Kit Kat Bars & Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  I love dressing up and going to parties, but what I like even more is going trick or treating with my boys.  The entire day building up to actually going out trick or treating is almost as long as Christmas Eve.  “When is going to be dark? When are we going out?”  We went to my aunt & uncle’s house this year, like we do some years, mostly because they have a more condensed neighborhood.  We walked around the neighborhood for awhile with my parents, my uncle, and one of my cousins (pictured below with my boys).  They totally scored in the candy department this year.  The thing is that they don’t really eat the candy, so we decided that we would bake something with some of the candy.  We took a vote and the Kit Kats won.

Ingredients & Directions:

• 2 1/4 Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 C (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 C Granulated Sugar
• 3/4 C Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 Lrg Eggs
• 1 C Chocolate Chips (more or less as desired)
• 1 C Crushed Kit Kat Bars

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and crushed Kit Kat bars (see below for how I did that).  Grease 15 x 10-inch pan (I used a smaller deeper one, but had to increase the time). Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Crushed candy bars are easy.  My favorite way to do it is place them in a plastic baggie, preferably a durable one, and then crush them with a rubber mallet.  It’s also a great way to get rid of pent up frustration (just be careful that you don’t crush them too hard, think of someone you only sort of don’t like).

You can always substitute the Kit Kats in this recipe for any candy that you like or have too many after Halloween.  I am sure these would make great cookies too.

(Steven)