I’m all for eating chocolate, of course, but it can also be fun to decorate with it (temporarily!) for the upcoming holidays!

This gigantic chocolate turkey from Bissinger’s is touted as a “centerpiece” decoration for your Thanksgiving table. The semi-solid piece is made from milk chocolate with some nice darker chocolate accents, and stands at nine inches tall by 8.5 inches wide. It’s also gluten-free!
Though the real turkey and sides are the stars of the meal, I have to admit I’d be eyeballing the chocolate version if it were on my table!
Bissinger’s also has a lot of other Thanksgiving-related chocolate and …read more

With the fall and winter holidays come a lot of fun ways to change up standard treats and desserts. This one for rocky road treats uses a fun assortment autumn and Halloween candies that would be great for a class or office party a teacher treat.

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 …read more

I think Halloween is one of the more fun holidays to decorate and plan for, especially if there’s a party or get-together involved! For Halloween especially, making decorations that are edible or that your guests can take home with them is a small but fun detail that will be appreciated by adults and kids alike.

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 …read more

My daughters were craving some s’mores the other day but not having a fire pit or any other way to roast marshmallows we decided we’d do it carefully over the gas stove top.

The only problem was that we had no large marshmallows, just the little mini ones left over from when I last made fudge. Those obviously wouldn’t work so well over any kind of flame, so the girls helped me brainstorm.
We decided to use graham crackers as usual, and on one half we put nine or so mini marshmallows. We then put that into the microwave for about ten …read more

My twins’ birthday was this past weekend, and one of them absolutely loves monkeys. I was going to surprise her with the cake I found for her this year, but realized it would probably be more special and fun for her if she got to help me with it!

My friend Sherry sent me the link to this decorated cake several months ago, and I printed it out immediately and have had it stashed in my recipe folder since. I’ve been so excited to try it out but couldn’t really do a test run because that obviously would have given it …read more

Happy Halloween from Chocolate Bytes!
Remember some Halloween candy and chocolate safety:
~ Chocolate coins recalled
~ How often does Halloween candy tampering really happen?
And check out some fun chocolatey Halloween treats:
~ Crunchy Spiders
~ Green chocolate dip
~ Make your own candybars
~ Halloween horror chocolate

With the rush of folks coming in for the Blogtoberfest fun, I thought I’d post a list of links you might find interesting if you decide to poke around a bit here!
As you can imagine, there’s never a shortage of things to talk about when it comes to chocolate, and some of my most popular posts are a testament to that!
Make sure you check out:
~ Make Your Own Oreos: Yes, it’s true! Though there’s a bit more work involved than just picking up a package at the store, without all the fillers and preservatives, homemade always tastes better …read more

Not much says “fall” more than caramel and candy apples. And they’ve really come a long way over the last few years – there weren’t cookie coated or chocolate drizzled apples when I was a kid!
They really couldn’t be easier to make, too. If you want to go basic just coat an apple with melted caramel and roll in some chopped chocolate or crushed chocolate cookies and enjoy. But you if you’ve got some time to kill, try making some of the candy apples below!
To make:
~ Caramel and Chocolate Apples
~ Nutty Chocolate Caramel Apples
~ Double Chocolate Caramel Apples
~ Chocolate-Dipped Slices
~ …read more

The guys at Pimp That Snack have one again outdone themselves with a gigantic Arnott’s Mint Slice!
I’m not a huge fan of peppermint on its own (I don’t mind it, just don’t care for it) but pair it with chocolate and I’m a goner. They made the gigantic patty using their usual huge amounts of chocolate, a lot of peppermint extract, and a homemade fondant.
Now I need to plan a trip down to Cost Plus to see if they have the (regular sized) Mint Slices!
[image: flickr]

Everyone know how to make s’mores – roast a marshmallow, slap it on a graham cracker with a bit of chocolate and smoosh another graham cracker on top.
However, the variations are really pretty endless and can be tailored to fit anyone’s tastes. You can try:

S’mores bars
Ditch the graham crackers altogether
Turn it into a cake
Add bananas, raspberries, or even cherries
S’mores cheesecake!
Minty s’mores
Use Peeps!
Make the whole thing from scratch

And check this out – Mexican s’mores!