Our Halloween Bark is so quick and easy to make! Grab some chocolate and bite-size pieces of your favorite candy and in 10 minutes (plus chill time), you’ve created a creepy confection complete with eyeballs that stare back at you! The perfect Halloween dessert!
Homemade Halloween Chocolate Bark
If plain candy bars aren’t cutting it for your spooky soiree, this Halloween bark is the perfect homemade candy recipe that is all treats and no tricks! The setup is so simple: drizzle some gooey caramel over melted chocolate and decorate with your Halloween-themed ghoulish goodies!
It only takes minutes to make this easy Halloween dessert –no baking or fancy equipment required. I like to decorate my bark with candies that are colorful and have different flavors and textures. And I especially love that I can feed a large group of costumed kids by using my leftover candy. Scary never tasted so sweet!
Why We Love This Halloween Bark Recipe
- Quick and easy to make.
- Melt in your mouth Halloween candy bark can be customized with your favorite colors and candy.
- Makes a sweet, festive dessert for a Halloween party.
- Fun for kids to customize by using their favorite candies and cookies.
- A Halloween treat everyone will love!
- It’s a great way to use up any leftover candy from your Halloween adventures.
Ingredients / Shopping List
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips: You could try this with milk or dark chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or butterscotch chips. Use whatever is your favorite flavor!
- Caramel syrup: I used normal ice cream caramel syrup, but you can use whatever type of caramel sauce you might have on hand.
- Candy corn: Make sure to get the small candy corn, not the fancy or bigger ones.
- Pretzels: You could also use potato chips in addition to, or instead of, the pretzels.
- Reese’s: Substitute Reese’s Pieces instead to skip the need to chop up the cups. This can be especially helpful if you have an issue with melty Reese’s cups and don’t have time to cool or freeze them to make them easier to chop.
- M&Ms: Use your favorite type of M&M here. To keep with the spirit of Halloween, I used a ghouls M&Ms mix. You can also simply pick out the orange and brown colored M&Ms to use for the topping.
- Candy eyeballs
- Halloween sprinkles (optional)
Substitutions and Additions
- Halloween-themed Candy: Hershey’s tombstone chocolate bars and Reese’s pumpkins and ghosts add extra Halloween spirit to the bark. Seasonal candy sprinkles and Halloween novelty items like edible bones and candy corn also add some festive fun.
- Customize for Christmas: For a winter holiday appearance, incorporate something green, like pistachios or pepitas (green pumpkin seeds) and something red, like dried cranberries or crushed candy canes. Check out our Peppermint Bark here!
- Make it Nutty: Top your bark with your favorite nuts, like almonds, pecans, walnuts hazelnuts, pistachios, macadamias, cashews or peanuts.
- Dried Fruit: Dried cranberries, cherries, apricots, and candied ginger taste great on top of chocolate bark.
Recommended Tools to Make this Recipe
- Large sheet pan
- Parchment paper
- Measuring tools
- Double boiler or microwaveable bowl
- Mixing tools
SEE FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD BELOW
How to Make Halloween Bark
It is so quick and easy to make this festive Halloween candy bark. Simply grab your favorite candy and scatter it on melted chocolate, let it chill in the fridge, and serve it to all of your costumed “ghosts and goblins”. Be sure to see our helpful tips below!
- Melt chocolate chips and spread evenly onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan.
- Drizzle the caramel over the melted chocolate.
- Decorate with your favorite candy pieces and refrigerate until chocolate is hardened.
- Lift parchment paper from the sheet pan and cut the chocolate bark into pieces.
Pro Tip: You should be able to gently pull the parchment paper off of the back of the bark. This is easiest when the parchment paper is draped over the sides of the sheet pan. - Serve cold and enjoy!
Tips
- The chocolate will start melting relatively fast once it’s at room temperature. Place it on cold plates, or make sure it is in a relatively cool place, as you are serving.
- This is a very sweet treat so adding some extra sea salt on top will help to balance it out if you don’t have as much of a sweet tooth.
- I recommend drizzling the caramel in some fun swirls that are evenly distributed throughout the chocolate.
- Use a spatula to evenly spread the chocolate syrup across the sheet pan.
- Add more or less of each topping, depending on your preferences.
- Use the parchment paper to lift up the chocolate and make it easier to cut.
