Smarties Sugar Cookies {Halloween Recipe} #IAmASmartie

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I love when I can take something that I love and create something equally as great. Smarties are one of my favorite Halloween sweet treats and I love passing them out to trick-or-treaters. Not only are they gluten-free, they're free of most allergens and are low in fat as well. But in this recipe they are most definitely not gluten free. Nor are they low in fat...

By pulsing the Smarties in a food processor I created a flour and used the Smarties in a family sugar cookie recipe. I simply reduced the amount of sugar called for in the recipe and subbed the Smarties flour. The end result was fantastic! A not-too-sweet sugar cookie that was definitely flavored by the Smarties. Yum!

And perfect for any Halloween party coming up. We baked them up for our parish festival's bake sale and they were quite a hit. Three to a bag with a few Smarties thrown in. Who could resist? Here's how to make them:

Smarties Sugar Cookies

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup Smarties, about 20 rolls
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 3 1/2 cups flour, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Unwrap the Smarties and place them in the food processor (I first tried to crush them with a rolling pin with no luck).

2. Pulse the Smarties in the food processor until ground to a fine dust. 

3. Measure out 1/2 cup of Smarties flour.

4. Cream the softened butter, sugar, and Smarties flour in a stand mixer.

5. Add in the egg, vanilla, and corn syrup. Mix well until combined.

6. Sift together the flour and salt.

7. Add the flour mixture into the bowl one cup at a time until combined.

8. Turn the dough out onto some plastic wrap and wrap tightly. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

9. When the dough is done in the fridge, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the dough into strips and then into squares. Roll each square into a ball. I created 1" balls so that the cookies would be small. Feel free to increase or decrease the size of the cookie dough balls.

10. Place the cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet and smash down into a flat circle with a glass cup.

11. Sprinkle with some nonpareils (optional) and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

12. Let the cookies cool completely on a rack before indulging, about 5-10 minutes.

13. Plate (or bag up) and enjoy!

This recipe makes about 70 1" diameter cookies. It can easily be doubled. You can also cut out shapes with cookie cutters by rolling the dough into a flat sheet after taking the dough out of the fridge.

Want to see what else I've done with Smarties? Check out this awesome DIY Smarties Wreath on my blog post here. 

What's your favorite sweet treat this Halloween season?

Disclaimer: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Smarties. All opinions are my own. #CBias #SocialFabric

Getting Unreal is The Perfect Alternative for Trick or Treating this Halloween #NGFoodie

Since having kids I've been a lot more cautious about what I pass out at Halloween-time to trick-or-treaters. I realize how much junk my kids receive in their baskets and I knew I needed to change up what I passed out to the kids who came to our home.

I had the pleasure of trying out some very tasty goodies while at the Social Luxe Lounge in New York and was pleased to find out how they compared to the candy on store shelves today.

UNREAL™ has unjunked America's favorite candy and has created a product without the corn syrup, the artificial ingredients, and the partially hydrogenated oils. Not to mention less sugar. They've even added more cacao, real caramel (not corn syrup dyed to look like caramel), more peanuts, protein, and fiber.

All this is the product of the UNREAL™ culture. UNREAL™ is building an eclectic mix of people from different walks and experiences. A Kashi guy. One from Google. An interior decorator. A P&G’er. A guitarist from Glaceau. A guy from Mars. An actual Oompa Loompa. A dog named Lola.

 You’d never find these people together in any other company in the world. But it works. Why? Because They’re drawn together by a common mission. To challenge what we’ve come to accept in our food and its effect on our health. To change the way junk food is made here in America and around the world. To unjunk the world™.

To see exactly what I'm talking about, check out the comparison above. M&M's compared to the UNREAL™ UN54. How amazing is this? A superior product with less calories AND only 4 more grams of sugar than an orange. Plus these chocolate candy shell peanuts are amazingly tasty!! My kids couldn't get enough.

By passing out UNREAL™ on Halloween you're not only helping your kids recognize the difference in the candy on the shelves and the ingredients in the candy they're consuming, you're also passing on the awesomeness that is UNREAL™ to parents who might not realize that there's a great alternative to the junk they're used to.

For more information check out the UNREAL™ website and see how you can get UNREAL™ this Halloween! Don't forget to keep up with UNREAL™ on Facebook and follow them on twitter at @GetUnreal


The Noise Girls have yet again put together an amazing giveaway event to tantalize your tastebuds! The Fall Foodie Festival giveaway event starts on October 1st so please remember to hurry back and enter for your chance to win.

And Ozeri has joined in on the fun to offer one lucky reader an assortment of UNREAL™ candies of their own in this giveaway.



Disclaimer: I received a set of UNREAL™ candies for review purposes only. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Sugar Craze {Alternatives for Halloween Candy}

Halloween is right around the corner and for most kids Halloween means candy. Lots of candy. But for some families candy just isn't something we want lots of. So in an effort to cut back on the candy in our house this Halloween season I've scoured the web for some great options for our extras. And those options will not include my thighs and backside!

Donate your candy -
Operation Gratitude sends care packages to our troops overseas, and your gummy bears and mini Snickers are more than welcome, especially when your kids include a nice letter of support too. You just pay to ship to California, but an extra $11 donation covers overseas postage. But keep in mind the non-melty stuff is best, or if you send chocolate, you might want to put it in a Zip-Loc first. Check out their flyer for more info here.

Any Soldier will also let you donate candy, and you can even specify which armed service branch, if you have a preference. Another option is Operation Shoebox. Every year they go through tons of candy that they send to our troops and they would be happy to have your left overs too! Operation Shoebox's mailing address is:

Operation Shoebox
8360 E Highway 25
Belleview, FL 34420

Ronald McDonald House Charities accepts candy donation for kids. You can search for a local branch here.

Food pantries, pediatric wards and nursing homes are happy to be able to give out a treat along with the meals. Meals on Wheels is a great place to start. Or search on Feeding America's website to find a local food bank. Finally, churches, synagogues and other places of worship generally have candy drop-offs, if not to donate then at least to hand out to the kids

Bake it into treats -
Adding chocolates (since those are all that you have left over after donating the rest to the troops) into your baked goods not only uses up lots of candy but it also allows a way to re-purpose the candy. Now, don't eat all of the baked goods you make. Donate them to church bake sales, send them home with friends after a playdate, or drop them off with a family who just had a new baby. That last one is definitely on my list ;) (Congrats, Mel!).

Here are a few great recipes to consider from some of my favorite foodie blogs:

Peanut Butter Snickers Cookies over on Brown Eyed Baker's blog
Chocolate Ka-Blamo! Cake (with Twix) over on Ezra Pound Cake's blog
No Bake Milky Way Tarts over on Culinary Concoctions by Peabody's blog
Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie Cups over on Beantown Baker's blog

Re-use the candy -
If your kids are too young to tell the difference you can just refill your own bucket of goodies with whatever your kids bring home. That's right, you can recycle the candy and pass it out again to kids who show up at your doorstep.

Now I don't mean that you have to give away all of your kids candy but by saving a few good pieces for later and doling out the rest you'll resist temptation and sugar craze from the toddler that finds the stash a few days later and is covered in wrappers, melted chocolate and sticky candy. No, I do not know about this from personal experience...

Do you have any great ways to use up extra candy from Halloween? I'd love to hear your suggestions!