Jeff Mauro's Ultimate Recipe Hack For Leftover Halloween Candy - Exclusive

Whether you're all about pumpkin carving and cute little ghosts or you go all in for the horror and gore, there's one thing we can all come together and celebrate when Halloween rolls around: the excuse to chow down on as much candy as your heart desires. Even if you outgrew trick-or-treating ages ago, that doesn't mean there isn't something nostalgic and satisfying about tearing into a handful (or two) of your favorite miniature wrapped candies.

That's true in Jeff Mauro's house, at least. The co-host of Food Network's "The Kitchen" says he and his family live for Halloween. Even though at his house, "we have transcended trick-or-treating," he said, they go "all out" for the holiday, adding, "It is insane how much I care about it." Of course, that still includes collecting mounds and mounds of candy.

That means Mauro is probably not immune to the post-Halloween dilemma we've all faced when the candy coma kicks in and you know you've reached your sugar intake limit. What do you do with all that leftover candy? In an exclusive interview with Tasting Table, Mauro shared his favorite way to use up leftover Halloween treats — and it also happens to be one of his favorite recipes. Grab your stash and get ready to take your sweet tooth to a whole other level.

When you've had your fill and the thought of another Snickers or Kit-Kat or Reese's (oh my!) feels like a trick more than a treat, then save your appetite and make Jeff Mauro's recipe for Candy Bucket Cookies, which is available on Food Network. Mauro himself called them "legendary" when speaking to Tasting Table, adding, "It's my favorite cookie of the year."

The recipe is so easy it's scary. Simply "chop up all the appropriate candy," which in Mauro's case includes "Snickers, Reese's, and Butterfingers." He made sure to mention that not all Halloween candy works for these cookies, insisting, "You don't want to put gummies in there — you don't want to put sugary Sprees or Dum Dums, stuff like that." But if you use "your favorite chocolate based-candies," you can't go wrong.

The candy gets folded into a very basic "foundation cookie recipe that holds all those wonderfully." You won't need much beyond the basics of butter, flour, sugar, and vanilla. The dough gets scooped out onto a baking sheet, and 15 minutes later, you'll have cookies so good that you might even get your holidays confused and think Christmas came early.

You can see Jeff Mauro, the whole cast of "The Kitchen," and so much more at the 2022 Food Network New York City Wine and Food Festival presented by Capital One on October 13-16. Click here to learn more.