This week’s chocolate link roundup contain a lot of recipes I’d love to try, and hopefully will eventually. For now there just aren’t enough hours in the day!

~ Bird’s Nest Cookies from The Cooking Photographer

~ Sinfully Rich Dark Chocolate Pudding at The Hungry Mouse

~ Chocolate Egg With Dulce de Leche Pannacotta from Clumbsy Cookie

~ Pomegranate and Chocolate Tarts at Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives

~ Chocolate Peanut Butter Tortes from Annie’s Eats

~ Gooey Peanut Butter Brownies at My Baking Addiction

~ Chocolate-Covered Caramelized Matzoh Crunch from A Work In Progress

~ Chocolate-Covered Coconut Macaroons at Off My Game

~ Kosher for Passover Brownies from Bittersweet

~ White Chocolate Bunny Cookies at I Bake For You

~ Frozen Chocolate Bananas from CookieMag

~ Goodbye Winter Cocoa Cookies at Healthy. Happy. Life.

~ Chocolate Apple Pie from Kayotic

~ Fauxstess Cupcakes at Beantown Bakers

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

Of course, the reality isn’t as gross as it may sound! These are just white chocolate, Rice Krispies cereal and red sugar:

Melt white chocolate chips over low heat on your stove. Pour into greased, horizontally split, plastic Easter eggs. Let cool and harden, then pop the white chocolate “egg whites” out of the plastic egg halves.

Melt yellow candy melts in microwave according to package directions, then mix with Rice Krispies until the consistency looks like real deviled egg mixture.

Spoon yellow mixture onto the hardened “egg white” halves and sprinkle with red sugar to resemble traditional paprika. Let your candy treat cool.

How easy is that?

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

~ Matzah Toffee from BitterSweet

~ Easter Bunny and Chicks on a Stick from Cake on the Brain

~ Homemade Chocolate Creme Eggs at Healthy Indulgences

~ Cadbury Creme Egg Brulees from Pie of the Tiger

~ Chick Cake Pops at Loves to Eat

~ Homemade Chocolate Filled Eggs from 2 Stews

~ Bite Size Easter Brownies at DesignerGirl007

~ Chocolate Mocha Mousse from NWI Tech

~ Chocolate Overdose Cake at Annie’s Eats

~ Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake from The Food Librarian

~ Chocolate Chip Muffins at BlogChef

~ Chocolate Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies from Food Mayhem

~ Cacao Nut Cake at Give Recipe

~ Vegan Pomegranate Cupcakes from Honey and Jam

~ Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream at Sassafras Cafe

~ Dark Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes from Evil Shenanigans

~ (Not Just) A Chocolate Brownie at Lemonpi

~ Fruity Chocolate Covered Meringues from FoodGal

~ Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake at Smitten Kitchen

~ Peanut Butter Krispy Bars from Dinner and Dessert

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

Each 2 oz package contains four Peeps and costs $4.

Jacques also has traditional chocolate bunnies, peanut butter filled white chocolate eggs, and marshmallow egg lollipops.

[images: mrchocolate.com]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

Instead of the traditional upright or crouching bunnies that show up in Easter baskets, these bunnies have cute floppy ears that are appealing to kids and adults alike.

And Vosges doesn’t do just regular chocolate — the bunnies are available in Red Fire (Mexican ancho & chipotle chillies, Ceylon cinnamon and 55% dark chocolate), Gianduja (almonds, caramelized hazelnut paste and milk chocolate), and Barcelona (hickory smoked almonds, grey sea salt and 41% deep milk chocolate). They’re currently available through the Vosges website for $12 each until April 10.

[image: vosgeschocolate.com]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

The pretty colors of the pastel M&M’s are the perfect addition to any spring craft or Easter basket and are available in all the standard M&M’s flavors — plain, peanut, almond and dark!

I’ve got four bags of Limited Edition seasonal M&M’s to giveaway to two winners (two bags each)!

To Enter:

Leave a comment here telling me what your favorite M&M’s are. Plain? Peanut? Dark? Almond? All of them?

That’s it — and there are no wrong answers!

…..

~ Contest ends Monday, March 30 at 5:00pm PDT. Two winners will be randomly drawn and notified by email, and will have 24 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen.

~ Giveaway open to U.S. residents only.

~ Two winners will win two 12.6 oz bags of seasonal M&M’s each.

