How to Make Halloween Candy At Home

But my sweet tooth is sometimes made to wait due to a lack of cash. Halloween candy bars can be expensive...especially the sweet and salty, dark chocolate kind. So, I went on a search for DIY candy and sweet recipes. Here’s what I found:

"Ghastly" candy bark

The Simple Sweet Life baking blog came up with this recipe for chocolate bark decorated with spooky ghosts. All you need are 6 bars of dark chocolate, 3 bars of white chocolate, a few bowls (all of which should be microwave-safe), plastic wrap, an 8" x 8" baking dish, a piping bag and optional candy pieces (peanut butter cups, etc.):

• Melt 3 dark chocolate bars in a bowl in the microwave on high power at 10-second increments, stirring in between.
• Line the baking dish with plastic wrap and spread the melted chocolate over it. Add candy pieces if desired, then refrigerate until hard.
• Once the dark chocolate has hardened, melt 2 bars of the white chocolate and then spread it over the first layer. Refrigerate.
• In two separate bowls, melt the remaining bars of dark and white chocolate. Set aside the dark.
• Place the remaining melted dark chocolate on the hardened layers in the pan, while putting remaining white chocolate in bag.
• Pipe white chocolate into ghost shapes on the still-warm final layer of dark, then use the leftover dark chocolate to make eyes and mouths.
  
  

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Chocolate pretzel monsters

Find a 12 oz. bag of chocolate discs (available in numerous colors and sometimes called "candy melts"), candy eyes (or marshmallows) and a bag of pretzel sticks to make this goofy, sweet and salty candy recipe from Staying Close to Home.com. This recipe in particular can be a fun fall family activity:

• Melt the chocolate discs in the microwave (using the fits-and-starts method from the bark recipe).
• Throw the pretzel sticks in with the melted mixture and shape everything together into separate clumps.
• Place the chocolate-and-pretzel clumps onto parchment paper to cool and harden.
• Add marshmallows or candy eyes for a whimsically spooky and delicious finished product.

DIY Twix bars

Delish.com has a "Millionaire Shortbread" recipe that’s basically all the feels of a Twix bar:

• 2 sticks softened (not melted) butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 11 oz. packages caramel squares
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• Sea salt (optional garnish)

The directions are fairly simple:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 13" x 9" baking pan with parchment paper.
• Mix the softened butter and sugar until it's light, then add flour and vanilla. Mix resulting mixture until its texture is like breadcrumbs.
• Place everything in the lined pan, poke a handful of holes in it and bake for 30 minutes. Let it cool completely afterward.
• Melt caramel together with cream in a saucepan on medium-low heat for 10 minutes, then pour over cooled shortbread.
• Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 30-second intervals, stir to smoothen it out and pour it over the other layers.
• Cool for 20 minutes, slice into bars and enjoy!

This Halloween be prepared for trick or treaters with these delicious DIY sweets. It’s also a smart idea to be prepared for home repairs before they occur. See how plans from HomeServe can help you with the costs of covered home repairs.