U.S. residents have until Saturday, October 31, 2009, to register for the 2009 Halloween Million Sweepstakes at halloweenmillion.com by entering the UPC on packages of M&M’S, Snickers, Twix, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Skittles, and Starburst candies. (A full list of candies and sizes can be found here.)

One lucky person will receive the $1 million grand prize, and thousands more will get instant win prizes including one-day tickets and season passes to Six Flags or coupons redeemable for free packages of select Mars products.

In addition to the chance to win $1 million and thousands of instant win prizes, there’s also a virtual “haunted” mansion filled with heaps of creepy, cool fun. Mars has also created a “ghoulish” application featuring all of your favorite M&M’S characters in their Halloween costumes that is available on the M&M’S and Snickers fan pages on Facebook.

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

Chocolate Halloween Mice
from RecipeZaar

4 (1 ounce) semi-sweet chocolate baking squares or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cup chocolate wafer, finely crushed (Oreos with the middle scraped off)
1/3 cup additional chocolate wafer, finely crumbled (for dark mice)
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar (for white mice)
24 silver dragees (small silver, edible balls, for eyes) or 24 red hots candies
24 sliced almonds (for ears)
12 licorice strings (for tails)

~ Melt the chocolate, and combine with sour cream. Stir in the 1 cup of the chocolate wafer crumbs. Mix well.

~ Cover and refrigerate until firm.

~ Roll by level tablespoonfuls into balls. Mold to a slight point at one end for the nose.

~ Roll dough in confectioners sugar for white mice, or in chocolate wafer crumbs for dark mice.

~ On each mouse, place dragees or red hots candies in appropriate spot for eyes, almond slices for ears, and a licorice string for the tail.

~ Refrigerate for at least two hours until firm.

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

Hershey’s has finally come out with individual packs of Kisses, perfect for giving out for trick-or-treating. They’re also dressing up their other treats for the holiday, like black and orange foil wrapped Kisses:

There are also individually wrapped Reese’s Peanut Butter cups shaped as pumpkins (my kids love these in their lunch boxes), as well as Reese’s mini cups in dark and milk chocolate wrapped in orange and black foils:

Hershey’s regular assortment bags of snack sized bars are also available in fun Halloween wrappers and are in large 50-pack bags, perfect for handing out on October 31st!

[images: hershey's]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

6 chocolate chip cookies
Mint chocolate chip and/or vanilla ice cream
Black and orange sprinkles, colored sugars or other Halloween cookie decorations

~ If cookies are homemade, make sure they’re completely cooled before preparing ice cream sandwiches.

~ Soften ice cream at room temperature about 10 minutes or in microwave oven on medium (50%) for 10 to 20 seconds.

~ For each ice cream sandwich, place about 1/4 cup (1 small scoop) ice cream on flat side of one cookie; top with another cookie and press gently so that ice cream meets edges of cookies.

~ Immediately roll edges of ice cream in decorations, if desired.

~ Wrap in plastic wrap; freeze until ready to serve.

~ Six cookies makes three sandwiches.

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

This recipe from Rebecca Kols of Good Morning America is fast, easy and something kids will really enjoy helping out with.

Creepy Crawly Caterpillars

1 package chocolate chips
1 package chow mein noodles
1 package of red hot candies
1 bag large marshmallows
1 bag thin stick pretzels

~ Melt chocolate on low heat in a double broiler and remove from heat.

~ Thread 3 marshmallows on a pretzel and brush marshmallows with melted chocolate (painting on with pastry brush is easiest). Place chocolate covered marshmallows on parchment paper or wax paper.

~ Randomly insert individual chow mein noodles until desired look is achieved.

~ While chocolate is still wet, position two red hots on front, for eyes. Allow chocolate to harden and place caterpillars on a plate.

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

The recipe comes from Chef Andres Jimenez, who is the Executive Chef for The Ritz-Carlton in Denver, Colorado. Made using the standard truffle method of cooled ganache, these truffles are put on a stick and decorated with bits of candy to resemble spiders. These would be great for kids to help out with, and to give away to teachers or for a class party!

