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| dark chocolate bark with cranberries, pistachios and sea salt |
If you're thinking
about making a chocolate treat for your loved ones this Valentines Day, there's
still time to make this easy chocolate bark recipe. Chances are you have all the ingredients in
your pantry. All you need for the
bare-bones version is a bag of chocolate chips and some dried fruit or nuts!
Of course if you're
like me, you may want to fancy it up a bit, but still the ingredients are very basic
and simple. I like to start with dark
chocolate that's at least 70% cocoa
for the health benefits, but you can use whatever chocolate you like - milk,
dark or white. If you're going to use
nuts, make sure they are roasted and lightly salted to bring out their flavor. For the rest of the toppings, it's completely
up to you and your taste buds. Here's a
list of ingredients that work well for chocolate bark:Roasted, chopped nuts: almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pecans, peanuts
Chopped dried fruit: apricots, cranberries, cherries
Orange zest (my favorite with chocolate!), candied ginger, sea salt
1.) To start, you'll
need to melt the chocolate. You can do
so in the microwave, but I prefer the stove-top method. You don't need a double boiler, but to create
the effect, fill a stainless steel pot with about 1-2 inches of water. Set a glass bowl on top of the pot so the
bottom of the glass bowl just barely touches the water. Add about 2 cups of chopped chocolate to the
bowl and heat on a low to medium flame.
2.) Stir the chocolate
with a wooden spoon until it is almost melted.
Carefully remove the glass bowl and continue to stir the chocolate until
it is fully melted. At this point if you
are going to add orange zest, do so now.
3.) Let the chocolate cool slightly, then pour onto a rimmed baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Try to keep it an inch or so from the edges. Sprinkle the toppings evenly over the unset chocolate. I always add a bit of coarse sea salt over the top to bring out all the flavors.
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| dark chocolate bark with orange zest, apricots and walnuts |
3.) Let the bark sit
to harden for an hour or so before cutting.
You should be able to drag the parchment paper onto a cutting board
easily.
Enjoy! "The Greatest Wealth is Health" - Roman Poet Virgil
