Do you have lots of extra Halloween candy sitting around already? I’ve got an easy solution for you – JUNK COOKIES! These Chocolate Junk Cookies are filled with M&M’s, caramel bits, and pretzel pieces. Throw in some Halloween sprinkles and eyeball sprinkles and you’ve got one easy, gluten-free, delicious sweet treat for everyone to enjoy this Halloween!
Does your family have any Halloween traditions?
Every year, after Halloween, my Mom would gather up a lot of the leftover chocolate candies that we got from trick-or-treating and make JUNK COOKIES!
They were SO good. Like.. I would look forward to junk cookies more than Halloween candy! The best of both worlds is a cookie and Halloween candy combined, right?!
This year I wanted to start that tradition with my own kids now. We’ve got some insane chocolate lovers in this house though, so I took my Double Chocolate Chip Cookies and made them into Junk Cookies!
Double the chocolate, filled with candy, these easy and gluten-free cookies will NOT disappoint!
Ready to make some Junk Cookies?
These cookies have the usual steps:
- Beat together your coconut oil (or butter) and sugars in one bowl. Add your egg and vanilla, and beat again till all is well combined.
- Add all the dry ingredients into another bowl, and stir them together.
- Combine your wet and dry ingredients.
- Fold your chopped up candies into the dough.
Chopped up candies, you say? Yes, I’m leaving this pretty broad on purpose. I used M&M’s, caramel bits and gluten-free pretzels because that’s what I had extra sitting around in my pantry. You can do the same, with any different combination of things!
Too many mini snicker bars? Chop those suckers up. Add them to the batter.
Add whatever chocolate candy you’d like to the batter, just be sure they are gluten-free (if that’s necessary for you). If you’d like to add Halloween sprinkles, add them now too.
Do you have separate eyeball sprinkles for a real “monster-like” cookie?
I’d recommend adding the eyeballs into the cookies AFTER they bake. Crazy, right? But, the white of the eyeball can lose some of its color while baking, but if you gently push them into the cookie after they have baked they look just right. Don’t worry, if you accidentally added them already, they will still turn out totally fine! The whites of the eyeballs just may be more opaque.
Now, scoop your cookies out and then put the cookie dough into your fridge for at least one hour.
I know, the chill time is frustrating, cause you want junk cookies STAT! But, the chill time gives the coconut oil (or butter) a chance to firm back up so your cookies don’t spread too thin while baking.. You want thick, delicious cookies, not a thin cookie mess right? Chill your batter 🙂
Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes, or till the edges and tops of the cookies are just starting to set. They may look a touch under done in the center, but as they cool they will firm up and be cooked perfectly. If you cook them too much, they have a tendency to dry out.
Eyeball sprinkle time now!
After your cookies come out of the oven and are still hot, gently push your eyeball sprinkles into the tops of the cookies, wherever you’d like! I only did a few on each cookie, but feel free to go crazy and have eyeballs all over the cookies! These would look fun too with different sizes of eyeball sprinkles.
Let your cookies cool for about 10 minutes and then enjoy!
Does your family have any Halloween traditions? I’d love to know, in the comments below! Happy Halloween everyone!
Looking for other easy Fall treats? Check out my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes or Apple Cider Cupcakes.
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (or butter)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup gluten-free flour (I use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free 1-to-1 flour)
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder (or cacao powder)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup gluten-free pretzels, chopped (or other chopped up candy)
- 1/2 cup m&m's (your favorite flavor)
- 1/2 cup caramel bits (or other chopped up candy)
- 1/2 cup Halloween sprinkles (and eyeball sprinkles)
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In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer, beat together your coconut oil and sugars. Add your egg and vanilla, and beat together again for about a minute.
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In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine your flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Stir till well combined.
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Pour your dry ingredients into the bowl with your wet ingredients and stir together well.
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Fold your chopped up candies and your Halloween sprinkles into your cookie dough. *DO NOT put in any eyeball sprinkles yet: save them for AFTER the cookies have baked to preserve the white color of the eyeballs*
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Scoop your cookie dough into cookies and place in an airtight container in the fridge to chill, for at least 1 hour.
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Preheat your oven to 350. Line a baking pan with parchment paper, and bake your cookies for 9-11 minutes, or till the cookies are just starting to set on top.
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After your cookies come out of the oven, and are still hot, gently push your eyeball sprinkles into the tops of the cookies, wherever you'd like!
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Let them cool for about 10 minutes and then devour!
*Caramel bits oozing out the sides of your cookies? Don't worry. Using a spatula, gently push the oozing caramel back into the edge of the cookie. It will dry hard and turn out great still! *Store these cookies in an airtight container. These cookies taste best within the first few days, but will last about a week.
these are such a fun and yummy way to use up all sorts of candies. love those eyeballs looking at you .
Thank you, Nicole! It is SUCH a great way to use up a lot of the leftover candies! And don’t eyeballs making everything cuter?! 🙂