Emma Dean’s recipe for chocolate bark

Chocolate Bark

I love eating chocolate bark when I am enjoying a wine.  Chocolate bark makes a fantastic gift ahead of the silly season, and it is also a welcomed treat for the spring carnival! It is easy to eat and you wont drop it down your front so you can wear your finery without any worry (which is usually my worry J

Ingredients:

These ingredients are not exhaustive, and if you want to make heaps – then buy heaps of chocolate and make up different combinations.

• 400g best quality dark eating chocolate, broken up into small pieces
• 100g best quality white eating chocolate, broken up into small pieces
• flaked sea salt
• chilli flakes
• sunflower seeds
• sesame seeds
• pistachio nuts
• cranberries
• dried cherries
• candied orange peel
• toasted flaked almonds
• pretzels

Method:

1. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Melt the chocolate in separate bowls using the baine marie method.
3. This method is quite simple and is a good way to melt chocolate. Place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of  simmering water on lowest heat (you may even need to turn off the flame if the bowl gets too hot).  Sprinkle in the chocolate whilst mixing with a silicon spatula to gently melt the chocolate. When the chocolate is almost melted, remove from the heat and continue to gently mix together until fully melted.
4. On one tray pour half of the dark chocolate and roughly ‘smooth’ with a spatula ensuring that a rough surface is kept, but the chocolate is less than half  a centimeter. Dark chocolate goes really well with chilli or flaked sea salt, but I would keep them separate. I also like to do a cherry and flaked almond combo.
5. Spread the dark chocolate onto the other tray, and then drizzle over the white chocolate. Using a chopstick, or a wooden skewer, swirl the white chocolate into the dark chocolate, making pretty patterns.
6. I like to sprinkle on streaks of seeds and nuts, but also leaving some of the chocolate to shine though. You can section up the tray for different combinations.
7. Let both trays set in the fridge.
8. Once set hard (after a few hours), break the chocolate up into eating sized pieces (this IS interpretive and depending on the event)
9. Pop into little cellophane bags and tie with string; or pop onto part of a dessert platter, or simply pop into a pretty bowl for your friends to gobble at random!