Dark Chocolate Bark with Freeze Dried Strawberries, Dried Fruit, Cashews and Mexican Pumpkin Seeds

There are so many ways to do bark. It literally is the easiest thing to make and only takes about 15 minutes, although you need to make sure that you do allow about 4 hours for it to harden.

You can just about put any combination of things on it. Stick to bright colors that pop and crunchy things that will not soften with time and become mushy. Experiment drizzling other colored or white chocolate on top. Add raspberry or cherry or orange flavoring.

Great boxed up with a bow for hostess gifts or for holiday giving.

Prep Time : 5-7 minutes

Cooking Time 6-8 minutes

Serves: 12 as dessert

Ingredients:

2 bags dark chocolate chips

Freeze dried strawberries or raspberries

Dried, sliced apricot

Whole raw cashews

Dried sweetened blueberries

Green Mexican pumpkin seeds

Goji Berries

You can basically sprinkle anything you wish on top. But try to pick things that add a variety of flavor, texture, sweetness and crunch. I see this with oreos and pretzels a lot. Just beware that those need to be served right away as these toppings will get stale quickly. This bark will keep for 2 days. If you do not use the freeze dried strawberries it will last longer.

Directions:

Pour both bags of chocolate into a double boiler. If you do not have a double boiler, bring a large pan of water to a simmer, place a smaller pan on top. Make sure that none of the water gets into the chocolate. The chocolate will not melt and will get hard if water gets in the pan. If your pan or your stirring spatula even has the tiniest bit of water before you add the chocolate then the chocolate will be ruined. Be careful the water does not boil. If you burn the chocolate then it will get hard.

You can also microwave the chocolate. Make sure you microwave at 30 second intervals and stir, then 30 seconds again and stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. If you microwave in longer intervals you risk ruining the chocolate.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Pour the chocolate out over the cookie sheet. Sprinkle all of your toppings. Set aside for 3-4 hours to harden. You can place it briefly in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and it will harden. If you leave it in the refrigerator too long then it will perspire when you remove it and it will not be as attractive.

Break the bark into random sized pieces. Store at room temperature in sealed tupperware.