Usually I just buy the melting caps & either dip a variety of items or make molded candies & lollipops. They're really nice when layered with white, milk & dark chocolate. I've also gone nuts with it & bought special paint brushes to "paint" a bit of red or green in the details of the molds & fill with either white or dark chocolate. These look especially nice.
Things I dip:
dried apricots
pretzel sticks
banana chips
nuts
raisins, dried cherries or craisins
Oreos, store bought peanut butter cookies
mini candy canes
I melt the chocolate in custard cups sitting in an old electric frying pan filled with water on low. This keeps the chocolate the right temp w/o needing to keep nuking it. I just dip & lay on wax paper or foil.
When I get tired of dipping or making molded stuff, I usually smash one or two candy canes & mix in with the melted chocolate still sitting in the custard cups. Then pour onto the wax paper or foil to make "bark". I was surprised at how good this is!
A friend makes these every year as a family project - we only do it once in a while. It makes a lot!!
Peanut Butter Balls
3 lb confectioners sugar
1 lb butter/margarine, melted
2 lb peanut butter
2 pkg chocolate chips (large pkgs)
¼ bar paraffin, grated
Mix together sugar, butter & peanut butter; work with hands. Roll into balls. Melt chips in double boiler adding paraffin. Dip balls in chocolate. Freeze until firm.
[NOTE: Parafin makes the chocolate runny enough to coat the balls easily. Not required, but makes a much nicer end product.]