Easy Candy Bark

Who likes chocolate? Rise your hand!

Yeah, just about all of us love chocolate.

I still don’t trust people who say they don’t like chocolate. But that’s for another time.

Candy Bark is a fantastic combination of several kinds of chocolaty candies onto a slab of chocolate. This is a great gift to give to the chocolate lover in your life.

Plus, it’s also a great way of using up candy that you have hanging around after holidays like Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day.

Since we don’t get trick or treaters I don’t typically buy much candy before Halloween, instead I buy candy afterwards, when is 50% off. Can’t resist chocolate, or a good deal!

The October Issue of Bon Appetit Magazine had a recipe for Halloween Peanut Butter And Toffee Candy Bark that caught my attention. Simple and delicious.

The recipe called out specific candy bars but I don’t think that the candy used really has to be followed. Instead be inspired from the idea and make it your own Candy Bark.

For this treat, I used Milky Ways, Snickers, Twix Bars, Peanut Butter Cups, and Three Musketeers fun sized bars.  I also think that Butterfingers, Kit Kats, Baby Ruth’s, Whoppers, and Milk Duds would be great.

 

If you need to avoid any allergens like peanut butter then just be sure to skip candies that have them in there. Be sure to read your labels!

The recipe is simple and calls for very few ingredients, which is why I think it is best to use a good chocolate base for your bark. Don’t cheap out now and use some cheap chocolate, I love to use Ghirardelli Chocolate.

Also, since the candies are very sweet I think that a less sweet chocolate like bittersweet or dark chocolate is great to use. If that is too ‘sharp’ for you, then maybe a blend would be good. For this one, I used a 50/50 blend of bittersweet chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate.

Using a double boiler is an easy way of melting the chocolate, however you can also use a microwave. If you use a microwave, keep the heat low, do short 15-30 second intervals, and stir it after every interval so the chocolate does not burn, aka “seize“. That is so important! I find that white chocolate is extra finicky so I wouldn’t really microwave that since it can burn quickly, but if you want to do it then just be extra diligent about it.

Candy Bark

Makes 10 servings

Ingredients 

• 1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
• 10 ounces candy bars/pieces
• 3 oz of white chocolate, use a high-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Perugina)

 Process

1. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper
2. Chop all candy pieces into irregular pieces, easiest with a serrated knife
3. Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate over low heat. Once the chocolate starts to melt, continuously stir until just melted through.
4. Pour the chocolate onto lined pan. Spread the chocolate evenly with a 1/4-inch thickness (about 12×10-inch rectangle). Sprinkle with the chopped candy pieces.
5. Melt the white chocolate and drizzle over bark creating zig zag lines.
6. Chill bark until firm, about 30 minutes. Remove foil from pan, peel off foil, and break/cut bark into irregular pieces.