Happy Halloween homies! Although I am not dressing up this year, I will be participating in the better part of the day: CHOCOLATE! Psssh as if I need any more reason to get my daily fix. I was going through my iPhone photo gallery last week to try and clear up space and had a few realizations:
1) I need to start deleting photos more often- my phone is filled with way too duplicates!
2) Food & my nephew basically dominate my gallery.
3) There are so many recipes that I’ve made with the intention to share on the blog, then suddenly they slip on the back burner.
With regards to my 3rd realization, a recipe that I made way back in March 2015 (that is not a typo) is Dark Chocolate Bark!.
I actually have my good friend Ria to thank for this one. After hearing how much she loved this stuff, I knew it was a recipe I needed to experiment with. Again, like I need a reason to get my chocolate on. Aside from its deliciousness, the beauty of chocolate bark is undoubetedly its versatility. Depending on what takes your fancy, you can easily customize it according to your chocolate preferences (e.g. white/milk/dark) and favorite add-ins (e.g. nuts, pretzels dried fruit, seeds).
For this batch, I rolled with some 85% dark chocolate as my base & a mix of roasted almonds, peanuts, coconut flakes & raisins for my add-ins. If you are watching your sugar/carb intake, this Dark Chocolate Bark a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth given dark chocolate’s relatively low sugar content: 20g of 85% dark chocolate contains 2.8g of sugar whereas 20g of milk chocolate contains 11.3g of sugar!!
Go and make this guys- I promise you won’t be sorry:
Homemade Dark Chocolate Bark
What you‘ll need:
- 250-300g good quality dark chocolate*
- Your choice of add-ins e.g. dried fruit, nuts, seeds, pretzels, herbs, spices, sea salt, coffee beans, etc
- Parchment paper or foil
- Baking sheet or thin tray
- Spatula
Method
1) Melt the chocolate either over double boiler using hot but not boiling water or in the microwave in 30-second increments or in a chocolate melter. However you melt it, stir regularly.
2) Line a baking sheet (or thin tray) with parchment paper (or foil). Once melted, pour the chocolate onto the baking sheet. Using a spatula, spread the chocolate evenly until it is about 1/8 -1/4 inch thick, or as thick as you want it to be.
3) Sprinkle your choice of toppings evenly across the melted chocolate.
4) Refrigerate the baking sheet for at least 45 minutes or until the chocolate has set. Break apart the bark into bite-size pieces and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
Notes
- I used Lindt 85% Dark chocolate
What‘s your favorite chocolate?
What‘s your favourite bark variation?
What are you dressing up as this year?
I so adore all types of bark – it’s been so long since I had it and plan on going bark crazy next week – my favs bark usually involves some sort of dried fruit and nut – like say a cranberry pistachio bark!
I also love Lindt – but my all time fav has gotta be Cadbury’s Dark chocolate – which really doesn’t count as dark chocolate but it’s my little indulgence!
Roasted almond bark is my favorite, especially when made with 85-90% dark chocolate. The darker the better!!
OMG I LOVE DARK CHOCOLATE!
You and me both!!
I’m a fan of anything chocolate and I love when you get to play with add ins.
Also my iPhone photos are out of control too, so you are not alone.
Dark chocolate is my spirit animal. Or something like that. I need to try this – it reminds me of this chocolate bar back home. You go in, choose your chocolate, and then you can pick from a TON if mix-ins. They mix it up, pour the bars, and then you have a custom bar to take home!
I love dark chocolate, my favorite kind of dark chocolate is anything with nuts and some kind of fruit. Something about that combo works for me. Nice job on the bark.
Same here- I can’t get enough of dark choc with nuts!!!