Sweet Treats on the Horizon: Chocolate Trends for 2013

Get ready to feast your eyes on the most captivating bars, bonbons, and truffles. What are you waiting for? It's time to treat yourself to eight chocolate trends!

Brown rice and quinoa, whether toasted or puffed, has made its way into chocolate bars — giving chocolates a toasted flavor and a Nestlé Crunch-like consistency. One of our favorites? Alter Eco Dark Quinoa ($4) is 60 percent dark chocolate and studded with fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth quinoa puffs.

When Vosges released its bacon and chocolate bar a few years back, it shocked and offended vegetarians and serious confectioners alike. Yet finally, the world has embraced the amazing smoky/sweet combination, as many (if not most!) chocolatiers have created their own versions of something with chocolate and bacon. Vosges has since expanded its bacon and chocolate collection to include pancakes, truffles, and a chocolate pig, and chocolatiers like Oregon's Xocolatl de David are offering variations like chicharrón-studded bars.

Chocolatiers travel the world searching for interesting spices to add to their chocolates, and we're seeing some head-turning combinations. Bouton Chocolat is serving up morsels like tart cherry star anise and fig pistachio fennel seeds ($10 per 10-piece box).

Cakes and cookies are making their way into truffle form. Godiva's collection includes birthday cake with vanilla cake mousse in a white chocolate shell, pineapple hummingbird cake with pineapple and banana ganache and pecan cream cheese frosting, and cookie dough with cookie dough ganache in a milk chocolate shell.

Beyond berries and citrus fruits, chocolate makers are expanding traditional pairings to dip chocolate in exotic fruit, like Jade Chocolates Spicy Green Mango Tiles ($6). We're also loving chocolate-dipped, paper-thin slices of Recchiuti Key Lime Pears ($23).

Lately, chocolatiers have been expanding their tea knowledge and infusing the flavors in ganache and caramel. Case in point: Xocolatl de David makes chocolates with rose hips, Kashmiri chai, hojicha (a roasted Japanese tea), and lapsang souchong (a smoked black tea).

We'll always have an affinity for chocolate and peanut butter, but as other nut butters like almond, walnut, and cashew become more popular, they are also marrying in chocolate form. Similar to a Snickers bar, Justin's Milk Chocolate Almond Candy Bar ($20 for 12 bars) is a chocolate-covered treat, with layers of caramel, nougat, almonds, and almond butter. Pick up a jar of chocolate walnut butter, or try making your own chocolate almond spread.

Check out these cooking essentials from YumSugar:

Takeout Fake-Out: 10 Restaurant-Inspired Dishes to Make Tonight

Crucial Cooking Techniques to Know

Bakeware Essentials Every Kitchen Needs