- A double boiler uses a small amount of water in a small saucepan/pot, with a larger glass or metal bowl on top. The boiling water will heat up the bowl slowly, so that chocolate can be easily melted in the top bowl, with no danger of burning. It’s the easiest way to melt chocolate, especially for those of us that struggle to melt chocolate in the microwave.
Storage Tips
- To Store: Once the chocolate is set completely and broken into pieces, store your Halloween candy bark in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. If you prefer to leave the Halloween candy bark on the counter at room temperature it will last for about 5 days.
- To Freeze: Place pieces of Halloween candy bark in a plastic freezer bag and place it in the freezer. It will last a long time; maybe even until next Halloween!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I freeze my Halloween candy bark?
Yes, of course, you can freeze this Halloween bark! In fact, the freezer is the preferred location to store your Halloween bark.
Why is it called chocolate bark?
Once the chocolate has cooled, the bark is then cut up or broken into smaller pieces. It’s easy to see, then, that the edges of each piece resemble the craggy surface of a tree.
Why does chocolate seize?
If your chocolate gets clumpy and isn’t smooth, it means that it’s seized. That happens when it gets too hot or if water gets into the mixture. Be sure your bowl and spatula are completely dry so no water gets in and be sure to stir often while melting so it doesn’t get any hot spots.
Is almond bark the same as chocolate chips?
While almond bark may be a little easier to work with because it’s designed for melting, I believe the taste of chocolate chips to be better than almond bark, especially for this recipe.
Other Easy Halloween Recipes
- Easy Halloween Spider Cookies
- Halloween Puppy Chow Chex Mix
- Halloween Chex Mix
- Witch Hat Cookies
- Halloween Chocolate Truffles
- Monster Eyeballs Pretzels
- Frankenstein Rice Krispies Treats
- Monster Oreo Eyeballs
Halloween Bark
Serves — 12
It is so quick and easy to make this fun and festive Halloween Bark. In 10 minutes you'll have a creepy confection complete with eyeballs that stare back at you!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Chill time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 3¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3 tbsp caramel syrup
- ½ cup candy corn
- ¼ cup pretzels roughly chopped or left whole
- ½ cup Reese’s roughly chopped
- ½ cup M&M's
- 2 tbsp candy eyeballs
- Halloween sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Melt the semi-sweet chocolate chips, either in a double boiler or in the microwave in 20-30 second increments, stirring between each set.
- Once the chocolate is completely melted, pour it onto the lined sheet pan and spread it evenly to the edges.
- Drizzle the caramel syrup over the melted chocolate.
- Sprinkle the candy corn, pretzels, Reese’s, M&Ms, candy eyeballs, and Halloween sprinkles, optional, all over the chocolate.
- Place the sheet pan in the refrigerator for one hour or until the chocolate is completely hardened.
- Remove the bark from the sheet pan by lifting the parchment paper out. You should be able to gently pull the parchment paper off of the back of the bark. This is easiest when the parchment paper is draped over the sides of the sheet pan.
- Cut the bark into irregular shapes and serve cold.
Jenn’s Notes
Storage :
- To Store: Once the chocolate is set completely and broken into pieces, store your Halloween candy bark in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. If you prefer to leave the Halloween candy bark on the counter at room temperature it will last for about 5 days.
- To Freeze: Place pieces of Halloween candy bark in a plastic freezer bag and place it in the freezer. It will last a long time; maybe even until next Halloween!
- The chocolate will start melting relatively fast once it’s at room temperature. Place it on cold plates, or make sure it is in a relatively cool place, as you are serving.
- This is a very sweet treat so adding some extra sea salt on top will help to balance it out if you don’t have as much of a sweet tooth.
- I recommend drizzling the caramel in some fun swirls that are evenly distributed throughout the chocolate.
- Use a spatula to evenly spread the chocolate syrup across the sheet pan.
- Add more or less of each topping, depending on your preferences.
- Use the parchment paper to lift up the chocolate and make it easier to cut.
- A double boiler uses a small amount of water in a small saucepan/pot, with a larger glass or metal bowl on top. The boiling water will heat up the bowl slowly, so that chocolate can be easily melted in the top bowl, with no danger of burning. It’s the easiest way to melt chocolate, especially for those of us that struggle to melt chocolate in the microwave.
Nutrition Info
Calories: 384kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 78mg | Potassium: 285mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 49IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 3mg
it’s good but the caramel never hardens and it’s kind of messy. Next time won’t put it in
I made this Halloween bark last year and everyone loved it. I am making it again this year as it’s a party hit!