This Bark Is Better In Bites: 3 Chocolate Bark Recipes Beyond Peppermint

By: Ciaran Keast

Are you tired of holiday-themed peppermint bark? Me, too! But I always have room in my life for classic chocolate bark. Here’s the master plan for making your own chocolate treats, plus three chocolate bark recipes your sweet tooth -- and your sweetie -- will love.

Find Some Flavor

The awesome thing about chocolate bark is that you can put just about anything you like into it. Trail mix? Dried fruit? Your favorite breakfast cereal? Tea? Seriously, root around in your cupboards and pull out stuff you like. As long as it doesn’t need to be refrigerated and mixes well with chocolate, it’ll probably work. My husband goes crazy for the Deluxe Toffee Cracker Bark (recipe below), which uses table crackers as a base.
Here are some more ideas and combinations to get you started:

graham crackers + marshmallows
cookies
caramels + sea salt
coffee beans
candied ginger + coconut flakes
dried strawberries + almonds
crispy rice cereal
peanuts + pretzels
candy

If your mix-in items are large, chop them up a bit first before adding them to the chocolate. Otherwise it will be harder for the chocolate to hold everything together.

Choose Your Chocolate

Milk, dark, white -- it doesn’t really matter what kind of chocolate you pick as long as you think it will pair well with your chosen mix-ins (I used all semi-sweet in my recipes, but you can sub in whatever you'd like). You can even combine different kinds of chocolate for a truly unique flavor effect! This is also an area where you can go all-out with a higher end cocoa brand or just fudge it with a bag of chocolate chips. The biggest thing here is to make sure your chocolate is in chunks or pieces so it doesn’t take forever to melt.

Make It Fancy

The easiest way to make chocolate bark is to follow the Master Recipe below and then use your hands to break the final product into pieces. But if you like the idea of individual servings or chocolates in cute little shapes, there’s an easy way to do that: novelty ice cube trays.
All you need to do is divide your mix-ins amongst the wells of the tray, then pour your chocolate in on top. Allow to harden and then just pop your little goodies right on out. The flexible silicone trays work best for this, or you could also use cookie cutters on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Chocolate Bark Master Recipe

Ingredients:

9 ounces (approximately 1 cup) chocolate of choice, chopped
1 cup mix-ins of choice, chopped

Directions:
Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.
In a microwave-safe bowl, heat about 3/4 of the chocolate just until melted. Stir in remaining chocolate until smooth, then add your mix-ins and stir again until well combined.
Pour mixture onto lined baking sheet and spread with a spatula to approximately 1/4 inch thickness (or thicker if you want! It will just take longer to harden).
Allow to cool and harden, then break or cut bark into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Bark Bites

Ingredients:

9 ounces (approximately 1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
approximately 1 cup freeze-dried strawberry slices
1/2 cup crispy cocoa rice cereal

Directions:
Place one strawberry into each well of two square ice cube trays.
In a microwave-safe bowl, heat about 3/4 of the chocolate just until melted. Stir in remaining chocolate until smooth, then add cocoa rice cereal and stir gently until well combined.
Spoon chocolate over strawberries in ice cube trays. Allow to cool and harden, then pop the bark bites out of the trays.

Cookie Crush Bark

Ingredients:

9 ounces (approximately 1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup crushed chocolate sandwich cookies

Directions:
Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.
In a microwave-safe bowl, heat about 3/4 of the chocolate just until melted. Stir in remaining chocolate until smooth, then add cookies and stir again until well combined.
Pour mixture onto lined baking sheet and spread with a spatula to approximately 1/4 inch thickness. Allow to cool and harden, then break or cut bark into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Deluxe Chocolate Toffee Cracker Bark

Ingredients:

approximately 40 saltines or table crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with single layer of crackers.
Combine butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 3 minutes, stirring often. Pour and spread over crackers, being sure to work quickly.
Bake crackers for 5-6 minutes, until bubbly.
Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the crackers. Allow them to sit a few minutes and melt, then use a spatula to smooth them over the crackers and toffee. Sprinkle on chopped nuts, if desired.
Cool completely, then break into pieces and enjoy!

Ciaran Keast

Ciaran Keast loves art, semicolons, books, cats -- and all the tea, ever. When they're not posting tea photos on social media, you'll catch them at almost every Plum Deluxe event.

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