Happy Halloween!
Today’s post is all about learning how to survive that big bad candy bowl sitting by your front door and deciding which candy bars are the skinniest choices for sneaking out of your kids trick or treat bags….
Because lets be serious. We’re all going to eat a candy bar or two.. or three… but with a couple easy tricks you can easily navigate how to indulge in some Halloween fun without totally splitting your skinny’s! It’s all about moderation ladies and gents. If you tell yourself you can’t eat any candy you’re setting yourself up for a possible sugar binge later in the evening. So let’s choose wisely and enjoy ourselves!
The first trick is to put out some healthier snacking options by the candy bowl.
This way, instead of being tempted into grabbing a new candy bar every time the doorbell rings you can feel a lot less guilty munching on a sweet snack – like my “Snickers” Peanut Butter Caramel Corn! This sweet snack is loaded with creamy peanut butter, salty peanuts, rich caramel, and drizzled in a smooth milk chocolate. You can eat a whole 3/4 cup of this stuff for about 170 calories . So for the caloric equivalent of about 2 little fun size candy bars you can eat almost a cup of this caramel corn!
The second trick is to educate yourself about which candy bars are your lowest cal option. My resident RD, Ashley, has put together 3 fab tips for you all!
1. Fun Size! Its all about the fun size. Fun size is fit size because its portion controlled. Don’t even try and let yourself sneak into that king sized Reese’s… because you know your going to eat both peanut butter cups!
2. Non-chocolate candies are all typically fat free – skittles, dots, starbursts, etc. But don’t let the fat-free fool you – these are all still loaded with sugar! And that still means calories ladies. A calorie is a calorie and those little sugar drops are going to stick right to your pretty little butt. So just because they’re fat free doesn’t mean you can polish off the whole bag!
3. Look for less dense candies like 3 Musketeers and York Peppermint Patties, these are lower calorie than denser picks like Reese’s Pumpkins and Snickers. Boo.
I’m listing below the calorie counts on a bunch of popular candy items. This way you can make smarter decisions raiding the candy bowl!
So what are your best bets when choosing Halloween Candy?
Halloween Candy Guide
printable spreadsheet for easy access!
| Fun Size | Mini | |
| 3 Musketeers |
70 calories, 2 g fat |
24 calories, 0.7 g fat |
| Milk Way |
80 calories, 3 g fat |
38 calories 1.5 g fat |
| Snickers |
80 calories, 4 g fat |
45 calories, 2 g fat |
| Twix Bar |
80 calories, 4 g fat |
50 calories, 2.6 g fat |
| Starbursts |
40 calories, 1 g fat |
|
| Reese’s Pumpkin |
110 calories, 3.5 g fat |
44 calories, 2.6 g fat |
| Butterfinger |
85 calories, 3.5 g fat |
44 calories, 2.6 g fat |
| Baby Ruth |
83 calories, 4 g fat |
53 calories, 2 g fat |
| Kit Kat |
70 calories, 3.7 g fat |
42 calories, 2.6 g fat |
| York Peppermint Pattie Pumpkin |
50 calories, 1 g fat |
|
| Nestle Crunch |
70 calories, 3.5 g fat |
50 calories, 2.5 g fat |
| M&Ms pouch |
73 calories, 3.3 g fat |
|
| M&Ms Peanut pouch |
90 calories, 5 g fat |
|
| Dots |
70 calories, 0 g fat |
|
| Skittles |
80 calories, 1 g fat |
|
| Whoppers |
100 calories, 4 g fat |
|
| Charms Blow Pop |
60 calories, 0 g fat |
|
| Tootsie Pop |
60 calories, 0 g fat |
|
| Tootsie Roll Bar |
50 calories, 1.25 g fat |
|
|
Almond Joy |
85 calories, 4.5 g fat |
Calorie counts generated from calorieking.com and hungrygirl.com
Hungry Girl also has an AWESOME guide for calorie counts and weight watcher points for a zillion candies. For even more counts check out her page here.
