Peanut Butter Bark

First of all, Happy Christmas Eve! Andy and I are in Goshen, Indiana (right outside Chicago) spending a few days with family before we move on. I'm glad we are getting to see some family on this cross-country trip, especially since we are traveling right over Christmas.

This is the third and final recipe for chocolate bark. The other two can be found here and here. If you have chocolate and peanut butter on hand this could be a fun thing to make with your family today. Or...maybe you are busy with other things. Either way, this could also be a good Easter bark!

Peanut Butter Bark
16 oz. (or 2 cups) of white chocolate (chips or candy melts)
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
8 oz. (or 1 cup) dark or milk chocolate (chips or candy melts)

Start by laying some wax paper over a cookie sheet. Next, melt the peanut butter and white chocolate either in a double boiler or in the microwave. Separately melt the dark chocolate in the microwave. Pour the melted white chocolate and peanut butter mixture into the cookie sheet and spread it out with a spatula. Take the melted dark chocolate and drizzle it in lines over the peanut butter mixture. Then, take a knife and drag it through the chocolate the opposite way of the chocolate lines to marbleize it.


That is it. It is an elegant and easy way to make bark. You can also use the marbleizing affect with icing to decorate cakes or cookies. It is much simpler to do than it looks.

Enjoy...and Merry Christmas tomorrow!

Salted Dark Chocolate Toffee Bark

A while ago I posted about making Christmas packages of chocolate for friends. I have a lot of chocolate on hand since I just closed down my chocolate business. Bark is super easy to make. It is pretty much just melting and spreading chocolate while adding things to it.
(Here's also a recipe for peppermint bark.)

This bark recipe is a little different than most. It is a toffee bark recipe, which means it is just chocolate and toffee layered on top of each other. With chunky salt sprinkled on top too!

This was actually my first time making toffee. I always thought toffee was just a hard-candy version of caramel, but it's not! I have made caramel many a time and it is much more complicated with more ingredients than toffee. Anyone could make toffee! All it is is butter and sugar...healthy right?

Salted Dark Chocolate Toffee Bark
For the Toffee:
-2 cups butter
-2 cups sugar
-a pinch of salt
Combine butter, sugar, and salt in a pot. Stir it over medium heat until the butter and sugar are completely melted. Then turn the heat down to low. Stir it occasionally, but not too much. Put a thermometer in the pot and let it simmer until the toffee is amber color and slightly over 300 degrees F. Remove it from the heat and pour it out onto a waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Spread it out to the size of the pan.

For the chocolate:
Take about 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips (or any kind of chopped chocolate) and sprinkle them over the hot toffee on the cookie sheet. Give the chocolate a few minutes to melt and then spread it evenly over the toffee. Take large granulated salt and sprinkle it over the top generously. (I could have added more to my bark.) Put the pan in the refrigerator and let it cool.

If you want a layer of chocolate on the other side of the toffee flip the toffee/chocolate over after it has cooled and hardened. Take another 2 cups of chocolate and melt it in the microwave. Once it is thoroughly melted add it to the toffee and spread it out. Let it cool. When the whole toffee/chocolate sheet has cooled break it into pieces.

That's it! So easy, yet so classy.

Peppermint Bark

Last week I wrote about making chocolate bark with the leftovers of chocolate that I have from my business. I made three different kinds and boxed them up for friends. It was easy and fun, and I've never made bark before. I'm telling you, it is probably the easiest kind of chocolate candy to make out there. You really can't screw it up.

One of the main joys of bark (other than it being chocolate) is that you break it into pieces. Of course, you can cut it or mold it, but the broken rough edges are what makes it fun and kind of artsy/rustic.

For this recipe I used dark chocolate on the bottom and white chocolate on top. You can do that, or just keep it all white chocolate. The all white chocolate route would definitely be quicker and much simpler. I personally like dark chocolate better though, so I wanted to include it. I also like the contrasting look of the dark brown, white, and bits of red. So pretty!

Peppermint Bark
-2 cups white chocolate chips or candy melts
-2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or candy melts
-about 1 cup of crushed candycanes

Cover a cookie sheet with with a layer of wax paper. Melt the semi-sweet (dark) chocolate chips either in the microwave or in a double boiler. (Be careful not to burn the chocolate in the microwave. Heat for 20 seconds then stir. Keep doing that until it is all melted.) Spread melted chocolate evenly onto the cookie sheet. Let it cool and harden. Melt the white chocolate and pour it onto the dark chocolate sheet. Spread it evenly. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes over the white chocolate.

Voila! You're done. Now wrap em up, make em pretty and give them as gifts.