that unwrapping far longer than you would by just eating the candy bars themselves.