MAIN Home Life Holidays Christmas Chocolate Recipes

Great to serve for the holidays, or give as gifts, homemade chocolate goodies and molded candies also make for great family project get-togethers.

Whether you opt for the easy chocolate lollipops, or choose to get fancy with hand-painted Santas and Christmas angels - these recipes not only taste great, they can make a holiday place setting or Christmas ornament.

Of course, Christmas chocolate disappears quickly, so be sure to make an extra-generous batch for gifts and party favors ...hey it's the holidays!

To get your started, here's an amazingly easy recipe for chocolate bark that's fun to make and decorate as you please.

Basic recipe for chocolate bark

Ingredients

Vegetable oil
Chocolate (milk, bittersweet, or white chocolate), chopped
Toppings (sprinkles, chopped nuts, shredded coconut, orange peel, red and green M&M's, or get creative with your own variation)

1. Coat a 9 x 12 rimmed baking sheet with vegetable oil and line with parchment.
2. Place chocolate in a double boiler or a heavy bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Stir gently until chocolate is melted.
3. Pour onto the baking sheet and spread in an even layer.
4. Immediately sprinkle toppings over chocolate. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
5. Peel off parchment, and break bark into pieces.

Note: use a sharp, heavy knife to break chocolate into triangle Christmas tree shapes, or get really creative -- use large squares and rectangles to create a chocolate house decorated with colorful gumdrops.

Around the Web, discover a holiday wonderland of chocolate recipes just right for the season, along with hand-picked holiday chocolate recipes from our own recipe file. Most are simple enough for kids to help with. Just make sure a grown-ups is around to supervise the stovetop melting process.

Have fun!

Related Recipes in the Chiff Chef Recipe File

Chocolate Cream Mousse | Chocolate Fondue

Chocolate Brownies | Orange Vanilla Hot Chocolate

More about Christmas chocolate recipes around the Web:

Molded Chocolates Allrecipes.com - Find how to's and complete instructions for a complete course in Christmas chocolate 101 including tips on melting, tempering, filling your molds and more including pics, video and related recipes.

Chocolate - the Food of the Gods - Find everything chocolate at this PastryWiz guide featuring recipes from the great chefs, how to's for beginners (including detailed instructions on the chocolate melting process) and lots of related resources.