[image used with permission from M&M's]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

These would be very sweet as spring teacher gifts, classmate gifts, and church projects. All the material can easily be found at any craft store and the seasonal pastel M&M’s — in any flavor — can be found at your local grocery store or retailer.

Easter Chicks
Mini cellophane bags
Googly craft eyes
Felt fabric
Yellow pom poms
Webbed feet cut out from orange flannel
Yellow feathers
Orange beaks cut out of orange flannel
1 12.6-ounce bag of Milk Chocolate Easter M&M’S
Glue gun or liquid glue

Fill your cellophane bags with seasonal pastel M&M’S and tie the bag closed with a yellow fabric ribbon. Using a glue gun (or liquid glue), attach the webbed feet to the bottom of the bag. Then attach the eyes and beak to the pom poms to create the chick’s head. Let dry.

Attach the head and the feathers to the bag. Let the glue on the finished chicks dry for 24 hours.

[image used with permission from M&M's]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

I was recently sent a bunch of ideas from M&M’s full of crafty activities that you and your kids can have fun with as Easter approaches. Today’s idea is one that I want to try first, especially with Spring Break fast approaching and needing some ideas to take up some time!

Eggs in Nests

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 ounces fresh raspberries
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
30 wonton wrappers
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
6 cups vegetable oil for frying
1 bag Dove Silky Smooth Dark Chocolate Promises
1 bag of coconut flakes colored green with food coloring*
1 9.9-ounce bag Easter Almond M&M’S

Place cream cheese in medium bowl. Using a spoon, mash rasp berries through a sieve (or use a food mill) so juice goes into the cream cheese, but seeds remain behind. Add sugar to
cream cheese mixture, then mix thoroughly until smooth and completely blended.

Pour oil into a deep saucepan and heat to 350°F over medium heat. While oil heats, set up a draining station with a rack set in a sheet pan or baking sheet lined with paper towels.

To assemble wontons for frying, wet a fingertip with the egg-water mixture and rub all four edges of a wrapper. Spoon a generous teaspoon of filling into center, then fold wrapper to make a triangle, pressing the edges together firmly. Grasp the two corners at either end of the fold and bring them together, sealing with a bit of egg wash. (It’s best to prepare one batch at a time, not allowing them too much time to dry before frying.)

Fry wontons in batches of six until golden brown, turning once, approximately 4 minutes. Allow to cool and drain thoroughly.

While wontons cool, unwrap the Dove Promises and place in a double boiler or a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted.

Dip one side of each cooled wonton into the chocolate, then sprinkle the colored coconut flakes on the outside and nestle M&M’S into the chocolate. Allow to cool completely before serving.

*To color, place the coconut flakes in a large bowl and add 1 to 2 drops of green food coloring. Stir with a spatula softly. Lay out on a cookie sheet to dry.

[image used with permission from M&M's]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

Easter is still almost two months away (April 12th this year) and while out getting some necessities yesterday at the store I saw that they already have their displays out.

I know this isn’t out of the ordinary anymore, especially given the current economy and retailers wanting to get a jump on as much as they can as soon as they can, but it never fails to throw me for a loop how soon we’re faced with the next holiday season, no matter how far away it may be. The past few holidays have seemed to creep in sooner than usual, with Christmas stuff out in September and Thanksgiving seemingly pushed to the back burner altogether.

However, I will admit that despite grumbling over early holiday creep, I couldn’t resist buying a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs and Cadbury Mini Eggs. I’m only human!

What do you think? Does holiday creep bother you or do you like getting an early start?

[image: candywarehouse]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

Chocolate goes well with many holidays, and for good reason! But sometimes I wonder why it’s bigger for some holidays (Valentine’s and Easter) and not others (Fourth of July or Thanksgiving). Anyway, I dug up a little history to explain why chocolate and Easter go so well together:

“It was at about this time (early 1800’s) that the first chocolate Easter egg appeared in Germany and France and soon spread to the rest of Europe and beyond. The first chocolate eggs were solid soon followed by hollow eggs. Although making hollow eggs at that time was no mean feat, because the easily worked chocolate we use today didn’t exist then, they had to use a paste made from ground roasted Cacao beans.

“By the turn of the 19th Century, the discovery of the modern chocolate making process and improved mass manufacturing methods meant that the Chocolate Easter Egg was fast becoming the Easter Gift of choice in the UK and parts of Europe, and by the 1960’s it was well established worldwide.” ~ A History of Easter

What are your favorite chocolate Easter treats?

Post from: Chocolate Bytes