stranger danger

Halloween is over. How much candy do you have left?

We have a bit a bowlful two entire giant bags full. This was our first Halloween with the potential for trick-or-treaters, and I guess we were too optimistic. Though our neighborhood is sprawling, we got a grand total of five kiddos ringing our doorbell. We're normal people who move about during the expected hours and our house is lovely, so I attribute the lack of visitors to our newness and the fact that nobody trusts anybody anymore. Needless to say, we've been eating more candy this past week than the rest of the year combined.

Lots of savvy bloggers are posting recipes to use up leftover candy, so I thought I'd do the same in hopes of being called savvy myself. This is a super simple concept--I used a box of Krusteaz Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix and just added a mound of chopped up snack-size Hershey's Cookies 'n' Cream bars. The resulting cookies are chewy and chocolatey and I can feel good about putting a dent in that never-ending candy bowl.

Cookies 'n' Cream Cookies ('n' cream, if you want)
Ingredients:

• 1 box Krusteaz Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
• 8 (or more, depending on just how much candy you need to use up) snack-size Hershey's Cookies 'n' Cream bars, coarsely chopped

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. (If using an insulated cookie sheet, set oven to 375 degrees F.)
Stir together egg, butter, cookie mix, and chopped candy bars until dough forms, hand kneading if necessary.
Scoop dough according to desired cookie size and place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 11-13 minutes for 24 2-1/2-inch cookies or 13-15 minutes for 12 3-inch cookies, or until light golden brown around edges.
Cool 5 minutes and remove from pan.
Store cooled cookies in airtight container.