Halloween Chocolate Spider Truffles
from Chef Andres Jimenez

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate – chopped into small pieces
8 oz. heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp. unsalted cold butter
8 oz. coating chocolate – cut in small pieces
15 ea. lollipop sticks
Liquorish and assorted candy

~ Bring heavy whipping cream to a simmer – in a heavy bottom saucepan

~ Cut the chocolate in small pieces and place in a bowl

~ Once hot, pour cream over the chocolate pieces and stir with a whisk until the chocolate is completely melted

~ Add the butter and stir constantly until melted and mixed thoroughly

~ Let the truffle mix cool down to room temperature. Place in the refrigerator until its firm enough to roll

~ Place coating chocolate in a microwave proof bowl and heat in short intervals, always stirring the chocolate until completely melted ** be careful it doesn’t get too hot

~ Once the chocolate mix is cold, roll into small balls and insert lollipop sticks to create a lollipop. Dip into the melted chocolate coating

~ Let the chocolate harden and decorate with liquorish candy to make the spider legs and red candy for the eyes

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

If peanuts are a no-go, you can substitue chopped pretzels or even Rice Krispies.

Rocky Road Halloween Treats

1 (12 oz.) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp. butter
2 cup dry roasted peanuts
1 (10 1/2 oz.) package white mini marshmallows
Assorted Halloween candy pieces such as candy corn, M&M’s, gummies, etc.
Wax paper or Halloween decorated paper cupcake or candy cups
13″ x 9″ Pan

~ In top of double boiler melt chocolate, condensed milk and butter.

~ Remove from heat.

~ In a large bowl, combine nuts and marshmallows. Combine with chocolate mixture.

~ Line a 13×9 inch pan with the waxed paper.

~ Pour the entire mixture in and press it down or scoop into prepared cups.

~ Top with candy pieces.

~ Chill until firm and cut into squares. Store at room temperature.

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

A “worm” cake would be a big hit at a Halloween party, or as a special treat for a kid’s classroom Halloween party. Using crushed Oreos, gummi worms, chocolate frosting and brownie mix.

Prepare and bake the brownies as directed on the box before letting them cool down a bit to frost. Add some gummi worms on top of the frosting, and crush up about half a pack of Oreo cookies and sprinkle over the top to look like dirt.

You can even add some gummi spiders to the top as well, along with a few worms that have already managed to escape. Do they still make those huge gummi rats? One of those might be a fun addition too! Make sure the brownies are completely cooled before adding the frosting and the gummis or you’ll have a sticky mess on your hands.

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

The cute chocolate pops pictured above are available at The Chocolate Vault, and the mold designs range from cute to creepy, with spiders, spiderwebs, ghosts and even haunted houses cast in milk, dark and white chocolate.

If you don’t feel like purchasing the pops, you can make some yourself with cute molds like this brain (use pink tinted white chocolate!), mouse and rat molds (all three chocolates would work well), witches, skulls and Frankenstein, or check out this selection of molds that work with pretzel rods. Wilton also has an entire kit complete with molds, sticks and candy melts.

[images: chocolatevault.com]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

When I was a kid and trick-or-treating, it seemed like a rare treat to get any kind of chocolate in your bag. The majority of the candy was pretty much just sugary stuff like Smarties or SweetTarts or suckers. Mini candy bars just weren’t as prevalent then, and when you got one it was tucked away someplace safe so your siblings wouldn’t beg to trade for it. Even the occasional chocolate coin — usually made out of the cheapest chocolate available — was kept hidden.

Nowadays, though, it’s almost harder to find the non-chocolate stuff in the Halloween aisle. Every big candy bar manufacturer has a smaller mini version available of their best sellers, and the kids come home from trick-or-treating with bags stuffed with them. It actually makes me a little nostalgic for my own trick-or-treating days, when chocolate was considered a bit more special. I don’t, however, mind the day-after Halloween sales on the leftover bags!

What’s your favorite thing to hand out at Halloween? What’s your favorite Halloween treat that you got as a kid?

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes