Recycling Christmas Candy

My first Christmas with Alex was a success. We opened presents, chatted with relatives, and caught a late night showing of Skyfall. Looking back on 2012, I realized that this is one of the most amazing years I have had. And I have even higher hopes for 2013.

The one thing that has been driving me crazy is the abundance of sweets. Between my dad, mom, step mom, and Alex's parents, I have received an insane amount of goodies. For Alex this is a dream come true but for me it is more of a war zone. I do like to indulge but I realized I'm more old fashion. I prefer my sweets baked, my chocolate bitter, and love candy created with ginger and molasses.

My stomach feels sick from having just a few pieces of candy and even sicker from watching Alex consume piles. It's time to empty the stockings and recycle some candy into new ways to indulge.

I remembered last year, I turned Alex's candy cane stash into a Gluten Free Chocolate Mint Cake so it inspired my journey through the rabbit hole known as google for more tasty treats.  Below is a list I have gathered from others and memory of great ways to recycle those stocking stuffers into new ways to indulge. Maybe you can even take some of these goodies to a New Year's Party and no one will ever suspect you of delivering leftovers!


I've created a list of recipes and ideas that call for specific candy ingredients. If you aren't in the mood to bake, you can always break any type of candy into pieces and use as a topper for cake, cookies, ice cream, hot chocolate etc.

Candy Canes

Gluten Free Chocolate Mint Cake (Seams Unbiased)

Peppermint Snow Dough Balls (The Chic Life)

Cafe Bavarian Mix - A fun twist on hot chocolate.

Other suggestions: hot chocolate stirrer, mix into a milkshake, make your own peppermint ice cream.

Peppermint Bark

Peppermint Bark Brownies (Serious Eats)

Gluten Free Mint Chocolate Cookies (Gluten Free Goddess) - Try adding pieces of it or even melt the peppermint bark in as a substitute for peppermint oil and cocoa powder.

Chocolate (Bars, Coins, etc)

Any recipe that calls for chocolate chips can be made by breaking up the bars/coins into pieces. Here are some of my favorites.

Gluten Free Coffee Biscuits (Gluten Free Goddess) - These are in my oven as we speak! I chopped up chocolate coins and used Alex's leftover coffee from this morning instead of coffee milk. Now Alex has something quick to consume with his coffee for breakfast.

Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies (Seams Unbiased) - I created this recipe to use up the reese's candy I got on clearance but it would still work wonderfully with m&ms or chocolate bits.

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Sorbet (Gluten Free Goddess) - Use up candy and get your daily serving of fruit!

Other suggestions: melt into chocolate fondue for a party, remold into chocolate lollipops as gifts.

Hard Candy

Grind into a fine dust and use as a flavoring in soda (add cherry to dr pepper or coke, or any flavor to soda water, etc.). The dust can also be used to flavor icing.

Melt into a simple syrup for alcoholic beverages or recipes that may call for a sweetener.

Gummy Candy

Decorate your other creations with them.

Add to trail mix.

Some like gummy bears absorb alcohol. Leave soaking in tequila or vodka and you have an excellent alternative to jello shots.

Lastly, if you simply just want to get rid of it all, there are homeless shelters and other organizations that send care packages to troops who would be more than happy to take unopened candy off your hands.