D.I.Y. Fridays – Homemade Chocolate Bark

January 23, 2015

Chocolate bark with almonds, pistachios and sea salt.

by Nicole Wines

This is a great go-to dessert recipe for a potluck because if it doesn’t all get eaten (it probably will), it’s easy for the host to save and has a longer shelf life than many other deserts. It also makes a great gift for chocolate lovers. I use organic, fair-trade dark chocolate and organic nuts and seeds when I make it.

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE BARK RECIPE

Ingredients

Dark chocolate bars broken up for melting.

-Chocolate bar(s), broken up into a few pieces
(***Info link: Why Buy Fair Trade Chocolate?)

Optional, mixed and matched to taste:

Crushing pistachios

-Nuts, crushed or chopped
-Dried fruit
-Seeds
-Sea salt

Supplies
-Double Boiler (or two saucepans of different sizes-see below)
-Baking sheet or baking pan
-Wax paper or parchment paper

Double boiler alternative-place a small amount of water in a saucepan to boil and a nest smaller saucepan inside for melting chocolate.

Directions

Melting chocolate

-Melt chocolate chunks in a double boiler or nested saucepan. Keep the heat low and stir often to avoid burning.

Baking pan lined with wax paper.

-While chocolate is melting, line baking sheet or pan with wax paper or parchment paper.

Pistachios and Almonds

-Sprinkle with crushed nuts, seeds and/or dried fruit (alternative option-sprinkle on top of chocolate AFTER chocolate is poured into pan).

-Pour melted chocolate into the lined pan.

(NOTE: Let me take this little bit of white space to say thanks to my friend Wendy Weiner who brought her own homemade chocolate bark to a dinner and inspired me to make it myself and to share this super simple recipe and yummy chocolate photos with all of our readers. This recipe is perfect for a homemade gift too! Ok…back to the recipe…)

-Use a spoon to mix excess nut/seed/fruit mixture from the edges and to help spread the chocolate evenly to the edges of the pan.