Bark with Some Bite

With the holiday season still flickering in the wake of its demise, I can officially declare I’ve had enough of Christmas caroling, gift wrapping, and cookie-baking. However, in these unsullied days of 2011, it seems that some of the 2010 debris persists. In my case, this means countless rolls of tattered wrapping paper, a prickly carpet of pine needles where the tree once stood, and more chocolate and candy than any sane, normal person should be in possession of.

In light of the latter, I recently stood in front of my bulging pantry, fighting the urge to toss it all into the garbage. But of course, I couldn’t. Instead, I decided to err on the frugal side and incorporate the sweets into some new entity that could be re-gifted; thereby relinquishing my possession of it as soon as possible.

I evaluated my ammo: several bars of good dark chocolate (72%), 5 cans of Mauna Loa’s Kona coffee-glazed macadamia nuts, and a large box of salted caramels. My imagination immediately leapt to one luscious batch of chocolate macadamia cookies, but since I am not a baking enthusiast, I was exhausted simply by the prospect.

And then, an epiphany: bark. I used to make white chocolate peppermint bark with Esmeralda when I was little. Apparently my favorite part was smashing the little mint pieces into oblivion with a meat tenderizer. I hadn’t made it since then.

I decided to use the intense dark chocolate as a base, lightening it up with artful drizzles of white chocolate and salted caramel. To finish, I sprinkled the melted chocolate with crushed Heath Bar, slivered almonds, and of course, the coffee macadamia nuts. The result was crunchy, crispy, chewy, and creamy… true chocolate divinity.

Chocolate bark’s flexibility is terrific- you can truly use any extras you have on hand to make it your own. The key is simply to find a balance of textures and tastes to really make it fresh and interesting.

A few ideas:

Base: any solid dark, milk, or white chocolate
Crunchy: chopped pretzels, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, pecans, granola clusters, or bacon
Chewy: dried cherries, candied orange rind, nougat, or marzipan
Creamy: melted Nutella, marshmallow fluff, cream cheese, or peanut butter





ESB Chocolate Bark

. 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate
. ¼ cup melted white chocolate
. ¼ cup melted salted caramels
. 2 Heath Bars, roughly chopped
. ¼ cup Mauna Loa coffee-glazed macadamia nuts
. 3 tbsp slivered almonds

. Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler
. Pour melted chocolate dark chocolate onto a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper, using a spatula to spread it into a layer ¼” thick
. Melt white chocolate in a small saucepan, stirring frequently over low heat
. Melt caramels in microwave until it begins to bubble (30 seconds)
. Drizzle white chocolate and caramel over dark chocolate layer
. Sprinkle remaining ingredients over the chocolate, to taste
. Chill completely, then break apart into large pieces