Christmas Candy Cookies

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NestleHoliday #CollectiveBias ~ Our Christmas Candy Cookies are a practical way to use up leftover holiday candy. Easy to make and delicious too, your kids will ask for them all year long! ~

We love the holidays, but who doesn’t, right? And when your home is full of children, it’s hard not to get caught up in all of their excitement. But what we really love most about the holiday season is the numerous opportunities that we have to come together as a family to eat, play and craft together.

Our children love putting their hearts and souls into making homemade gifts for our family, so we get the kids together often to make decorations for their relatives. These little craft sessions also include lots of tasty treats because sometimes, crafting doesn’t always go the way you planned, and you need to bribe the kiddos with snacks!

During a recent cousins playdate, we were trying to get the kids to make some Ribbon Tree ornaments for Grandma. But they were all wound up from school and really had no interest in calming down for a few minutes to craft with us. Fortunately, I had guessed that this might happen, so I whipped up some festive snacks for them while they were at school.

In our home, chocolate chip cookies are always our “Go-to” treat. They’re easy to make and quite delicious too. However, I had picked up a really cool fudge kit from Walmart the other day and I was dying to test it out. The kit itself was packed full of everything I needed to make some homemade fudge and I wanted to see how easy it could be. (Hint: it makes an awesome Secret Santa gift for busy friends and family members — not only is the fudge delicious, but everything they need (except for butter) is right inside the box!!)

On my shopping trip to Walmart, I also picked up some holiday candy because I simply can’t resist chocolates in shiny foil!! I decided that I would make the kids some pretty wacky Christmas Candy Cookies. Once the fudge had set, I chopped up the fudge and some of my holiday candy into bite-sized pieces and added it to our regular chocolate chip cookie batter. The end result was a tasty, crispy cookie that I knew the kids would love.

They were so excited when they saw the plate of cookies laid out before them that they agreed to sit down and craft with us…as long as they got big glasses of milk to wash the cookies down with!

Are you looking for more ways to enjoy NESTLÉ® over the holidays? Then check out the NESTLÉ® Flavorful Moments Pinterest board for more delicious ideas!

Makes approximately 36 cookies.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups chopped candy and fudge (We used a combination of NESTLÉ® BUTTERFINGER® Jingle Bells, NESTLÉ® CRUNCH® Jingles and homemade fudge from the NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Famous Fudge Kit.)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Step 2: Chop up candy and fudge into small bits. Set aside.

Step 3: Beat both sugars and softened butter together with a hand mixer until creamy. Add vanilla and eggs; beat until combined.

Step 4: In a separate bowl, stir together flour and baking soda. Once mixed, gradually beat flour mixture into egg mixture.

Step 5: Add chopped candy and chocolate chips. Stir together with a wooden spoon.

Step 6: Drop cookies by the teaspoonful on a parchment lined cookie sheet about 2″ apart. Bake cookies for approximately 10 minutes until edges are set and cookies are golden brown.

Happy Holidays!

Denine