5-ingredient homemade chocolate bark

Chocolate Bark is the easiest 5-ingredient snack you’ll ever whip up. All you need are 5 simple (and completely customizable!) ingredients – chocolate, pepitas, dried cherries, coconut flakes, and any type of nuts. This homemade treat makes the perfect gift!

this recipe

Why you’ll love Homemade Chocolate Bark:

• Simple Recipe – Absolutely anyone can make this recipe! It requires nearly zero effort, and the ability to work a microwave.
• Giftable – Pack up little packages for gifting! This is a fabulous homemade gift to give out for the holidays, to teachers or to neighbors.
• Completely Customizable – Go *nuts* (get it, heh) with your favorite toppings! Add whatever toppings you like best – this is your party, after all, and the flavor combinations are endless!

Ingredient Overview:

As always, the full recipe with measurements & directions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Chocolate – Like most chocolate bark recipes, I recommend that you use good quality chocolate bars, not chocolate chips. Chocolate chips have stabilizers in them to keep them intact while being baked. This means they won’t melt as nicely and the chocolate can seize up. You can find semi-sweet, dark, white, and milk chocolate bars at most grocery stores, near the chocolate chips.
• Pepitas – I used salted pepitas, but you can use pretzels or something else for a crunch!
• Nuts – Salted macadamia nuts are delicious here, but of course you can substitute for any other nut you like.
• Dried Cranberries – Use unsweetened or sweetened dried cranberries -whatever you prefer.

Ingredient Substitutions:

• Dairy-Free – Use your favorite dairy-free chocolate to make this recipe dairy-free and vegan.
• Chocolate – Feel free to use all milk chocolate for a milk chocolate bark, all dark chocolate for a dark chocolate bark, or all white chocolate for white chocolate bark. I like mixing different types of chocolate to create the beautiful swirled effect.
• Nuts – Don’t care for nuts? Leave ’em out. Prefer pecans? Swap those for the macadamias!
• Dried Fruit – Prefer dried cranberries to cherries? Swap ’em.
• Others – In addition to dried fruit or nots, have fun with mix-ins like toffee bits, pretzel pieces, dried fruit, seeds, and/or sprinkles.

How to Make Homemade Chocolate Bark:

Step 1: Melt Chocolate. Finely chop your chocolate. You can melt the chocolate in two ways. Add the chocolate to a heat-proof bowl and place it over a pot with 2 inches of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t sit in the water.

Melt gently over medium heat, stirring with a rubber spatula until 80% melted. Remove from the heat and stir to let the residual heat melt the rest.

You can also melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl, in 20 to 30 second intervals, stirring well between each. If using white chocolate, err on the lower side as it can seize up more easily.

Step 2: Spread the Chocolate. Pour melted chocolate onto a foil-lined or parchment-lined baking sheet. Spread in a thin layer, then pour your second type of chocolate on top, and spread it to the edges of the first layer.

Use a butter knife or toothpick to create swirls in your chocolate bark. (The below photo is from my Double Chocolate Peppermint Bark, but the idea works for any flavor!)

Step 3: Top the Chocolate. This is the fun part. Well, creating those swirls is pretty fun too, heh. I used dried cherries, coconut flakes, pepitas, and sea salt macadamia nuts. You have SO much flexibility here – you don’t have to use exactly what I used!

Serving + Storing:

Once the chocolate sets, break it up into pieces of your desired size. Store in an airtight container at room temperature in the fridge to ensure no melty chocolate mishaps. This keeps for 2-3 weeks in the fridge.

Expert Success Tips:

• Chocolate – Use a high-quality chocolate here, like Ghirardelli bars or melting wafers, or Baker’s chocolate bars. Don’t use chocolate chips if you can help it – they have stabilizers in them so they won’t melt as nicely.
• Leftover Holiday Candy – If you want to go the less “healthy” route, you can turn this into a candy bark and use any leftover holiday candy you have laying around.

FAQs:

Special Tools:

• Cookie Sheet – You’ll need a large cookie sheet to spread the chocolate on.
• Offset Spatula – An offset spatula makes spreading the chocolate a breeze, and is useful for frosting cakes, spreading batters, and so much more!

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More Sweet Treats to Gift:

• Black Forest Chocolate Truffles
• 10-Minute Salted Caramel Sauce
• Easy Chex Mix
• White Chocolate Peppermint Puppy Chow
• Classic Puppy Chow
• Double Chocolate Swirled Peppermint Bark

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