Favorite "Bark" Recipes?

[tammylc]

I found a recipe online called 'Three Chocolate Bark with Spiced Pecans and Dried Cherries' by Emeril Lagasse which sounds good. Also a very fruit laden bark in a local chain grocery store handout. The photo entices. And the 'Aztec Chocolate Bark' also online in 'Simply Recipes'. I've only made very plain barks in the past.

I've been doing a simple bark of just toasted pecans and dried cherries in dark chocolate, and it's delicious. The spiced pecan thing would certainly be fancier though...

[David Israel]

I've done a white chocolate bark with dried cherries and pistachios -- looks nice for Christmas. Another one I like is dark chocolate with hazelnuts and candied lemon peel.

[Darienne]

Sounds delicious.

I could have made one with candied orange peel if our female Spoiled Rotten-weiler hadn't eaten most of the peels as they sat drying. Who knew a dog would eat orange peels?

[peter rabbit]

Hi again, I am working a farmer's market and chocolate bark sells well for this venue. It's easy to carry and prepackages well for the outside market. I'd like to be more creative with my bark receipes instead of nuts and more nuts. Also, several customers can't eat coconut - which eliminates this as an ingredient for almond coconut bark. Anyone have an especially creative combination for bark receipes? Thanks!

[Chris Amirault]

I've always wanted to be able to give my coffee/chocolate fiending wife a dark chocolate espresso bean bark.

[HungryC]

I like cacao nibs sprinkled into chocolate (like the Scharffenberger "Nibby" bar). Flaked sea salt is good, esp in combination with nuts. How about less-commonly-used nuts, like sunflower seeds or toasted sesame? Chopped or whole dried apricots, strips of candied orange peel, (foodsafe) dried rose petals, pink peppercorns, salted pretzels, popcorn (surprisingly good), or broken-up gingersnaps or graham crackers?

[Badiane]

For the kids...

Jelly Belly's

Pop Rocks

Captain Crunch

Freeze dried fruit

[andiesenji]

A little shop here sells barks that include various crunchy cereals that contain all kinds of nuts, dried fruits and etc.

There is a coconut-free "gorp" that I have seen sold in bulk at the various stores that sell bulk foods. I know a lot of people who combine it with boiled honey to make their own bars - no reason it shouldn't combine with chocolate.

One of the most popular items in the local candy store is a white chocolate marbled with raspberry that is offered with pistachios or almonds, filberts, pecans or walnuts. There are a couple more varieties but I don't remember what they are right now.

The pictures on this site should give you some good ideas.

[Genkinaonna]

Candied lime peel, macadamia nut and chili flakes...I make a truffle with those flavors that's quite popular. Fleur de sel and cocoa nib is pretty tasty...I also do a s'mores bark with mini marshmallows and caramelized graham cracker pieces on top that kids really get a kick out of. I'm sure any of us would be more than willing to taste and give you feedback ...

[peter rabbit]

Hey - thanks for the feedback!! I can work on these options as well as build some new ideas too.

Appreciate all responses -

[annachan]

A friend of mine really likes candy cane pieces. Mixed dried berries would be good. Freeze dried whole raspberry or raspberry dust sounds good to me right now.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

The most popular one I make is with tiny chunks of cocoa nib and fresh-roasted coffee bean....

[peter rabbit]

I have the cocoa nibs but have not worked with the coffee beans. How do you do this and what portions of each do you use for say a pound of chocolate? Do you use a bittersweet or semisweet chocolate?

The raspberry sounds good too...where do you purchase freeze dried fruit that's recommended.

[Baylee Chocolate Lady]

We use little toffee bits and chopped roasted almonds in milk chocolate for one of our barks. We swirl milk and dark chocolate together with chopped pretzel pieces and finel chopped almonds in another. Occasionally we use chopped candied orange peel in very dark chocolate.

If you build it on transfer paper, you get a really nice effect.

[Kerry Beal]

Bits of leftover chocolate the other night - to the dark I added some Canadian Maple flavour for chocolate and some large maple crystal chunks. To the milk some bitter orange oil and some bits of candied orange peel.

Last week - freeze dried pear bits and some of Andie's candied ginger bits.

