Here's What You Should Do With All Those Leftover Candy Canes

Valentine's Day doesn't have a monopoly on boxed chocolate candies nor is Halloween the only time of year you'll encounter fun-sized Snickers and Twix. The candy cane, however, is pretty inextricably linked with Christmas. As to why this should be, various stories claim symbolic and religious value for these crook-shaped candies, though the truth may be as simple as the fact that they make for easy tree decorations. Once National Candy Cane Day rolls around (for some odd reason, this takes place on December 26), these particular confections are already past their seasonal peak so you may find yourself with a surplus. 

Of course, there's nothing to stop you from packing the candy canes away until next year, since hard candies can last for several years. Still, if you'd rather not grant them the storage space, there are many ways you can enjoy them now, and maybe even extend the season a bit. (Peppermint-flavored Valentine's? We're all for it.) With most of these recipes, the fun part starts before you begin, since the best way to repurpose candy canes in beverages and baking often involves smashing them to bits. For this purpose, it's best to leave them in their wrappers and enclose them in a resealable plastic bag for another layer of protection. Now grab a hammer and start bashing. Once you're done, you can simply open up one end of the plastic and pour out the peppermint.

For good reason, peppermint is chocolate's bff because the former's cool, clean flavor offsets the latter's sweet richness. For this reason, your smashed candy canes will complement just about any chocolate recipe you have in mind. Making chocolate cupcakes? Swirl some peppermint bits into the batter or sprinkle them over the frosting. Chocolate chip cookies? Fold them in along with the chips.

Should you be searching for a new recipe, we've got you covered. How about a good old-fashioned wacky cake where crushed candy canes take the place of the nonpareils? They can also be the not-secret ingredient in a batch of chocolate-mayo cupcakes or add a colorful touch to our otherwise monochromatic chocolate ganache thumbprints. If you're in a marshmallow mood, candy canes can be used to flavor the filling in our homemade Joe Louis cakes or scattered over the top of our oven-baked s'mores dip. Peppermint candies also make a delightful addition to brownies, whether they be our espresso-enhanced Ben & Jerry's-style fudge brownies or these no-bake brownies made with graham cracker crumbs.

Even if candy canes and chocolate are a match made in alliterative heaven, that doesn't mean peppermint and vanilla can't be an equally delightful combination. In fact, combining candy cane with a less assertive flavor allows the peppermint to have the upper hand. One of the simplest (and yet most delicious) ways to enjoy a leftover candy cane treat involves making vanilla fudge from just two ingredients: a can of frosting and a bag of white chocolate chips. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes over the top of the fudge after it's cooled just enough that the candy won't melt but before it sets up.

Crushed candy canes can be used to coat sugar cookies or you could bake a simple shortbread (our Walker's copycat recipe involves nothing more than sugar, butter, and flour) and dip all or part of the cookie in melted white chocolate before following up with a dunk in broken candy cane bits. Another easy idea involves stirring candy cane chunks into vanilla pudding or whipped cream and layering it with cookie crumbs to make a parfait. This same peppermint pudding could also be piled into a pie crust and topped with whipped cream (peppermint or plain) along with another sprinkling of candy crumbs.

While we already touched on the idea of using candy cane bits in baking, one particular kind of cookie (candy?) deserves to be singled out as one of the absolute best treats of all time: Christmas "crack." The name may come from the fact that it's made with a cracker base or it may refer to the fact that you basically break it up into raggedy chunks as it comes out of the pan.

Make Christmas crack by filling a greased 10 x 15-inch baking sheet with either saltines or crackers. (I sometimes forget to grease it and the crack still comes out okay.) Melt two sticks of butter with a cup of brown sugar, spread it over the top of the crackers, then bake them at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about five minutes. As soon as the candy-coated crackers come out of the oven, sprinkle a bag of chocolate chips over the top, then leave these for a few minutes until they start to melt. Once they do, spread them in an even layer over the crackers, then sprinkle on the crushed candy canes. This stuff is perfection, I'm telling you, whether during the holiday season or any other time of the year.

Of course, if you want an even simpler recipe, you could make our DIY Thin Mints. For these, all you do is take your cracker and dip it in melted chocolate. While mint chocolate is typically used for that Girl Scout copycat flavor, you can instead opt for plain chocolate and embellish the cookies with crushed candy canes for a similar effect.

To use your leftover candy canes to flavor a warm beverage, you won't even need to smash them up. Fun fact: Drop a peppermint candy into a hot cup of coffee and it will immediately start melting. It will also make the coffee taste pretty good, too. If you really want an extra-indulgent treat, you can sweeten the coffee with chocolate syrup or stir in some cocoa powder for chocolate flavor without added sugar. Top the peppermint-flavored coffee with a blop of whipped cream, then add another candy cane as a stirring stick. (It, too, will melt in time, although eating the half-melted cane is the best part.)

If you're not a coffee drinker, candy canes are just as good (some might say better) when added to hot chocolate. Again, all you need to do is drop a cane in the cup and you're good to go. While this will work just fine with a Swiss Miss-type powdered mix, if you want to go all out you should try this trick with our super-rich hot chocolate recipe that includes both milk and cream along with two kinds of chocolate.

If you haven't considered the possibilities of peppermint milk, all it takes is a broken candy cane and a cup of moo juice. Take about five one-inch chunks of the former, steep them for an hour in the latter, then strain them out and enjoy. Conversely, don't strain the candy and enjoy it as a lagniappe. You can also blend that milk (candy chunks and all) with half a cup of strong coffee, two cups of ice cubes, and enough chocolate syrup to turn it into a knockoff peppermint mocha frappuccino. If you're still in a holiday mood, another idea is to use crushed candy canes to upgrade your glass of eggnog with a peppermint rim.

My favorite way to use leftover candy canes, however (besides the aforementioned Christmas crack) is something a bit more unexpected: peppermint lemonade. This was an accidental discovery by my son, who was about seven at the time. We were visiting a café shortly after Christmas, and despite it being winter we'd ordered lemonade. There were free mini candy canes at the register, so he took a few and dropped them in the drink. As they dissolved, the flavor was amazing! We later used this experiment as the basis for his second-grade science fair entry, and while no great scientific breakthroughs were made, his class and teacher loved the drink.