6 Genius Ways to Use Up Candy Canes

Use your surplus of candy canes to add a minty crunch and festive color to your favorite holiday treats.

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Molten Chocolate Cake with Crushed Candy Canes

Buying out the convenience store's stock of candy canes in bulk might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but odds are you'll have more of the striped sweets than you know what to do with. Use your surplus of the seasonal candies to add a minty crunch and festive color to your favorite holiday treats.

Give homemade cakes a fallen-snow effect (and a minty crunch) by sprinkling crushed candy canes over the top. Anne Burrell's  Molten Chocolate Cake with Crushed Candy Canes may look tricky to pull off, but it's actually quite easy to achieve the chocolate-oozing center.

Candy Cane Bark

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Chef Name: Food Network Kitchen Full Recipe Name: Bark Talent Recipe: FNK Recipe: Food Networks Kitchen’s Bark, as seen on Foodnetwork.com Project: Foodnetwork.com, HOLIDAY/SUPER BOWL/COMFORT/HEALTHY Show Name: Food Network / Cooking Channel: Food Network

Photo by: Renee Comet ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved

Renee Comet, 2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved

Use chopped candy canes to deck your own DIY  Candy Cane Bark. This chocolatey treat makes a stellar edible holiday gift, and white chocolate works particularly well with the minty qualities of the candy canes.

Sunny's Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookies

The idea of loading up a batch of cookies with chocolate chips is no surprise, but bringing candy canes into the mix is another story.  Sunny's Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookies feature coarsely crushed red and green candy canes, plus a little pumpkin pie spice for added holiday cheer.

DIY Peppermint Vodka

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Chef Name: Food Network Kitchen Full Recipe Name: DIY Peppermint Vodka Talent Recipe: Food Networks Kitchen’s DIY Peppermint Vodka, as seen on Foodnetwork.com FNK Recipe: Project: Foodnetwork.com, HOLIDAY/SUPER BOWL/COMFORT/HEALTHY Show Name: Food Network / Cooking Channel: Food Network

Photo by: Renee Comet ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved

Renee Comet, 2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved

For the merriest candy-cane use of all, steep the seasonal candies in liquor. Infuse the minty candies into vodka for DIY Peppermint Vodka, bottle it up and give it as a present.

Candy Cane Cereal Treats

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Chef Name: Food Network Kitchen Full Recipe Name: Cereal Treats Talent Recipe: FNK Recipe: Food Networks Kitchen’s Cereal Treats, as seen on Foodnetwork.com Project: Foodnetwork.com, HOLIDAY/SUPER BOWL/COMFORT/HEALTHY Show Name: Food Network / Cooking Channel: Food Network

Photo by: Renee Comet ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved

Renee Comet, 2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved

Kids will rejoice over these holiday-inspired  Cereal Treats. Simply fold chopped candy canes into the melted marshmallow-loaded cereal before packing it in the pan, to bring a hint of mint and a different kind of crunch.

White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

FNK Development; White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

Photo by: Armando Rafael ©2015, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved

Armando Rafael, 2015, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved

Use up excess holiday candy canes in easy, creamy homemade White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge. This recipes makes over a hundred pieces of fudge, so it can be given to everyone on your list as an edible treat.

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