It’s November. The skeletons and costumes have returned to storage and the trek to Thanksgiving break and final exams continues. What’s left behind? The candy. Whether you bought a surplus anticipating trick-or-treaters, or waited until Nov. 1 to buy bags of seasonal candy for half-off, you may find yourself with excess treats. Why not incorporate them into some breakfast treats to make brunch a little bit sweeter? I did some experimenting in my kitchen with some of my remaining treats. Here are the results:
Chocolate chunk pancakes
For this first dish, I used one of the mini Hershey’s chocolate bars for a twist on chocolate chip pancakes.
Ingredients:
Pancake mix, with ingredients needed on the box Mini chocolate bar (but you can add/subtract as much as you’d like, I won’t stop you)
Whipped cream (for topping)
Instructions:
1) Chop up the mini bar into small chunks.
2) Chop up the mini bar into small chunks.
3) Chop up the mini bar into small chunks.
4) Chop up the mini bar into small chunks.
5) Chop up the mini bar into small chunks.
One chocolate bar is enough to create three pancakes – four, if the remaining chocolate isn’t used as garnish.
Kit-Kat and banana french toast
This recipe was also improvised. I have lots of seasonal Kit-Kats leftover in my house, and I had some ripe bananas, so I thought, “Why not try to make a food influencer-inspired?” The result: a very sweet– and interesting –take on french toast.
Ingredients:
Two slices of bread
One large ripe banana
Two average-sized Kit-Kat bars (again, I’m not looking if you decide to add another one or two)
Two eggs
Syrup and powdered sugar (for topping)
Instructions:
1) Shred your Kit-Kat bars, and put the shreddings into a bowl.
2) Beat your eggs in a bowl and pour onto a plate. Sprinkle a generous heap of the chocolate shavings into the eggs and mix.
3) Mash the ripe banana in a separate bowl. Add the crushed Kit Kat pieces in and stir.
4) Lay the two pieces of bread onto the egg plate and flip them to let the slices soak up the egg mixture.
5) In a heated pan, place the two pieces of coated bread and let one side cook.
6) Once the bottom half of both bread slices are cooked, flip them over and put a tablespoon of the banana mix on each cooked side. Close them together to make a sandwich.
7) Cook both sides of the bread slices. Make sure to press down on them to allow the slices to stick together.
8) Once cooked, put the french toast on a plate and drizzle some syrup and powdered sugar on top!
Hot chocolate
Ingredients:
One cup of milk
One mini chocolate bar (if you want more chocolate flavor, go for it)
Instructions:
1) Heat the measured milk in a small saucepan.
2) Once warm, toss the unwrapped chocolate bar into the saucepan, stir and let it melt.
3) Once the chocolate is melted, take the saucepan off the heat. Let it cool down before pouring and serving.
Still have leftover Halloween treats and no appetite for them?
Why not donate them? Organizations including Operation Gratitude put care packages together for service members and their caregivers. Some dentist offices collect candy and donate it as well. You could even check with local charities to see if they are accepting donations. Be sure to follow coronavirus guidelines when dropping off donations.