[FrogPrincesse]

I made chocolate bark for the first time this weekend with my daughter. Dark chocolate with dried apricots + cocoa nibs (front), and milk chocolate with marshmallows + rice crispies in the back. That second batch has sprinkles too but I made the mistake of adding them to the mix rather than sprinkling them on top, therefore they are not really noticeable. You can tell I am a complete novice at this. At least I am practicing my tempering technique and I am sure that they will taste decent...

For the chocolate I am using the "Pound Plus" Belgian chocolate bars from Trader Joe's. The IR thermometer that I bought from Kerry was very handy. These will be party favors for my daughter's birthday this weekend.

I am looking for a third flavor. I know that at least one of the kids is allergic to nuts so I am avoiding them. I was thinking of a white chocolate base with maybe shredded coconut and...? I thought about candied ginger or candied lime zest but that may be too intense for the kids. I need something with texture.

A couple of related questions - what is a typical thickness for the bark? In France less than 1/5 inch (1/2 cm) seems to be desirable for "mendiants" but I've seen thicker barks in the US. Mine is thicker because I poured too much on the sheet pan and I feel it's a bit too thick.

What's your favorite spatula for spreading the chocolate? I used a small offset spatula (4 in) and thought that a larger one would have been easier to use. Thanks!

[Kerry Beal]

Very nice!

I'm a fan of bark as thin as possible. I use a small offset to spread, dragging the inclusions as far apart as I can.

In terms of additions - kids seem to love poprocks in their bark (as do adults). In white chocolate I've added dried cherries and toasted almonds (oops I see you want to avoid nuts), also toasted coconut and lemongrass essential oil. Not in white - but pretzels, caramel bits and peanuts (again the nuts).

[Kerry Beal]

Here's the kind of bark you make when you are too lazy to dip the rest of the centers you have in front of you and you need to leave for work in 10 minutes - "chocolate" bark!

[Alleguede]

Lol- that looks great Kerry.

Frog princess, you can use marshmallow, m&ms, Oreo powder, feuilletine, Rice Krispies, chocolate chips, chocolate chip cookies,... Fizzy peaches, and more.

[FrogPrincesse]

I like your lazy bark idea, Kerry.

Kerry & Alleguede - Thanks for the great ideas. I am sure that we will come up with something fun for the kids.

[FrogPrincesse]

Here is the third bark that I ended up making. Shredded coconut and M&Ms in dark chocolate. I really liked the texture of the coconut and it allowed me to spread the bark much thinner.

[rajoress]

Here are a few things I've mixed into my barks:

Milk, dark, or white chocolate with -

pretzel pieces

chopped oreos or other cookies

crisp rice cereal

toffee pieces

dried fruits

marshmallows

a few more (with nuts!) -

pistachios and dried cranberries with white chocolate

peanuts and marshmallow with milk chocolate

peanuts and raisins with dark chocolate

dried bluberries and roasted almonds with dark chocolate

dried cherries and pecans with milk or dark chocolate

best of luck to you!

Ruth

[Gary Traffanstedt]

Ooh, bacon bark. I've gotta make some now! What chocolate do you use? I'm thinking maple bacon in dark chocolate would be really good.

I've never made bark. For my first I'm planning a layer of dark under a peppermint layer. Thinking white chocolate with peppermint oil, and then crushed peppermint candies.

[YetiChocolates]

I do a 60/40 milk/dark blend. I also used an alder smoked sea salt that boosted the smoky flavor. I tried both dark and milk solo at first, but Kerry tuned me into the milk dark blend.

Bark is one of the more simple chocolate things to make.

And your peppermint bark plans sounds good, let us know how it turns out!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I have the cocoa nibs but have not worked with the coffee beans. How do you do this and what portions of each do you use for say a pound of chocolate? Do you use a bittersweet or semisweet chocolate?

The raspberry sounds good too...where do you purchase freeze dried fruit that's recommended.

Sorry I didn't see this earlier!

For each pound of chocolate, I use about 2 oz each of finely chopped roasted nibs and coffee beans (the beans I get are generally medium roast, so I toast them together with the nibs in my cast iron frypan). I generally put this into a 75% bittersweet; lately I'm inclining towards Kallari's wildcrafted gran-cru, but I've also had very favourable results using Bios 80 and adding a pinch of pink rock salt from Loja.....