Feel like making something quick and easy this Christmas? Barks are about as easy as it gets. All you need is melted chocolate or almond bark and some of your favorite toppings. So why is it called bark anyway? Well, it starts as a thin layer of delicious chocolaty goodness that gets broken into rough pieces which is supposed to resemble tree bark.
There are no recipes for this post, so you'd better not pout! I'm telling you to get creative! The most popular bark at Christmas would be to crush candy canes into melted almond bark or white chocolate. I have taken it a step further and melted chocolate in a very thin layer and chill for bout 3 minutes. You'll want to prepare it on a wax paper lined cookie sheet for easy clean up and the breaking of the bark.
Then you carefully spread the melted almond bark or white chocolate. Be careful not to mix the two. For most barks, I would suggest that you mix some of the flavorings in and some on the top. With this one, you shouldn't. It's too risky that you'll mix the two chocolates together. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top and let it cool. Break it apart and give it out to your friends and family! Below is the candy cane bark and also one that I made with crushed old fashioned Christmas candies and semi-sweet chocolate.
Other ideas include trail mix with milk chocolate, dried cranberries with pistachios and white chocolate, and candied orange peel with crystallized ginger and dark chocolate.
You can also get a little crazy like I did last year. I did the base just like the candy cane bark above. Then instead of candy, I crushed pink peppercorns. I know it sounds weird to the average housewife, but my foodie housewives and I loved it!
Enjoy!
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