Leftover Candy Cookie Bars (Quick & Easy Dessert)
These Leftover Candy Cookie Bars are soft, chewy, and packed with chopped chocolate bars, peanut butter cups, and M&Ms. They start with a buttery cookie dough that's loaded with your favorite leftover candy, making them one of the easiest ways to transform Halloween treats into a fresh dessert.
Every year we seem to end up with a bowl of leftover candy that nobody is reaching for anymore. Instead of letting it sit in the pantry, we bake it into cookie bars that are easy to slice, share, and customize with whatever chocolate candies we have on hand.
If you enjoy our Leftover Halloween Candy Cookies and Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake, these loaded cookie bars are another fun way to use up leftover candy.
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Ingredients
With just a few pantry staples and your favorite leftover candy, you're ready to get baking.
See the recipe card below for the exact quantities of each ingredient.
- All-Purpose Flour: Forms the base of the cookie dough.
- Baking Powder: Gives the bars a little lift while keeping them soft.
- Melted Butter: Creates a chewy texture and rich flavor.
- Granulated and Light or Dark Brown Sugar: Using both gives the bars crisp edges and soft centers.
- Egg: Helps bind the dough together.
- Vanilla Extract: Rounds out the flavor.
- Leftover Candy: We used M&Ms and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups inside, but almost any of your favorite candy bars work well.
- Extra Candy for the Top: Press a few extra pieces into the warm bars after baking for the best presentation.
Get out a stand mixer, 8x8 metal pan, parchment paper, measuring cups and spoons, and a spatula.
Variations
- Use Your Favorites: Kit Kats, Hershey bars, Twix, Milky Way, Snickers, or Reese's Pieces all work well.
- More Chocolate: Stir in chocolate chips along with the candy.
- Holiday Version: Make these after Christmas, Easter, or Valentine's Day using leftover holiday candy.
- Nut-Free: Skip peanut candies and use your favorite nut-free chocolate bars.
How to Make Leftover Candy Cookie Bars
This recipe comes together like a simple cookie dough, then everything bakes in one pan for an easy dessert.
Preheat oven to 325F and line an 8x8 metal baking pan with parchment paper leaving the sides high.
In a medium bowl whisk together all-purpose flour, sea salt and baking powder.
Using a stand mixer or large bowl, add in sugars and butter. Mix until smooth and combined.
Add eggs and vanilla, mix again on low until combined.
Then gradually add flour mixture to the bowl until incorporated. Stop and scrape the edges down and mix again.
With a spatula mix M&Ms and chopped Reese's candy (I like to add half at a time to ensure even distribution).
Transfer dough into prepared pan and spread as evenly as you can.
Bake for about 24 minutes or until golden brown, and a toothpick comes out of the center with moist crumbs. While they are still warm, lightly press extra chocolate onto the tops of the bars.
Allow to fully cool before removing and cut into bars with a sharp knife.
Hint: If you have some larger candy bars, chop them up. Bite-sized pieces distribute more evenly throughout the dough.
Recipe Tips
- Don't Overbake: The centers should still look slightly soft when you remove the pan from the oven.
- Decorate While Warm: Press extra candy into the top of the bars immediately after baking before they cool too much.
- Let Them Cool Completely: This makes them much easier to slice cleanly.
- Use What You Have: One of our favorite things about this recipe is that there's no wrong combination of candy bars.
If you're looking for another easy dessert bar, we love our Rolo Brownies which can also be customized with any candy.
More Desserts
Storage Instructions
- Countertop: Keep in an airtight container, out of direct sunlight for up to 3-4 days. Adding parchment paper in between will help them from sticking together depending on the candies you use.
- Refrigerator: Place the airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
- Freezer: Freeze sliced cookie bars for up to 3 months.
Serving Suggestions
- Fun Holiday Desserts: Halloween Brownies, Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars, Easter Blondies, Valentine's Truffles, Lucky Charms Rice Krispie Treats and Red, White, and Blue Cookie Cake.
Leftover Candy Cookie Bars Recipe FAQs
We've had the best results with chocolate-based candy like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Kit Kat, Hershey bars, Twix, and M&Ms. We have even stirred in Rolo instead of peanut butter cups too.
Absolutely. Simply chop larger pieces if needed so they're evenly distributed throughout the dough.
Yes. In fact, we think they're even better the next day once they've had time to set.
Definitely. Store the cooled bars in a freezer-safe container for an easy dessert whenever the craving strikes.
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Leftover Candy Cookie Bars
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- 8x8 Metal Pan
- Parchment Paper
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 187.5 grams all-purpose flour about 1 ½ cups
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 stick butter unsalted, melted
- 100 grams granulated sugar about ½ cup
- 100 grams light brown sugar about ½ cup (or dark)
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup M&Ms
- 6 Reese's peanut butter cups chopped
- more candy for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F and line an 8x8 metal baking pan with parchment paper leaving the sides high.
- In a medium bowl whisk together all-purpose flour, sea salt and baking powder.
- Using a stand mixer or large bowl, add in sugars and butter. Mix until smooth and combined.
- Add eggs and vanilla, mix again on low until combined.
- Then gradually add flour mixture to the bowl until incorporated. Stop and scrape the edges down and mix again.
- With a spatula mix M&Ms and chopped Reese's candy (I like to add half at a time to ensure even distribution).
- Transfer dough into prepared pan and spread as evenly as you can.
- Bake for about 24 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out of the center with moist crumbs. While they are still warm, lightly press extra chocolate onto the tops of the bars (Reese's will start to melt right away since they are a softer chocolate).
- Allow to fully cool before removing and cut into bars with a sharp knife.
Notes
- Don't Overbake: The centers should still look slightly soft when you remove the pan from the oven.
- Decorate While Warm: Press extra candy into the top of the bars immediately after baking before they cool too much.
- Let Them Cool Completely: This makes them much easier to slice cleanly.
- Use What You Have: One of our favorite things about this recipe is that there's no wrong combination of candy bars.
- Larger Candy: If you have some larger candy bars, chop them up. Bite sized pieces distribute more evenly throughout the dough.
- Countertop: Keep in an airtight container, out of direct sunlight for up to 3-4 days. Adding parchment paper in between will help them from sticking together depending on the candies you use.
- Refrigerator: Place the airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
- Freezer: Freeze sliced cookie bars for up to 3 months.
- Nutritional Information will vary depending on what candy you use, and how much you add to the top.
Nutrition
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