These little trashed up shortbread cookie bars are just AMAZING, and they’re a great way to use up leftover Halloween candy! Buttery shortbread cookie bars laden with candy bits make for one amazing treat!
These trashed up shortbread cookie bars that use leftover Halloween candy were originally posted celebrating the fabulous Jessica Merchant of How Sweet Eats for her virtual baby shower in 2014. Wow how time flies! She is now preggo with her second baby and after making these following my first Halloween with a Ben this year, I thought it only fitting to reshare these and update the post (I’ve made these bars coutless times over the years, they’re always a hit at parties)!
How was your Halloween? As you might have seen on my Instagram, Ben was a little skunk. But, ummm….he hated being in his costume lol. He literally had a full on meltdown with tears every time we put him in it lol. Nick even tried “no crying when we’re flying” which was the cutest thing ever. He still cried. Next year he might enjoy being dressed up?
Ok, so these shortbread cookie bars come from having about a million and one pieces of left over Halloween candy. Why do I have so much left over Halloween candy? Because my husband is a giant softie when it comes to buying candy for trick-or-treaters.
He goes overboard to say the least. Like suuuuuper overboard. I distinctly remember the conversation: Me ‘honey, we don’t need a shopping cart for one bag of Halloween candy’ My Hubby ‘yes we do, we need at least 5 bags so we don’t run out.’ I just rolled my eyes and went with it, hey, I didn’t want to be the Grinch that stole Halloween.
We didn’t get as many trick-or-treaters as we did in our old neighborhood, so I was stuck with all this leftover candy lol (we used to get hundreds – I’d say about 400-500 kids and we’d run out of candy every year, this year we only got about 100, so yeah, tons of leftover candy.)
In all honesty, there’s only SO MUCH Halloween one can eat without getting sick of it, right?
So I set out to baking these little beauties, they are perfect for using all that left over Halloween candy!
I had been staring at the empty candy wrappers and said to my hubby ‘I should call these candy trash shortbread cookie bars’ and it was his turn to laugh.
You’ll want to cut the bars right after they come out of the oven, then you’ll frost them:
Then you’ll let them cool, sprinkle a little sanding sugar on them and bring them to a party or baby shower. Another cool thing about these trashed up shortbread bars is that they keep very well for a few days, so if you need to make them ahead of time, go for it and just store them in an air tight container.
Trashed Up Shortbread Cookie Bars (that use leftover Halloween candy)
Print RateIngredients
- For the bars:
- 3 sticks butter unsalted, at room temperature (1 1/2 cups butter)
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 2½ cups flour
- ⅓ cup cornstarch
- 1 cup candy crushed (I used 2 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, a ½ cup Whoppers, and ⅓ Cup Heath Bars)
- ⅛-1/4 cup water
- -For the frosting-
- 3 Tbs Butter melted
- ¼ cup milk
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- -optional-
- 1-2 Tbs sanding sugar for topping (I used this golden sanding sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9x13 baking dish (I use this one) with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat butter for 1 minute, then scrape down the sides and add the powdered sugar and beat on low until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour and the corn starch. Beat slowly until the dough resembles a crumbly mixture.
- Next add the cup of candy pieces and beat until incorporated. If it is very dry and crumbly, add ⅛-1/4 Cup water so that the mixture comes together.
- Spread/press into the prepared baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown on the edges. Remove from oven, and immediately lift/transfer the parchment paper and shortbread bars to a cutting board or flat surface and cut them into squares, and then cut each square diagonally.
- While the shortbread bars are baking make the frosting. To do so, mix all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer until they are creamy and well mixed together. Pour frosting over the warm, cut shortbread bars. If using sanding sugar sprinkle it on top of the frosting.
- Allow bars to cool completely, then separate them with a butter knife by running the knife along the lines you have already cut. Then enjoy!
Brian @ A Thought For Food says
We have SO much candy leftover from Halloween. I made my husband bring most of it to work. We still have a small stash here. These shortbread bars are such a fabulous and fun idea!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for your comment, these shortbread bars are absolutely perfect for using left over Halloween candy in 🙂
jlampe12 says
Oh man, I want these so bad. They look amazing!!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much!
Lynn Lovejoy from Order in the Kitchen says
Phi you are too adorable. I love these shortbread cookie bars and they SO fit Jessica! You are amazing lady!!
Sweetphi says
Awe, thank you so much girl, truly appreciate the comment 🙂
Jessica says
oh my gosh. THESE ARE TO DIE FOR. i can’t get over them. thank you so much!! XOXOXO
Sweetphi says
You’re so welcome beautiful girl, ALL the congratulations in the world as you bring your beautiful baby into this world (and I have no doubt he or she will be the snazziest kid evvvver !)
wearenotmartha says
Seriously, why am I not eating these for breakfast right now??
Sues
Sweetphi says
These would definitely make one sweet breakfast…pun intended lol. And I have to fess up…I did have one of these cookie bars on my way to work 😉
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
haha love the story about your hubby, alllll the candy!!
Sweetphi says
All the candy, right? Wasn’t he being a little ridiculous? I totally made fun of him lol, but I still <3 him 😉
Liz @ The Lemon Bowl says
Dang girl – you know how to get down with the trashy theme!! Love this!
Sweetphi says
Haha thank you so much Liz, can you tell I had way to much fun with it? lol