White Chocolate Bark

This week I chose to share a dessert that anyone can do! It is super simple, and very versatile. You can mix up the ingredients to whatever you or your familiy likes. So what dessert am I talking about? It’s white chocolate bark! This recipe is candy making made simple. You certainly don’t need a forensic scientist to accomplish this one. This is also a great recipe that you can use when you want your kids to help out in the kitchen! For my recipe, I use pistaccios, dried cranberries, and apricots. These give great color and I think they taste great. However, if your kids won’t eat apricots, you can definitely change out these ingredients to suit your needs. Speaking of kids, this is a great way to get them to eat some fruits that they normally would not because they are in a big bar of white chocolate. They probably will not even notice. So let’s talk about how to make these…

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Using a pencil, draw an 8 by 10-inch rectangle on a piece of parchment paper placed on a sheet pan. Turn the parchment paper over so the pencil mark doesn't get into the chocolate.

Place the pistaccios in 1 layer on another sheet pan and bake for 8 minutes. Set aside to cool and then chop roughly into large pieces. You can do this with whatever nut you decide to use.

Place 3/4 of the chocolate in a glass bowl and place it in the microwave on high power for 30 seconds. Stir with a rubber spatula. Put it back in the microwave for another 30 seconds and stir again. Continue to heat and stir every 30 seconds until the chocolate is just melted. Immediately, add the remaining chocolate and allow it to sit at room temperature, stirring often, until it's completely smooth. (If you need to heat it a little more, place it in the microwave for another 15 seconds at a time.) This is called tempering chocolate.

Pour the melted chocolate onto the parchment paper and spread it lightly into the drawn rectangle. Sprinkle the top evenly with the cooled pistaccios, the cranberries and apricots. Set aside for at least 2 hours until firm, or refrigerate for 20 minutes. Cut the bark in 16 pieces and serve at room temperature.

How simple was that? I hope you turn to this recipe the next time you want a simple candy recipe!