5 Creative Ways to Use Leftover Easter Candy
The Easter Bunny has hopped back down the bunny trail and all that's left behind are several dozen deviled eggs and about twenty pounds of holiday-themed candy. Chocolate rabbits, peanut butter eggs, colorful malt balls and jellybeans galore filled baskets to capacity and you may even compound the problem if you get sucked in by the bins of colorful confections marked 50% off the following week. Seems like we just finished up all the Halloween candy garnered last fall when this pastel flood of sweetness descended on our holiday-loving home. Candy is dandy, but sicker comes quicker with Easter candy threatening our waistlines and our sanity.
Too much Easter candy may be a first-world problem, but so it goes. What's to be done with a sugary seasonal surplus? Here are a few things to try when trying to close the door on Easter excesses.
Freeze It
Jellybeans don't fare well in the deep freeze, but most of the other treats found in the Easter basket will last for many months when stored in an airtight container and hidden away in the back of the freezer. Seal chocolate, marshmallow, caramel and other freezer-friendly candy in Ziploc bags, freeze 'em and forget 'em. Sometime this summer, the candy that you were sick of in April will be a delightful find.
Transform It
Easter sweets lose their charm more quickly than we expect, but copious candy can find new life in baked goods. Chocolate bars and Peeps will be a campfire favorite melted on graham crackers for colorful s'mores. M&Ms are great stand-ins as chocolate chips in cookies or brownies, Peeps can used to make Rice Krispies treats and over-sized chocolate bunnies can be melted down and combined with cream to produce a bunny-fueled chocolate fondue.
Decorate With It
Jellybeans, M&Ms and malted robin's eggs all stand up pretty well at room temperature. Fill a vase or decorative jar with the leftovers to add a colorful accent to any room. Better still, fill decorative candy dishes and leave them within reach.
RELATED: 11 Fun Ways to Decorate With Mason Jars
Just Go With It
We have a tradition at our house I refer to as the "After Easter Sundae," but the kids gleefully call "Dead Bunny Day." Gather up family and friends for an ice cream social at which leftover Easter candy is chopped, grated, melted or otherwise mutilated for use as ice cream toppers or blended into milkshakes. Adorned with diced peeps, crushed creme eggs and the occasional trophy chocolate bunny ears, it is sugar-fueled madness that clears away much of the leftover candy and extends the holiday to include one more get-together.
Give It Away
Sometimes the only solution is to banish the once appealing surplus from the house. Office break rooms are well-known black holes in which candy left on the counter will quickly disappear without a trace. Unopened candy can also find a welcoming recipient when donated to organizations who accept candy for distribution to hospitals, homeless shelters or troops stationed overseas.
-By Mick Telkamp for DIYNetwork.com
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