A few of you out there are still looking for ways to use up so-called “leftover” candy. I don’t really get that concept. It’s not chicken, people. It’s not gonna go bad that fast. Eat it and enjoy at your leisure.

But heck, if you really want to bake it into something, make a pookie! This lovely cookie dough is filled with all your Halloween candy favorites and baked into a pie shell. With Thanksgiving looming, we should be getting our pie thing going anyway. Let’s do a hybrid holiday treat!

To be honest, I’m relieved to be in November. October is just a terrifying month, and not just because of people banging on your door demanding candy. Grades are due in my school system on November first, and so are college recommendations. I’m just happy that these weights are lifting from my shoulders.

Now I can focus on lifting real weights, which I do faithfully. Still, there’s this area under my arm. I hesitate to use the word “flaps” because it’s not empowering. But with all the triceps work I do and all those painful push-ups with my hands shaped like a diamond, why don’t I have arms like Madonna? Probably the pie.

There have been times that I get frustrated at the parts of my body that don’t tone as easily as others. But lately, I’ve also been trying to focus on the good stuff. My abs are really responsive to training, and that means I need to stop complaining. Why are we so inclined to focus on the stuff that isn’t as great and not spend time enjoying what we love about ourselves?

That said, if I ever became rich, I would hire the following in a heartbeat: a personal trainer, a personal chef (just on retainer for those days I don’t wanna cook), and a hairdresser, not on retainer. Because I need hair help every single day. I wouldn’t even think about redoing the house or anything until these three people were part of my daily routine. And you know, it would be cool to have an assistant too, just to keep track of my appointments and all.

Anyone out there willing to make my dream come true? I will totally bake for you every day if you make me rich. I do that anyway. No matter how rich I got, I would bake. It just makes me so darn happy.

Like this pookie here. Who can turn away from this? Not me, I can tell ya. The trick is to make sure you don’t bake this guy for too long, or the whole thing goes from slightly gooey and joyously chewy to dry and hard. Watch that oven timer!

Listen, I don’t need recipes for leftover candy. In my house, it’s called eating it. But I understand if you do, and I hear where you’re coming from. So go ahead and eat your candy in a pookie! It’s almost as nice as being rich and having your own personal staff.

Nope. The rain.

Yep, that’s right. Rain. It rained day after day last week, and so even though this deep dish pookie is amazing, I got awful pics of it. I’m terribly sorry. Forgive me, and know that it tasted wonderful and that I am not worthy.

Also, know that this is super easy. Like, crazy easy. One bowl, bakes up fast. I made it in a 9-inch round cake pan to make it that pie-cookie hybrid, and how happy life was!

In a recipe like this, the chocolate chips sink to the bottom, right by the Oreo cookie crust. It’s like this magical burst of chocolate intensity just as your palate is adjusting to the pookie flavor. And as for the texture, it’s a mix of pie and cookie, of course. Gooey and melty and just what you need!

Unlike the rain, which nobody needs. So ignore that, and pookie it up! I’ll see you tomorrow when the sun is shining. Let’s hope, anyway.

Yes, the pookie. As in, a pie/cookie hybrid. Please. Don’t tell me you’ve never had one!

Pookies are the best. They’re thicker than those big cookie cakes you get at the grocery store that always look amazing because duh, they’re giant cookies. You know, the ones that are typically covered in brightly-colored frosting?

Whoops, sidetracked as usual. The pookie has more depth. Think of it as a deep-dish cookie. Now that’s a dessert I can wrap my mind around! Oh, and my mouth, too.

This particular pookie is filled with chocolate chunks. I could’ve gone the chocolate chip route, but this time, I needed something more filling. Now that it’s summer I’m moving around more, and my metabolism is chugging away, and it’s speaking to me. Literally, I hear voices saying, “Come on, Mir. Stop with the chocolate chips already. I ran around all day and you can’t give me something better?”

So I obliged the voice and made the pookie with giant chocolate chunks. And I was rewarded with a gooey, fabulous result. It’s important to bake the pookie fully, but not to overbake it. You don’t want dry pookie! Dry pookie is just a darn shame.

You can leave this undecorated or gussy it up a bit. I used one of my favorite tricks, which is to pipe hot fudge sauce on the surface in fun patterns. Hot fudge sauce is delicious on almost anything, and if you want to go completely nuts, you could have your pookie a la mode! That’s right. Get some vanilla ice cream in there.

Okay, I’m kind of in a sugar coma from all the fro yo. So here’s the pookie recipe. Get gooey!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chunks

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Coat a pie pan or a 9 to 10-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. If you’re using a cake pan, cut parchment paper to fit the bottom for easy release.