Chocolate Bark

If you're craving creamy and chunky chocolate bark with all the fillings you love and none of the weird filler ingredients in store-bought bark you don't, this recipe is for you! 🙂

When I first saw brands selling various kinds of chocolate bark or snacking chocolate years back, I was definitely intrigued. It certainly seemed healthier than a candy bar or even an energy bar filled with highly processed ingredients. But I cold never find one that I loved. Most seemed somewhat gritty and dry, perhaps from long shelf-life, and many had added emulsifiers or strange ingredients that I'd much rather avoid.

So, I decided to try to make my own! It's a LOT easier than you think, and with the amount that it makes, you'll have plenty on hand for whenever chocolate calls. For bonus points, you could even make your own homemade dark chocolate to use as the base for this bark.

Jump to:

• 🌿 Ingredients
• 📝 Instructions
• 📖 Variations
• 🔪 Equipment
• 🍱 Storage
• 🎉 Top tip
• 🍳 Recipe

🌿 Ingredients

The basic ingredient in chocolate bark is... (wait for it...) chocolate! All of the other fillings are optional, and you can mix and match as you'd like. I just happen to love almond chocolate bark with dried cranberries and sea salt, so that's what I'm using here.

• dark chocolate bars or homemade chocolate

Filling ideas (all are optional):

• almonds, cashews or peanuts
• dried cranberries or other dried fruit
• peppermint candies
• pretzels
• sea salt

See recipe card below for exact quantities.

📝 Instructions

To start, line a baking dish with parchment paper. Don't worry if the paper doesn't lay completely flat; just center a large piece over the dish and it'll flatten when you pour in the melted chocolate.

Pro tip: You can use any size dish or baking sheet you'd like as long as it has edges on all sides. To figure out how much chocolate to melt into bark, just lay the chocolate bars you're using into the dish so that they roughly fill that area.

Next, chop any nuts or other fillings you'd like to add to your bark, and set all the fillings you'd like to use aside. Feel free to get as creative as you'd like with favorite add-ins!

How to melt chocolate

Now, break the bars into a few pieces, place all the chocolate in a double boiler with about an inch of water in the bottom of the boiler, and heat to medium heat.

Pro tip: If you don't have a double boiler, just place a stainless steel mixing bowl over a saucepan with an inch of water in it, and heat to medium.

Continue to heat the chocolate slowly until it just melts, and use a silicone spatula to stir it while it's melting.

Once it's fully melted, pour your chocolate into the lined baking dish and then sprinkle your fillings all around it.

When your bark is to your liking, place the baking dish in the fridge and chill for at least an hour to harden it (if it's thick with a lot of fillings, you may need to chill it for up to 2 hours.)

Carefully remove the parchment paper and chocolate from the baking dish, set it on a flat surface, and then use your hands to break the bark into as many pieces as you'd like.

📖 Variations

The sky is the limit with homemade chocolate bark! Here are a few ideas:

• Almond chocolate bark - add lightly chopped raw or roasted almonds
• White chocolate bark - use white chocolate for the base instead of dark or milk chocolate
• Peppermint chocolate bark - add chopped peppermint candies or candy canes to white or dark chocolate; this is a great holiday treat!
• Chocolate bark with pretzels - add your favorite kind of pretzels (mini pretzels work well)

🔪 Equipment

Here is the basic equipment you'll need to make your own chocolate bark:

• 3-quart baking dish (or other sized dish)
• parchment paper
• double boiler (optional; you can also use a stainless steel bowl over a saucepan)
• cutting board
• chef's knife (for chopping any add-ins)

🍱 Storage

Chocolate bark will stay fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or frozen for up to 2 months.

🎉 Top tip

There's absolutely no need to be perfect with the placement of your fillings in the melted chocolate; the beauty of chocolate bark is in it's imperfections. Oh, and don't worry if the melted chocolate lines the sides of the parchment paper a little as you pour it in--those thin pieces will break right off when you finish chilling your bark and you might just be forced to eat them. 😉

Enjoy!

🍳 Recipe