Leftover Easter Candy: 6 Fun & Creative Ways to Use Leftover Holiday Candy by Ann Marie G. Halstead

If you’re anything like me, you love chocolate and candy as much as the kids. But you also don’t want it hanging around for too long, for fear that you’ll eat it all or they will – and rot their teeth!! I swear I feel this after every holiday. That said, I don’t want to toss the candy or see it go to waste.

I like to consider options for re-purposing the candy. Here are a few ideas on how to use leftover Easter candy:

• Plan a fun dessert like make-your-own ice cream sundaes! Kids love to make dessert themselves, especially if it involves choosing their own toppings. So fill some small bowls with Easter goodies, such as chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter eggs, mini chocolate eggs, M&Ms and chocolate chunks (see below!), along with whipped cream and other ice cream sundae toppings. Who doesn’t like ice cream sundaes?

• Turn your kids’ chocolate Easter animals into chocolate “chunks.” Take those Easter bunnies, chicks and ducks and chop them up into chunks. Then use them to make your favorite chocolate chunk cookie recipe or banana bread recipe or any number of recipes that call for chocolate chips/chunks. If you don’t want baked goods around the house either, share with your neighbors or coworkers.

• Improve your brownie recipe. You can choose from a variety of chocolates to add to your brownie recipe to switch things up a bit. For example, you could try Cadbury eggs, Reese’s Peanut Butter eggs, York Peppermint Patties, Snickers, the chocolate chunks and more.

• Surprise the kids with a peanut butter and jelly marshmallow fluff sandwich! If your kids love peanut butter sandwiches like mine do, surprise them with a different type of marshmallow fluff: use Peeps! They’ll provide that marshmallow flavor and a little extra sweetness, and they’re sure to make your kids smile, too! (You could also melt the Peeps for use in Rice Krispies bars instead of marshmallow fluff.)

• Get crafty! Did you know there are many crafts and experiments you can do with jelly beans? There’s even a National Jelly Bean Day (Friday, April 22). Let your kids get creative with their jelly beans rather than eat them all.

• Donate it. If the temptation of having all of that candy in the house is just too much, even re-purposed into other treats, consider donating it to someone who will enjoy it. Perhaps a relative, neighbor or local heroes. You could also call your local food pantry and see if they will take it as a donation (just be sure that the candy is sealed).

Need help converting cooking and baking measurements? Here are some handy kitchen conversion charts.

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