These candy bar inspired drinks are sweet, satisfying and as easy as can be to put together.

Peppermint Pattini
1-1/2 oz Van Gogh Dutch Chocolate Vodka
1/2 oz Crème de menthe
1/2 oz Chocolate Liqueur
1/2 oz Cream

Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a Peppermint Pattie candy wedge.

Almond Joy Martini
1-1/2 oz Van Gogh Dutch Chocolate Vodka
1 oz Coconut Rum
1/2 oz Hazelnut Liqueur
1/2 oz Chocolate Liqueur

Dip the rim of a chilled martini glass into chocolate syrup and roll in shaved coconut. Place glass into the refrigerator until ready to serve the cocktail. Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into chilled martini glass with chocolate-coconut rim.

Peanut Butter Cup
1-1/2 oz Van Gogh Dutch Chocolate Vodka
1 oz Castries Crème Peanut Rum
3/4 oz Chocolate Liqueur
1/2 oz Cream

Drizzle chocolate syrup into the bottom of a martini glass. Place the glass into the refrigerator until ready to use. Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into the chilled martini glass and garnish with a peanut butter cup.

Snickertini
1/2 oz Baileys
1-1/2 oz Van Gogh Dutch Caramel Vodka
1/2 oz Chocolate Liqueur
1/2 oz Amaretto
Splash of cream

Drizzle a thin line of both caramel and chocolate sauce on the inside of a rocks glass and place in refrigerator to chill. Combine all ingredients into a shaker and shake over ice. Pour entire contents of shaker into glass and add straw.

[images used with permission from talbertholidaygifts]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

So imagine how stoked I was when I got an email recently that Nestle is launching a new caffeinated candy bar — Butterfinger Buzz! I adore Butterfingers and can’t wait to try this one out.

The new bar will have “the caffeine kick of the leading energy drink along with the delicious taste of a Butterfinger.” It’ll be available through April 2009 (only two short months!) at Walgreens, 7-Eleven and wherever candy is sold.

Also, if you’re going to be in either New York, Chicago or L.A. over the next week, stop in at the following locations for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas, a $2,500 gift card and a year’s worth of Butterfinger bars! Only fans who are willing to get a buzz haircut with a temporary spray application of the Butterfinger Buzz logo on their head in Butterfinger orange will be eligible to win!

The hair-raising events will take place from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. on February 10 at Oakley’s Barbershop in Los Angeles and from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. on February 12 at Astor Place Hair in New York and at Chicago Buzz in Chicago.

[image used with permission]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

Q.bel chocolate candy bars are made without any artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils (trans fat). Q.bel candy bars are available at Whole Foods Markets nationwide.

“We aspire to provide our customers with the best tasting chocolate candy bars on the planet,” said Bahram Shirazi, CEO of Q.bel Foods.

“We live by three simple beliefs: Be True, Be Honest, Be Good. At Q.bel we use only the truest of ingredients, treat all of our partners with the highest level of integrity and honesty and care deeply about what our company represents and how it interacts with the world we live in. We are dedicated to maintaining the integrity of our products and being a responsible member of our community.”

Q.bel offers six varieties of its chocolate candy bars:

• Dark Chocolate Wafer Rolls
• Milk Chocolate Wafer Rolls
• Milk Chocolate/Peanut Butter Wafer Rolls
• Crispy Rice Dark Chocolate Wafer Bars
• Crispy Rice Milk Chocolate Wafer Bars
• Milk Chocolate/Peanut Butter Wafer Bars

Q.bel’s Chocolate Wafer Bars are made from layers of unsweetened crisp wafers with delectable fillings or real peanut butter, enrobed with Belgian chocolate. The Chocolate Wafer Rolls are made from rolled wafers, lightly filled with chocolate crème or real peanut butter and enrobed with yummy chocolate.

Q.bel was born after Bahram Shirazi set out to create a chocolate candy bar for his children that wasn’t filled with chemicals and artificial ingredients. The company is named after Bahram’s wife, Isabel (the bel in Q.bel). Q is for the quality of food which she provides for her family!

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One very lucky Chocolate Bytes winner will receive one case of candy bars containing six boxes of all six flavors, for a total of about 135 candy bars! (Enter for a second chance to win at FoodieObsessed.com, too!)

To Enter:

Leave a comment here telling me which one of the six flavors listed above you’d like to try most. That’s it!

* Contest closes at 5:00pm PST on Thursday, January 29. Winner will be notified by email and will have 24 hours to respond with mailing information before a new winner is chosen.

* Open to U.S. residents only.

* One entry per household. Multiple entries will all be discarded.

* One winner will win one case of candy bars, for a total of about 135 bars.

* All current Bloggy Giveaways at Chocolate Bytes may be entered one time each. Good luck!

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

We were given a large bag of mini candy bars last weekend and instead of letting them sit on the counter for the next month (it was a big bag and Halloween’s just a week away!) I decided to dig around and see what else I could do with them.

I came upon the recipe below and found a hit! It calls for Mini Snickers but I also tried a few with Mini Milky Ways.

This makes a lot of dough, so I ended up doing a couple of batches of regular peanut butter cookies while I was at it. I couldn’t use up all the mini Snickers, I’d have had a riot on my hands!

Candy Bar Peanut Butter Cookies

1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. softened butter
1 c. peanut butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3 c. flour
1 (16 oz.) pkg. Mini Snickers bars, cut in half

Cream together sugar, brown sugar, butter and peanut butter. Add vanilla and beaten eggs and mix. Add baking powder, baking soda and flour; mix well. Wrap dough around each Snickers bar half, forming a ball.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Cookies will flatten as they bake so don’t press them. Bake at 350 degrees for 11-13 minutes or until light golden brown.

The recipe says it makes 2-1/2 dozen, but I easily got over 50 cookies out of it.
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The cookies with the Milky Way Minis turned out pretty good, but the nougat hardened up to the point where the texture suffered for it. I thought they were a little tastier than the Snickers ones, though!

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

What do you pass out for Halloween?

Chocolate (candy bars, M&M’s, etc)? Hard candies? Non-candies? Something else (candy corn, licorice, etc)? You can also add your own answer if yours isn’t listed!

Post from: Chocolate Bytes