How do you make brownies even better? By dressing up your regular brownies with leftover Halloween candy bars, turning them into Candy Aisle Brownies.
It’s a fun, unexpected way to use up your Halloween candy, and makes for a fun activity to DIT (Do It Together) with friends or family, for a playdate or party, or any afternoon you feel like baking together.
For chocolate-lovers, Candy Aisle Brownies also make a showstopping dessert for Thanksgiving! (If you can keep your wrapped candies from being eaten until then!)
The idea is to fill brownies with your favorite candy bars (We used a variety of Snickers and Milky Way minis but the recipe would also work with Twix, Kit Kats, Butterfingers, Heaths, pretty much whatever chocolate bars you have.. Add in a few salted peanuts for extra crunch, pour on a layer of easy chocolate ganache made from melted plain dark chocolate bars, then top with more chopped up candy bars, peanuts, and shredded coconut.
The end result is a decadent treat that’s just over the top enough for any occasion. You can also slice up the batch, pack them up, and hand them out to friends and family or give as holiday gifts. Because the only way to make these brownies sweeter is to share them!
What You’ll Need:
- Brownie Mix and Ingredients
- Candy Bars or Leftover Halloween Candy (we used an assortment of about 15 Snickers and Milky Way minis; if you’re using full-size bars you’ll need about 4 or 5)
- Plain Chocolate Bars for ganache (Dark chocolate tastes best; you’ll need two full size chocolate bars or 5-8 minis)
- 2 tbsp heavy cream (for ganache)
- 1 tbsp coconut oil (for ganache)
- 3/4 cup salted peanuts (divided)
- ¼ shredded coconut
How-To
Step 1 First, chop up Halloween candy bars like Milky Ways, Snickers, Twix, Butterfingers and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups until you have 1 ½ cups worth of pieces. (We used an assortment of Snickers and Milky Ways.)
Step 2 Bake your usual brownie recipe (boxed mix is fine), stopping halfway through to add ½ cup of sliced candy pieces and ¼ cup salted peanuts; these will sink into the half-baked brownie, melt, and become part of the dessert. (If you skip the peanuts, sprinkle a pinch of coarse salt on top to add a little saltiness to the flavors.)
Step 3 Finish baking, will it cools add another ½ cup of the candy pieces and 14/ cup of the salted peanuts in a layer on top.
Step 4 Make quick ganache (chocolate icing): Melt any plain dark chocolate bars with the cream and coconut oil, either by melting in the microwave on high in 30 second bursts, stirring in between, or on the stove top in a double boiler.
Step 5 Using a piping bag or ziploc bag with a corner cut drizzle ganache on top of the candy and peanuts. Then sprinkle the border of the pan with shredded coconut flakes and the remaining salted peanuts and fill the middle with the remaining candy pieces.
Step 6 Serve, slice, and share!