And check out my “Snickers” Peanut Butter Caramel Corn recipe below for a lower cal sugar fix! I slightly adapted an already delicious recipe from Cooking Light Magazine!
“Snickers” Peanut Butter Caramel Corn
Yields 20 servings (3/4 cup per serving)
Ingredients:
- Cooking spray
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels
- 1/2 cup lightly salted peanuts
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2/3 cup light-colored corn syrup
- 2 1/2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 teaspoons non-hydrogenated shortening
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 250°.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; coat paper with cooking spray.
- Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add popcorn and cover; cook 4 minutes, shaking pan frequently. When popping slows, remove pan from heat. Let stand until popping stops. Uncover; add peanuts.
- Combine sugar, syrup, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and vanilla; stir until smooth. Drizzle over popcorn; toss well. Spread mixture out onto prepared pan. Bake at 250° for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool completely.
- Carefully melt milk chocolate and shortening in a microwave safe bowl, heating for 60 second or until smooth, stopping every 15 minutes to stir. Drizzle over cooled popcorn and let sit until the chocolate has hardened.
Thanks for the helpful calorie/fat info! Those spider cups are simply adorable!
So I’m making this. End o story. OMG I cannot wait!
Yeah Michael seconded that emotion. This is prob. the next sweet I’ll be making.
hahaha! Yayy!! Let me know how you like it! I had to bring in the rest of the batch to the office so I would stop eating it…. And hope you’re safe and sound after the hurricane!! Was thinking of you this week!
I’m good sweets-thanks :) And I’m sure it’ll be deeeelicious!
Great guide! And great popcorn idea. It looks yummy.
Oh my goodness, these look amazing! The spider cupcake holders are brilliant too.
Looooove this caramel corn! So yummy. Great post.
This caramel corn is calling my name! I love that you added peanut butter and chocolate!
What an awesome guide to Halloween!! Looks great!
Ah, I love this post and I’m obsessed with this popcorn! Snickers bars are my favorite ever, and I love that I can get all the same yummy flavors with less guilt. Thanks for helping us all fit in our skinny’s come Nov. 1st Kristina and Ashley!
what a delicious recipe for Halloween!!
So wish I had this to snack on right now!
The absolute perfect popcorn my friend :)
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Hands down, the caramel corn wins. Who needs a candy bar when you could have a heaping helping of delicious caramel corn. Yum! Love the spider cups.
Ooh yum this is just amazing. I love caramel corn, and you just took it to a whole other level
This really is all my favorite treats rolled into one (popcorn, Snickers, peanut butter)! Definitely can’t wait to try this one :)
That is some gorgeous popcorn! Although I think I could have done without all the calorie information on Halloween candy…I’ve eaten way too much of it this week, although fortunately there aren’t a lot of leftovers.
I totally cannot help myself around candies. Popcorn is also another weakness of mine. Loving this!
Dangerous. Seriously. That is what this is…dan.ger.ous!
I’m your newest follower from Eat yourself Skinny! :-) LOVING your website! ;-)
Aw thanks Elizabeth!! Nice to meet you too :) So happy you’re enjoying my blog!
I’m SO glad I did not see this during Halloween. This would have been the death of me!! YUM!
OMG!! This looks absolutely divine! Halloween candy didn’t make it 2 days in our house. Thinking a Christmas gift for my Dad, snickers and popcorn are his favs:)
Take care
Connie
Caramel corn’s one of my dad’s favorite too :) We get him a huge tin every year! And haha same with our candy… it was pretty bad.
This looks decadent! I’m really bored with Crunch & Much, so I’m browsing popcorn recipes.
Can shortening be replaced with butter here, even though there’s already butter in the recipe?
You can definitely try, but the shortening really helps the drizzle solidify and stiffen, it might just be a bit more runny with the butter.