Who wouldn’t want to receive a sweet gift of chocolate bark? Not just for Valentine’s, but any time of the year. Once you know the basic recipe, you can feel free to customize it to whatever sweet and savory ingredients you think will go together, like adding sweetened shredded coconut, broken-up pretzels, or dried figs. Those closest to you will love you for it.
Ingredients
1 (11-½ oz.) bag bittersweet (60% cocoa) chocolate chips (about 2 cups)
⅔ cup mixed toasted nuts (such as walnuts, pistachios, pecans, almonds), coarsely chopped
⅔ cup mixed dried fruit (such as cranberries, cherries, chopped apricots)
6 quarter-size rounds crystallized ginger, thinly sliced
⅛ teaspoon fleur de sel (sea salt) or coarse kosher salt
Recipe
- Line a small baking sheet with foil. Melt the chocolate chips in a medium bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until melted and smooth.
- Pour the chocolate onto the foil, spreading with an offset spatula to a thickness of a scant ¼ inch. Scatter the nuts and fruit over the chocolate. Sprinkle with the ginger, then the fleur de sel or kosher salt.
- Chill until the chocolate is firm, about 30 minutes. Peel off the foil and cut the chocolate into irregular pieces. Serve the bark slightly chilled. Makes 1 pound.
Source: Bon Appetit, December 2007
