Chocolate Bark

This is an easy-to-make treat to give to friends, family, or coworkers during the holiday season.

Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bark

• 2 1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup chopped pistachios
• 1/4 cup chopped dried cherries

1. Place chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat on High for one minute. Remove and stir. Heat for an additional 30 seconds. Remove and stir. Repeat heating for 30 second intervals until chocolate chips are just melted.
2. Pour melted chocolate onto parchment paper or cookie sheet and spread to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness.
3. Sprinkle with pistachios and cherries.
4. Allow to cool an hour or so until chocolate is hardened, then cut.

Makes 16 good-sized pieces

Peppermint Chocolate Bark

• 2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup broken peppermint starlight mints
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

1. Place chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat on High for one minute. Remove and stir. Heat for an additional 30 seconds. Remove and stir. Repeat heating for 30 second intervals until chocolate chips are just melted. Stir in peppermint extract.
2. Pour melted chocolate onto parchment paper or cookie sheet and spread to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness.
3. Sprinkle with broken peppermint candy.
4. Allow to cool an hour or so until chocolate is hardened, then cut.

Makes 16 good-sized pieces

I made these for the first time last year and was taken aback by how quickly the whole process went. You can probably make both in about 10 minutes (not counting the time is takes for the chocolate to harden.) In our microwave, it took 2 minutes to heat the chocolate to the right consistency.

If your pistachios are not already salted, it might be nice to add a sprinkle of sea salt to the fruit and nut bark.

We’ve  tried chopping starlight mints before, and it took forever. (And by “we,” I mean, “I made Mike do it.”) This time we put them in a plastic bag and whacked them with an ice cream scoop. It worked much better. A meat mallet would probably be ideal for this. Not surprisingly, we don’t own one, but maybe you do? Really anything big and heavy should work.

I had originally planned for the peppermint bark to be made with white chocolate, but our grocery store did not have white chocolate chips. Really I suppose the fruit and nut would be good with white chocolate as well. If you want to add a bit of variety you might consider that option.