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These Halloween Candy Cookies are a perfect way to use up all that leftover Halloween candy! These cookies are easy to make, easy to customize with your favorite candy, and they're ready in 25 minutes! Each bite is loaded with gooey Halloween candy!

I don't know about you, but I always have way too much leftover Halloween candy after October 31st. And every year I do the same thing: chop up the candy, throw it in some cookie dough, and bake!
These Halloween candy cookies are loaded with chocolate, caramel, crunchiness, peanut butter, you name it! They make me want to buy extra bulk boxes of Halloween candy so that I can just make them all year round.
Why These Halloween Candy Cookies Work
- No dough chilling required!
- These Halloween candy cookies are ready in 25 minutes and are thick, soft, and gooey inside.
- They are the perfect way to use up leftover Halloween candy!
- You can make these cookies completely dairy free by using dairy free candy!
- These cookies are based off my popular chocolate chip cookie recipe
Ingredients Needed
- Butter: You can use any kind of butter for this recipe. Regular or dairy free butter works fine!
- Egg: If you want to make these cookies egg free, you can replace the egg with one flax egg.
- Halloween Candy: Use any chocolate based halloween candy, and use dairy free candy if required. I've provided some dairy free options further down in this post.

Step By Step Instructions
Step One: About an hour before you start baking the cookies, pick your favourite Halloween candy that you want to use and place it in the fridge to chill. This will make the candy easier to cut and it won't be too soft when it gets mixed into the dough.
Step Two: In a medium sized bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and set them aside for later. Next, pick a few of your favourite Halloween chocolates, and if the chocolate is in a bar form, chop it up into small chunks.
Step Three: Next, you're going to beat together the butter and sugars for about a minute, then add in the eggs and vanilla extract and beat again. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the mixture and then mix them together until combined. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl a few times to make sure the dry ingredients are fully combined.
Step Four: Add in the chopped up Halloween candy and mix the dough for another 10 seconds, or until the chocolate is just combined throughout the dough.
Step Five: Form balls that have about 1.5-2 tablespoons of dough and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The cookies are done after between 8-10 minutes in the oven. The edges will look just slightly set, with barely any golden brown to them and the middles will look under-baked.

Which Halloween Candy is dairy free?
For people who are lactose intolerant, have dairy allergies, or are vegan, it can be hard to find good dairy free chocolate-based Halloween candy.
Here are some of my favourites:
- No Whey No No's - these taste just like Smarties/M&M's!
- Cocomels - these are my favourite vegan soft caramels. They're soft and delicious!
- Justin's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups* - These are super popular and are made without milk. They are so good and taste just like Reese's *If you have an allergy, make sure to read the label because it does say "May Contain Milk".
- Free2Be - These are like Reese's but they are dairy free and peanut free, plus free from 8 other allergens!
- Enjoy Life Chocolate Crunch Bars - These are sooo delicious. They have this really great crunch to them and you would never know they are dairy free! These are sold individually in quite a few places and are pretty popular.
Those are just a few of my favourites, but check around online or at stores in your area and you might find some more hidden gems!

FAQs and Expert Tips
These cookies should be made using chocolate-based candy. You can use any chocolate-based Halloween candy you want, and you can pick anywhere from 3 or more candies.
I typically use a few of my favourite vegan/dairy free Halloween treats, but you can use anything you want!
Here are some of my non-dairy free candy suggestions:
-Reese's Pieces
-Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
-Snickers bars
-Twix bars
-Kit Kat bars
-Aero bars
-Smarties
-M&M's
-Coffee Crisp bars
No, you'll want to stick to chocolate-based candy to avoid having a melty mess on your hands.
Gummy candies won't incorporate well into these cookies. Chocolate-based candy and cookies go much better together, trust me.
If you are using any soft caramels in these cookies, leave them out of the dough. Once you have scooped the dough onto the baking sheet, gently push 1-2 soft caramels into the top of the dough before baking.
If you mix soft caramels into the dough, sometimes they will end up at the bottom or edges of the cookies. When you bake them, they are going to spread and having them at the bottom or edges will make a sticky mess.

Expert Tips
- Don't forget to chill the candy - About an hour before you make the cookies, put the candy (not chopped up yet) into the fridge to chill. Using cold candy ensures that the candy won't blend into the dough before it get's baked, and that the candy won't spread and melt too much. It's also a lot easier to cut up the candy bars when they are cold because they don't squish and melt.
- Don't use too much Halloween candy - I LOVE a cookie loaded with chocolate, but you don't want to put TOO much candy into the dough. Putting too much candy in the cookies will result in a bit of a mess, and you want to make sure that there is still a good ratio of cookie-to-candy. 1 cup is the perfect amount for me, but you could go up to 1 ½ at the maximum.
- Be sure to properly measure your flour: Measure your flour using either a kitchen scale or the scoop and level method.
Storage and Freezing Instructions
These cookies should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature and will stay fresh for up to 5 days.
You can also freeze them for up to 3 months in a freezer ziploc bag, then thaw at room temperature. You can also freeze the dough in individual balls and bake them later!
More Recipes You'll Love
If you make this recipe, let me know how it went in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you! You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can check it out!

Halloween Candy Cookies
Video
Equipment
- Handheld or Standing Mixer
Ingredients
- ¾ cup butter (vegan or regular)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups +2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- ¾ - 1 cup chocolate-based Halloween candy, chopped (dairy free or regular)
Instructions
- Chill your Halloween candy in the fridge for 30 - 60 minutes before you begin making the cookies.
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Remove the Halloween candy from the fridge and chop it up into chunks*
- In the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment or a handheld mixer, combine butter and sugars, mixing until smooth.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla extract, and beat until just combined (do not over-mix!).
- Mix in the dry ingredients until a dough forms. Toss in the Halloween candy and mix until just combined.
- Make 1.5-2 tablespoon sized balls and place them on the baking sheet around 3-4 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 8-10 minutes. Remove them from the oven when the edges look set. They will look under-baked in the middle! Remove from the oven and leave them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
The calorie information provided for this recipe is an estimate. The accuracy of the calories listed is not guaranteed.
Morgan
Delicious cookie recipe! Made it with Reese's, Kitkats, and Hersheys bars, and it worked great with all three!
Gabby
I am so happy to hear that you loved the cookies! Thanks for the review! 😀
Elliot Schneider
This was an amazing recipe I made it with my best friend and had an amazing time Happy Halloween!!
Gabby
Hi Elliot! Yay! So happy to hear that you both loved them 😀
John
perfect way to use up halloween candy! excellent recipe, we ate them all in 2 days
Gabby
Hi John! I'm so happy to hear that you loved the cookies 🙂 Thanks for the review!
Loren
So good thank you!!! You are the best ❤️
Gabby
Hi Loren! I'm so happy you loved the cookies! Thanks so much for the review 🙂
Elliot
This was my favorite cookie ever thanks for the recipe!!
Gabby
Hi Elliot! I am so happy to hear that you loved the cookies so much! Thanks for the review 🙂