Leftover Candy Blondie Recipe

Rain, rain go away! They say April showers bring May flowers… let’s just say we will be having the most gorgeous blooms in NY. It has been raining so much lately and the wind is not slowing down either. Easter Sunday was so beautiful and sunny, my kids got to enjoy some outdoor time, riding bikes on our street and jumping in the bounce house.

We have been going stir crazy today, being stuck indoors and most likely still on a sugar high from yesterday’s Easter baskets. I have been doing arts & crafts, movies and play dough activities to keep them busy but they were not into it today. Reese asked me for a piece of candy… and it made me think of another fun way for kids to stay busy. They love being involved in the kitchen with cooking and baking. I have a killer brownie recipe, but sadly I am missing some ingredients. So we decided to make blondies instead. And better yet… made it more fun by adding the leftover Easter candy to the mix. I’m sure you all have your go to blondie recipe, I have been using this one for years. Can’t really take credit for it, as I found it on Pinterest at some point. I made small changes based on what ingredients I have on hand. But if you have a great recipe, please share, I’d love to try it!

Get The Kids Involved

My kids are 4 and 9. Grant had so much fun counting the candy pieces and unwrapping the candies. He also did some sampling, haha.

Reese is my big girl she helped with stirring the dry ingredients, and then the wet ingredients. Adding dry to wet was a bit challenging because the batter is pretty thick but she did great.

They were both excited to help and patiently waited an entire 20 min right next to the oven until the blondies were done. The blondies are yummy, but this was about spending time with my kids and keeping them busy. It was a fun and easy rainy day activity with minimal cleanup – no mixer, and I tossed everything in the dishwasher.

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour (I use King Arthur)
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup of light brown sugar (packed)
1 egg
1 tsp of vanilla extract (Nielsen Massey Madagascar is my favorite)
1/3 cup butter (unsalted and melted)
Aluminum foil or parchment paper
Oil (spray to coat)
leftover candy (chopped – about 1 cup)

Directions:

Mix all the dry (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) ingredients. I guess a professional would say “sift” to break up clumps and add air to the flour, but I can honestly say I have never done that while baking (and I make some delicious desserts). I usually mix with a whisk or fork.
In another bowl, whisk the egg until blended. Next add brown sugar, vanilla and melted butter. Stir until smooth.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir only until blended. I heard it’s not good to over-stir while baking.
Add the chopped candy. We always have so much candy around the house but with self-isolation and social distancing we were running low on inventory. We used whatever Easter candy was left. In our case all we had were mini chocolate eggs from Hershey and mini Twix bars. But any candy will do.
Line 2 qt baking dish – I use 8×8 glass pan with parchment paper or foil. I only had aluminum foil on hand. Make the piece longer so it hangs over the dish (makes it easy to remove from the dish). Spray the foil with oil or you can grease with butter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Baking time may vary based on your oven, so just keep checking until the top is light brown. I set the timer for 20 and add a minute or 2 if needed. Also, I always rotate the dish half way through baking time. My oven tends to get hotter in the back and otherwise one side would be more crispy than the other.
Remove from the oven, let sit for few minutes. Then transfer on a cooling rack. Wait until completely cool then cut into small squares.
Enjoy! P.S: John suggests serving these with vanilla ice cream! Yum

When I have other ingredients I plan on making my brownie recipe with peppermint patties (this is the only other chocolate in the house, which I didn’t think would go well with this recipe).