How To Make Halloween Candy At Home

Halloween candy is still as exciting for most adults as it is for children. It's part of everyone's fall ritual, whether you're taking your kids trick-or-treating or handing out candy to adorable children in costume. Kids love the traditional favorites — and so do many adults. But with packaged goodies full of extra sugar and additives, what could be better than making your favorite candies at home?

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Making your own versions of your favorite candy at home is a fun way to create delicious and festive treats. It's also a great activity to get your kids involved in the kitchen. For a few go-to recipes, check out some of our favorites.

To recreate some staple Halloween favorites, including Reese's, Nestlé Crunch, Snickers, Mounds, and Dots, we used really high-quality chocolate (milk for the Reese's, Crunch, and Snickers and dark for the Mounds). To make them just a little healthier, we lowered the sugar in almost all of the recipes as well. For depth of flavor, praline paste was added to the filling for the peanut butter cups, and to make the Snickers even more peanut-buttery, we used a peanut butter nougat instead of the brand's plain nougat. For the Dots, we used fruit purées with no artificial ingredients. And finally, we added a pinch of salt to almost everything because it helps bring out the flavors in each candy and balance out the sweetness.

While these homemade candies leave out the preservatives and extra sugar, they are equally delicious and resemble the store-bought favorites. They're certainly a better option than the store-bought brands, and may also be a good choice for kids who have allergies or intolerance to certain preservatives or ingredients in factory-made candy bars. And most of these recipes are kid-friendly, too, so you can get in some family time and have a few helpers in the kitchen!