Use that leftover candy in desserts

With a few kitchen tricks, a bag of treats can be a bag of ingredients to help put a variety of dishes on the table.

Short on bread crumbs? Use up those bags of chips or pretzels that are turning to crumbs in the kids' bedrooms for coating meat or fish.

Too many candy bars? Use them to create a special dessert or bake them into cookies.

Boxes of raisins can find their way into a salad or trail mix.

It takes a little creativity to see the potential behind all of the candy and chips, but it's better than seeing it wasted, especially when there's such an excess supply.

Even the best candy fanatics can get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of treats, and more often than not, the kids won't finish it all. You can easily siphon off a few ingredients for dinner.

Pretzels and chips are the ultimate coating material. Try a pretzel-crusted pork tenderloin or chicken breast. Add a honey mustard sauce, and you've found the perfect complement for chicken, pork and pretzels.

Home cooks have been topping casseroles with crushed potato chips for years. But try using them to bread fish for an extra crunchy topping that packs more flavor than plain bread crumbs.

Those boxes of raisins forgotten among the chocolate and sugary snacks can be added to hundreds of recipes, from bread and baked goods to salads, rice pilaf and chicken dishes.

Pretzels, candy-coated chocolates like M&Ms and raisins combine for a fine trail mix. Add them to a bowl of popcorn or dry cereal and toss in some peanuts for a snack mix the whole family will enjoy that isn't pure sugar.

Finally, all of that candy is just calling for use in a dessert.

Candy bars of all sorts can be broken up and substituted for chocolate chips in your favorite cookie recipe. Candy-bar pieces also make for a great ice-cream stir-in.

When you have bags of leftover candy from overcalculating the number of trick-or-treaters who would visit your door, turn them into something really special like this Snickers Bar Cheesecake. If you don't have enough of one kind of candy, use a variety and turn it into Candy Bar Cheesecake.

Snickers Bar Cheesecake

Makes: One 9 1/2-inch cheesecake

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs

• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Filling:

• 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, softened

• 1 cup sugar

• 4 eggs

• 1 tablespoon vanilla

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1 1/2 cups small pieces of snack-size Snickers Bars

Topping:

• 4 1/2 cups small pieces of snack-size Snickers Bars

To make crust, combine wafer crumbs and butter.

Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 1/2-inch springform pan. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

To make filling, with an electric mixer set on medium speed, combine cream cheese and sugar, beating until smooth.

Add eggs, one at a time.

Add vanilla and heavy cream. Beat at medium speed for 5 minutes.

Fold in Snickers Bar pieces.

Pour filling into crust and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until cheesecake is almost set in center.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 1 to 2 hours.

Top cooled cheesecake with Snickers Bar pieces and chill for 4 to 6 hours.

Adapted from www.epicurean.com