Sunday, December 26, 2010

Marbled chocolate bark with assorted nuts

I know, I know, many of you probably still taste too much sweetness from the Christmas feast in your mouth. But I just couldn`t help making my chocolate bark ever since I heard about peppermint bark. I saw many people displaying their pretty barks and I was very surprised to know that it`s incredibly easy to make. The only thing is, as much as I keep drooling every time I look at those barks, I`m not a sweet tooth person. So, instead of placing candies over sugary chocolate, I chose plain (non-fry, unsweetened, unsalted) mixed nuts contain of almond, walnuts, and cashew nuts. You can also try dry fruits, crackers, biscuit, et cetera et cetera.


For the bark, I used dark (bitter) chocolate and white chocolate. We`re about to have fun here.




Back to the nuts, place them in a food processor and let them chopped.


Keep processing until you get the consistency right. I stopped at this point. Not too fine, not too coarse. Set aside when you`re done.


Now, break the chocolate bars into small pieces and place them in separate microwaveable bowls.




Heat them in microwave at 800 W for 1 minute. I didn`t cover the bowls with plastic wrap because I wanted to avoid any water coming in from the steam that might be formed during the heating.
After 1 minute heating, take out the bowl, stir up the softened chocolate with a spoon and see if it needs more heating. If it does, reheat it for few more seconds. Mine was done with 1 min and 20 secs, both for the dark and white chocolate.

So here`s the melted dark chocolate. Gorgeously glossy. Try say it outloud. I ended up saying "grogeously groly", "golgeously golly", or "gorljsly gossy". I really wish it only happens to me.


And here`s the white one.



Line a baking pan with parchment paper (I didn`t butter the paper and it worked just fine). Place dollops of dark chocolate randomly on the pan.


Then, place dollops of white chocolate on remaining spaces.


Here comes the fun! Get your rubber spatula and let`s paint! Oh...I love doing this. The white and the brown swirl and swirl and swirl all over the pan with my finger, err..spatula.


Alright, I finally managed to stop my self before I overmix the color. Depends on your liking, the more you brush them, the less marbling looky you`ll get. I smiled a lot in the kitchen doing this.


Put down your spatula and now is time to sprinkle the nuts. Sprinkle the happiness and crunchiness all over the place. Only on the pan, please. Not on the kitchen floor. I was carried away.


Gently push down any loose nuts so they properly stick to the chocolate. When you think it looks alright, let it set. You`ll find in many recipes to keep it in freezer for a while. But, if your room temperature is cold enough like mine, which is about 10 C, just let it sit outside. Mine was set after 1.5 hours. On top of my TV.


After it set, slowly dislodge the bark from the paper. I had no problem at all, so I think you`ll be fine too. And look at how thin it is.


As much as you want to bite it right away (I wanted to), break the chocolate into chunks and serve them to your husband or boyfriend. He`ll buy you a nice gift. Or to your kids as a holiday treat. You`ll win The Most Favorite Mother award this year. Or to your friends. They`ll remember how sweet you are. Just tell`em all to brush their teeth afterward.




Ingredients:
For 24x18-cm baking pan
Dark chocolate, 50 g
White chocolate, 90 g
Mixed nuts, 80 g

4 comments:

  1. That's a great gift idea! Beautiful one too. Maybe I just gift them to myself ...
    Happy holidays!

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  2. When it comes to chocolate , it is never enough for me. They look beautiful.

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  3. hey! this looks delicious, can i please reblog this? ill mention that it's ur idea,ur pics from ur hyperlinked blog :D it can be considered a healthy snack in moderation so it would be a great idea for my blog, thank you!

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  4. @Jun: You totally deserve this gift :D Happy holiday!

    @Katerina: Chocolate is just irresistible, isn`t it?

    @Paty: Thanks for visiting. Yes, you certainly can, although I shouldn`t take the whole credit. I saw many bark recipes here and there and I just combined them into this one :)

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