The all-month-long candython

October, and we cannot go to a store without running across pumpkins and candy corns. Up next: pilgrims and Christmas trees. We are officially in celebration mode.

But first, there’s the big question: What should we do with all the leftover candy accumulated on Halloween (and all month long, if we’re honest)?

Of course there’s the fun-mom answer, which would be to keep the candy within reach until it’s all gone – a candython run up to the holidays, if you will. After all, why stop when we know pumpkin pie and cookie seasons are upon us?

Then there’s the mean-mom answer, which was me, and it means you let everyone choose one piece of candy for their lunch box for each day of the week following Halloween, and then the magical Candy Fairy comes for the rest of it. Poof, it’s all disappeared.

But there are more creative ways to handle the embarrassment of riches amassed in rainbow-colored balls of sugar and crunchy krispies swathed in chocolate.

For years, Melanie Patton, who now works at Northern Trust Bank, would hop on a school bus with her fellow teachers at Bales Intermediate School in Friendswood to deliver extra Halloween candy to police and fire departments. “There was just so much candy,” she says, “and so much of it goes to waste!”

Elyse Kalmans says she will sometimes send extra treats to her husband Lewis’ Morgan Stanley office for the office candy bowl. Or she will send it to Kinkaid (where she and her three daughters went to school; one is still there) to make the teachers’ lounge a little more festive.

Others ship candy off to our troops. Check out the Treats for Troops program at SoldiersAngels.org or OperationShoebox.com to learn how.

Or, you might choose to give the candy a second life. First-year South Texas College of Law student Ahava Guefen says, “Make Everything But the Kitchen Sink Cookies! Just make the same batter as chocolate chip cookies and add in the random candies after smashing them in a Ziploc. You can also add pretzel pieces and potato chips. Also, this may go without saying, but this works best with chocolate-based candies.”

Another way to reincarnate the candy: Halloween Candy Milkshakes with (delicious) Marshmallow Cream. This is a concoction we shared in our weekly, online “Back Porch Table” column a couple of years ago, when I was grappling with the question of whether to share a virtuous, counter-sugar recipe for salad or veggies on Nov. 1, or go all-out with the candy. Sugar won.

Both Everything But the Kitchen Sink Cookies and Halloween Candy Milkshakes are totally customizable. Butterfingers? Snickers? Whoppers? Bring ’em on. There’s no going wrong here.

For everyone donating their candy, bless you. For the rest of us mortals, we’ll just keep rolling through the holidays with the sugar.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Cookies

This is the original Tollhouse Cookie recipe embellished with Halloween candy.

2 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups chopped Halloween candy

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Stir the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl. In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in the flour mixture, just until it is combined. Stir in the candy. Drop overflowing tablespoons of cookie dough onto two cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Halloween Candy Milkshakes with Marshmallow Cream

If you want something more grown-up, replace the milk with Bailey’s Irish Cream or brandy.

½ cup heavy whipping cream
½ cup marshmallow fluff
3 scoops vanilla or chocolate ice cream (we like Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla for this)
1 ⁄ 3 cup milk
3 fun-sized candy bars

In a stand mixer or with a hand-held mixer, beat the heavy cream with the marshmallow fluff until stiff peaks form. Set the whipped marshmallow cream aside.

Put the milk in a blender, then the ice cream. Blend it together, and check the consistency. If you want a thinner shake, add a tiny bit more milk and blend again. Throw 2 fun-sized candy bars into the blender. Pulse 2 or 3 times, just enough to sort of chop up the candy, but not enough to puree it. Pour the milkshake into a glass, and top with a big dollop of the marshmallow cream and another chopped-up fun-sized candy bar.