How to Make After-Halloween Cookie Bars

When Halloween is over, sometimes we find we have lots of candy left. The reason of course, is that  (a) we bought for a large trick or treat crowd that did not materialize, or (b) our children brought home far more than it's healthy for them to eat so quickly. Here's a recipe that will use up all that leftover candy.  After-Halloween Cookie Bars can be made with any kind of candy bar;  milk chocolate,  nougat, nuts, wafers, honeycomb, etc., and the bars are freezeable for eating at a later time. Here's how to make them.

You will need the following ingredients:

1 pkg. plain yellow cake mix

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

8 Tbsps (1 stick) butter, melted

2 eggs

1 cup chopped candy bar pieces

A 13x9" baking pan

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Set out an ungreased 13x9" baking pan.

Put the cake mix, brown sugar, melted butter and eggs in a large mixing bowl and blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and resume blending for 1 more minute.

Using a spatula, fold in the candy bar pieces until well distributed throughout the batter. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top, making sure the batter reaches all sides of the pan.

Bake the cake until it is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely, about one hour. Then cut into 24 bars. Eat or freeze for later.