We have accumulated a lot of solid chocolate candy from Easter, and I am wondering if there is a way to use this chocolate in cooking. Specifically chocolate "kisses" and solid chocolate rabbits.

 You will not be able to use any of the thousands of recipes that specify Valrhona Les Feves Araquani 72%, or Belcolade Noir Absolu Ebony Unsweetened, or even Galler Chocolate Noir 85%.

But otherwise, if you find a nice recipe from someone who isn’t among the fussiest and/or snobbiest recipe writers on earth, then why not?

Truth be told, most Easter candy is not exactly top-quality chocolate. We would not make a flourless chocolate cake with it. Also, a lot of it is probably milk chocolate and some of it may be white chocolate, both of which show up in fewer recipes than dark chocolate.

Trying to substitute milk chocolate in a recipe that calls for unsweetened chocolate will be less chocolaty and much sweeter than desired. It would be hard to know how much sugar to drop from a recipe if you try to substitute milk chocolate for dark chocolate (but be aware that milk chocolate has a lot of sugar – 50% or more by weight). That doesn't mean you can't do it, just that it will involve a bit of guesswork and it might be perfect and it might not.

If you are a person who slavishly follows recipes, thinking they are dispensations from on high, you might want to seek out recipes that specify a certain amount of melted dark/milk/white chocolate, and get out your trusty kitchen scale to use the right amount. Otherwise, you can wing it a bit.

What comes to mind immediately are those peanut-butter cookies with Hershey's Kisses embedded in the center that you find at every bake sale. We have seen a recipe for melted milk chocolate smoothed over a pumpkin pie and allowed to cool. We have seen macaroons with milk chocolate, corn flakes, and chopped nuts.

These chocolates can be used in a variety of sauces, toffees, and other candies, but we think the cookie/brownie/pie/frosting route will be easiest and most successful way for you to use up your Easter candy.

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