I get very nostalgic when it comes to homemade caramel corn.  Memories of my dad whipping up a big batch as soon as the leaves started to change.  Melting it all low-and-slow, and then shake-shake-shaking the mixture in a big paper bag before spilling out the warm, sweet, crunchy goodness on the table for Mom and me to devour until we literally made ourselves sick. 

Being one of my favorite fall treats, I wanted to try my hand at making homemade caramel corn myself this year.  It seemed simple enough…traditional stovetop popcorn (which in my humble opinion is the only way to make popcorn) + pecans + candy corn + homemade caramel sauce.  And it really is simple as long as you have a few tricks up your sleeve.  Tricks I’ve finally perfected after a few trial and error test batches.

First, you’ll logically want to put the candy corn directly into the popcorn, pecan, and caramel sauce mixture before baking it all together in the oven.  Don’t.  Since candy corn is essentially all sugar what ends up happening is the candy corn pieces completely melt leaving you with patches of yellow and orange dotted throughout your mixture. Instead, you’ll want to sprinkle on the candy corn pieces right when you bring the mixture out of the oven when it’s still warm.  That way, they stick in the mixture but don’t melt.  

Second, line your oven with aluminum foil to catch any rogue drips of caramel sauce.  If you’re heavy-handed with the caramel sauce like me, then your sauce will likely bubble over during baking.  Trust me when I say, sticky caramel sauce on the bottom of your oven is a major pain to clean up. 

Lastly, when making the caramel sauce, constant stirring and timing really is everything, so make sure you read the recipe at least twice before beginning and DO NOT walk away from the sauce.  It can all go terribly wrong in less than 30 seconds, just trust me on this!  Happy fall y’all!  Truly, MKR

P.S. When the homemade caramel corn comes out of the oven, it’s my favorite time to indulge since it’s so warm, gooey, and not too hard, but try to show a little self-restraint and set some aside to package up for neighbors, teachers, and coworkers!  xo

When I was thinking about what I wanted to make to celebrate the haunting season I thought why not make a homemade Halloween Chocolate Candy Bark with all of the Halloween candy I have sitting around tempting me on a daily basis.  I love Homemade Chocolate Barks for a multitude of reasons.  The main one being that chocolate barks look way more difficult to make than they actually are.  I also love that the possibilities of bark combinations are endless.  Plus candy barks make the cutest homemade food gifts! So for all those reasons and more, I’m thrilled to share my Homemade Halloween Chocolate Candy Bark with ya’ll today! 

As stated above, candy barks are incredibly easy to make. All you need to create this homemade Halloween Chocolate Candy Bark for yourself is baking chocolate, candies of your choosing (I used Mini Kit-Kats, Peanut Butter Cups, M&Ms, Rolos, Sprinkles, and Candy Eyeballs), parchment paper and a sheet pan. 

When it comes to the actual creating, the trick to creating a perfect homemade Halloween Chocolate Candy Bark every time relays on 3 different things.

First, have your candy prepared and ready to place because you’ll need to work fast so the candies don’t melt into the bark.  The easiest way to do this is plan out in advance what candies you want to use, color themes you want to stick with, and most importantly have everything unwrapped and ready to go.  

Second, when spreading the chocolate out to create the bark base make sure to go thin. You’ll want the chocolate to completely cover the parchment paper, but just barely. This was my mistake the first time in trying this recipe. I made the bark way too thick which makes the chocolate bark taste too sweet, difficult to cut into pieces and incredibly hard to eat. 

Lastly, you need to let the chocolate cool for just a few minutes. If you begin placing the candies the second you have your bark spread out they’ll begin to melt. Wait 2-3 minutes and start with the non-chocolate candies that won’t melt like the candy eyeballs in this case. Candy Corn is also one of those great non-melting candies to try.

After letting the bark cool in the fridge for at least 10 hours (I prefer overnight), you’re ready to cut it into pieces.  There’s no particular rhyme or reason to this, but I found the easiest way is to lay the bark out on a completely flat surface and with a very sharp knife start with the edges.  Your edges won’t have a finished look to them, and sometimes that works out to look great, but sometimes you’ll need to trim them. Next, cut the bark in half. It doesn’t necessarily have to be directly cut in half across, but by dividing the bark into two larger pieces it will make it easier to slice. Then try to either cut around the larger pieces or make it so you cut the larger pieces in half. 

And as best you can avoid touching the chocolate too much with your fingers.  Because the chocolate bark is thin your body heat will naturally begin to melt and smudge it if you touch it too much.

Once you’ve cut all the pieces, put the Halloween Bark back in the fridge for an hour to completely let the chocolate set and re-harden from any softening that may have happened while cutting.

And voila, the cutest, most festive homemade Halloween Chocolate Candy Bark you’ve ever seen! I love whipping up a couple batches of this to gift to my neighbors and take into work. And how cute would this bark be served on this itsy bitsy spider plate!

See the recipe below, and if you’re reading this via Bloglovin’ you’ll need to click into the post to get the complete recipe. Happy Halloween friends! Truly, MKR

P.S. If baking isn’t your thing at all Williams Sonoma has some Mummy Halloween Bark that is almost as cute!