Leftover Halloween Candy? Make Halloween Candy Bark

I was really worried that our trick or treat numbers would be down this year due to the rain so I was making plans to use my leftover Halloween candy. However, I don't seem to have much of a drop-off and have far less candy left than I thought I would. I was surprised that my daughter lasted for almost 90 minutes in the rain. If the weather's nice next year, I think I'll need more candy.

Last night when I was deciding what sweet treat to bring to my daughter's class Halloween party, I stumbled on a few suggestions for Halloween Candy Bark. I was inspired and offered it to my daughter this morning and she loved the idea.

I prepared the pan by lining a cookie sheet with my Silpat Baking Mat. You could also use parchment paper, wax paper, or aluminum foil.

My first step was to chop up the Halloween candy. I started with two fun-size bars of each of our chocolates: Hershey bar, Twix, Kit-Kat, 3 Musketeers, Milky Way, and Snickers. Plus I had two packs of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, M&Ms, and Whoppers. After chopping each up, I spread the candy on my cookie sheet to determine if I had enough chocolate. I decided I wanted more chocolate, so I added two more of each type. I then transferred the chopped chocolate to a bowl. Be sure to mix the chopped pieces up so that you end up with a variety on your bark instead of concentrations of a particular type of chocolate.

Not Quite Enough - Time to cut more

Rather than use chocolate chips that would need shortening added, I used Wilton Candy Melts as the base for my bark. One of the recipes recommended using dark chocolate since you are adding more sweet with the mostly milk chocolate candies. I used a combination for my base - 1/3 of a bag of light cocoa melts and a full bag of dark cocoa melts. I melted the chocolate melts in a double boiler although you could also melt them in the microwave according to the directions on the package.

Ready to be Refrigerated

When the chocolate was smooth, I spread it on the cookie sheet being careful not to hit the edges. Then I sprinkled the chopped chocolate bars on top. I placed it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to allow it to solidify. Once the chocolate had hardened, I removed it from the baking mat and broke it into chunks.

Finished Product

I found the M&Ms add some nice color (I used a Halloween color pack). My daughter asked about adding StarBurst, but I suggested sticking with chocolate varieties. The beauty of this is that you could add whatever you had. I have a feeling it might be a good way to get rid of some less popular choices like Baby Ruth that would be fine in smaller quantities and add a crunch to the bark.

The chocolate bark was a big hit at my daughter's class party. Unfortunately I had to ration it after a mishap on the way into school. I was juggling a bag of games, a witch's hat, my water bottle, my phone, my keys, and the container of bark. The container of bark was the ball that got dropped, with the lid popping open and half of it spilling on the sidewalk. I was lucky that half of it stayed in the container and I was safely able to serve it. I had nothing to put the spilled bark in, so I pushed it off to the side and collected it into the empty container on our way back to the car after the class party.

I am definitely remembering this recipe for next year, or maybe for my daughter's rejects this year (I only have about 10 pieces left).