Magic Christmas Chocolate Bark
As a little girl, I remember my Mom spending hours making delicious Christmas cookies and candy. She made chocolate covered peanut butter balls, chocolate nut clusters and fruit and nut clusters. A lot of love went into each piece – and a lot of time.
I still love lots of chocolate during Christmas but I also love short cuts. I use my microwave to make my chocolate treats, the popcorn I shared with you last week, easy fudge, and the bark I am sharing today.
Last year, our microwave stopped working during the Christmas season and it was a major crisis. I know it’s a first world problem for sure, but without that magical box, all of my Christmas treats became that much harder to make. I was literally walking back and forth between my house and my Mom’s next door to use her microwave to finish up my food gifts.
I wonder what I looked like to the neighbors as I carried my popcorn popper and bowls of melted chocolate back and forth, back and forth. Here’s hoping my microwave holds up this season!
The recipe I am sharing today is so easy and so delicious. It is an instant hit with anyone who tastes it. We call it magic bark because it comes together like magic and disappears like magic.
The secret to success with this one (and almost all good things) is high quality chocolate. Baker’s Premium Baking Bars are the way to go here, not chocolate chips or almond bark. It microwaves nicely and the end result is quite tasty.
We have no peanut butter allergies in this house and believe strongly in the marriage of peanut butter and chocolate. The darker the chocolate the better. But if you do have allergies, you can leave out the peanut butter and mix in some dried cranberries or some such thing for a different take on this bark.
When I began making this bark a few years ago, the chocolate bars were larger than they are now. They were apparently a victim of down-sizing. So, to get the amount of chocolate I like on one pan, you will need 2 bars of semi-sweet chocolate and 1 1/2 of the white chocolate. This may seem annoying to have half a bar of white chocolate left, but trust me when I say you are going to want to make more than one batch anyway.
The hardest part of the whole recipe is waiting an hour for it to firm up. If you plan on giving it as a gift, you can line a cute airtight container with wax paper before you fill it up and attach a note that suggests storing it in the fridge. If you are keeping it for yourself, hide it deeply in your fridge or it will be gone in a day.
If you have any fun chocolate bark variations, please share them with me. I would love to try them.
AuthorMelissa JoyDifficultyBeginnerBreak up the pretzels and set aside.
Unwrap the chocolate bars and break them up into separate microwave safe bowls.
Melt the semi-sweet chocolate first. Start with one minute on high, remove and stir and return for 30 seconds on high. Remove and stir. Repeat until the chocolate is melted smoothly.
Next, melt the white chocolate, starting with one minute on high. Remove and stir, return for 30 seconds and stir again. Repeat until smoothly melted.
Once the white chocolate is melted, add the peanut butter to it and stir until well blended.
Add half of the broken pretzels to each bowl of chocolate and stir until the pretzels are completely coated.
Line a medium sized baking sheet with wax paper. Pour out the chocolate in an alternating pattern, like a checker board.
Swirl the back of a butter knife back and forth in the chocolate to marblize and mix the flavors.
Place the baking sheet in the fridge for at least an hour, or until firm.
Once firm, break apart the bark into smaller pieces and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Ingredients
Directions
Break up the pretzels and set aside.
Unwrap the chocolate bars and break them up into separate microwave safe bowls.
Melt the semi-sweet chocolate first. Start with one minute on high, remove and stir and return for 30 seconds on high. Remove and stir. Repeat until the chocolate is melted smoothly.
Next, melt the white chocolate, starting with one minute on high. Remove and stir, return for 30 seconds and stir again. Repeat until smoothly melted.
Once the white chocolate is melted, add the peanut butter to it and stir until well blended.
Add half of the broken pretzels to each bowl of chocolate and stir until the pretzels are completely coated.
Line a medium sized baking sheet with wax paper. Pour out the chocolate in an alternating pattern, like a checker board.
Swirl the back of a butter knife back and forth in the chocolate to marblize and mix the flavors.
Place the baking sheet in the fridge for at least an hour, or until firm.
Once firm, break apart the bark into smaller pieces and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
