Christmas Chocolate Bark

Christmas Chocolate Bark celebrates festive flavours with crisp dark chocolate rippled with creamy white chocolate, topped with caramelised nuts, cranberries and stem ginger.

Prep Time20

Resting Time3

Total Time3 20

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Servings:

Calories: 282kcal

Author: Georgina Hartley

Ingredients

50 g mixed nuts
25 g caster sugar
pinch sea salt
300 g 70% dark chocolate
100 g white chocolate
30 g dried cranberries
1 ball stem ginger 25g, diced
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Homemade Caramelised Nuts

Place the nuts on a lined baking sheet and bake at 170°C / 150°C fan / gas mark 4 for 10 minutes.
Remove the nuts from the oven to rest whilst you prepare the caramel.
Pour the sugar into a medium sized saucepan in an even layer. Place on a gentle heat and watch carefully as the sugar caramelises. Move the saucepan ever so gently if you need to promote an even caramelisation, but don’t stir.
Once the sugar has completely melted and turning a golden amber, add the salt then pour in the nuts. Quickly turn over into the sugar with a silicone spatula so they are all coated.
Pour the nuts immediately onto baking parchment into an even layer and leave to cool for 1 hour. Dice the nuts into small pieces.

Chocolate Bark

Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment.
Melt the dark chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water or bain marie or in the microwave in short bursts. It’s up to you whether you temper it at this stage. It’s not necessary but it does improve the snap and the glossy chocolate edges.
Pour the melted (and potentially tempered) dark chocolate onto the prepared baking parchment into an even layer.
Melt the white chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water or bain marie or in the microwave in short bursts. There is too little white chocolate to temper so unless you melt more and use it for other things then you don’t need to worry about it.
Drizzle the melted white chocolate over the dark chocolate in zig zags then, using a skewer, drag the white chocolate down through the dark chocolate and then across.
Scatter the dried cranberries, diced stem ginger, caramelised nuts and sea salt over the top of the melted chocolate.
Allow to set for at least 2-3 hours before snapping the chocolate into shards of bark.

Notes

Tempering the chocolate is not necessary but if you would like very shiny glossy dark chocolate with a good snap and stable shelf life then you can familiarise yourself with how to temper dark chocolate at home. It’s easier than you may think.

You might not want to use all the mixed nuts, its up to you how nutty you want it, but I don’t advise preparing fewer nuts as making the caramel becomes too fiddly. Here's a full recipe on how to make caramelised nuts.

You can also make your own stem ginger, or buy it in a jar from the supermarket.

Tempered chocolate bark can store for up to 1 month in a cool dark place. Untempered chocolate will last up to 2 weeks in a cool dark place. Avoid keeping the chocolate in the fridge otherwise it blooms as the chocolate becomes unstable.

US customary measurements: These US measurements for the ingredients provided are based on a conversion calculator. This recipe was tested with metric measurements and I recommend using a digital scale to weigh ingredients for the most accurate results. READ MORE >>> Why you should always weigh vs measuring with cups

Nutrition information: Please note that the nutrition information provided below is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. It will vary based on the specific ingredients you use. Please seek a professional nutritionist’s advice for further clarification.

The nutrition serving is for 1 serving of chocolate bark, assuming the bark is portioned into 10 servings.

Nutrition