Every now and again I delve into the world of food blogging. The fact is that I really love food, I enjoy cooking and going out for food, and happen to think it fits in very nicely with outdoors and bucket list blogging – there is nothing better than good food after a day of fun times outdoors.
Today I’m sharing an incredibly simple recipe that’s very popular at this time of year. It’s a great treat to have ready for when guests are coming round, and makes for a pretty decent home made gift, too. There are two brilliant things about this recipe – the first is you need practically no skill in the kitchen to make it work, and the second is you can tailor it to your personal tastes by changing up the fillings and toppings.
Recipe | Chocolate Bark
Ingredients
- Your favourite chocolate. I generally use white chocolate for these recipes, I think it works well, but you can equally use milk or dark chocolate, or a mixture. I used one large 100g bar of Milky Bar white chocolate per bark flavour. Because you using the chocolate as it is, buy good chocolate that you like the taste of.
- A selection of toppings and flavourings. For the three types described here you’ll need fresh raspberries, peppermint candy canes, pistachio nuts, and dried cranberries.
- You’ll also need a spatula, spoon, baking tray lined with baking paper, and the willpower to let the stuff set before you eat any…
Method
Prepare your toppings/flavourings first so they are ready to go once your chocolate is melted. So for these – crush and chop your candy canes, shell and chop your pistachios, chop your dried cranberries, and wash your raspberries.
Break your chocolate into small pieces and melt gently over a pan of boiling water until smooth.
For the peppermint bark, chop and crush a handful of peppermint candy canes. Stir some through the melted chocolate before pouring it out onto your tray, and sprinkle the rest over the top so you can see the pretty pink and white minty chunks. This works equally as well with mint humbugs or seaside rock if you can’t get candy canes.
The one that goes down the best in my house is the cranberry and pistachio. Fruit and nut chocolate, what’s not to like?! Shell and chop the pistachios and chop some dried cranberries, and stir them into the melted chocolate before spreading it out on your tray to cool. I find this one works best with all the “toppings” stirred through rather than some left for decoration. I really pack the chocolate with the fruit and nuts, much more than you’d get in a bought bar of Dairy Milk.
My third recipe is for raspberry ripple, which probably looks the most impressive. I use fresh raspberries to make a sauce – a coulis if you will – by heating the berries up in a saucepan with a little sugar until they have broken down into liquid form, reduced down into more of a syrup or sauce, and then allow it to cool fully. Pour your chocolate onto your tray and then add your raspberry sauce, swirling it around with a spoon handle or similar implement. Don’t be too generous with the sauce in the chocolate, or it won’t set fully and you’ll have red fingers every time you steal a piece.
Put the trays in the fridge until fully set. Once hard, break up the chocolate into random sized shards, and store in a tin, in dishes, or a plastic tub lined with baking paper. As with most sweet treats, chocolate bark is best served with a cup of tea and shared with friends and family.
How’s that? I think you’ll agree it’s a very simple but still elegant sweet treat, perfect for this time of year.
What will you put in your chocolate bark?
If you liked this, check out my other sweet treat recipes… I reckon you’ll love my lemon meringue (cheats) ice cream and my melt in the mouth rocky road.