When Pete and I have a sweet tooth, usually right before bed, we end up standing in the kitchen trying to manage the perfect handful of chocolate chips and roasted almonds. It's an awkward balance and feels pretty lame and desperate. So, my 5-year old and I made some bark to rectify this and it was so easy and so good, I am now kind of scared.
I have made bark before, but usually white chocolate with peppermint pieces for gifts during christmas. I like it fine but am not tempted by it, which is good. I also make a ton of chocolate fudge and again, I like it, but it's not my thing, so I don't get all crazy about it.
This is my thing.
- For this batch I melted 1/2 a bag of Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate chips. I love this brand more than I can say and wouldn't make it with anything else. They are cheap and I don't need to worry about tempering the chocolate and I always have them in the pantry and I just love the flavor of this chocolate.
- Then I added a large handful of salted, roasted, almonds.
- I poured/spread it in a 9" round greased cake pan then I finished it with a light sprinkle of fleur de sel and cinnamon/sugar sprinkle on top.
- I chilled it 30 minutes, banged it out and broke it into chunks. I keep the chunks in a glass container in the fridge. The salt is so good. I'm also going to try a chocolate bark with crystallized ginger, or chipotle powder, espresso powder, you know—all the flavors I love in fancy chocolate bars. Dangerous stuff I tell you!
