When I first met Ryan, even before we were dating, I learned two fun facts about him. One, he’s a twin. And two, he’s from Hershey, PA. Then he immediately dispelled all myths about those two things. No, he can’t feel his twin’s pain. No, he can’t read his mind. No, it doesn’t always smell like chocolate in Hershey. No, he wasn’t given loads of chocolate when he graduated. (Side note: I didn’t ask those questions aloud, but Ryan’s always been able to read my mind so he must have known my thoughts even then.)
But, Ryan did have some special chocolate knowledge and he introduced me to Hershey’s Extra Dark Chocolate with Cranberries, Blueberries, and Almonds. I really like that chocolate bar, but I can’t always find it easily (and definitely can’t find it here in the UK). That bar is delicious, and this recipe for dark chocolate bark reminds me of that bar (but this is cheap and you can feel superior for DIY-ing it). For me, this is a wonderful treat because of the combination of flavors and textures. It’s sweet and bitter from the dark chocolate. It’s juicy and tart from the pomegranates. And it’s crunchy from the almonds.
It’s also a great recipe because during the Christmas season there are a lot of opportunities to make sweets – ya know for parties, gifts, and general snacking. This recipe is super easy. It has three ingredients and requires minimal cooking tools or ability. And the best part of it is, this recipe makes nice chocolate, even more amazing. But, please store it in the fridge! Too much handling and it will get a little melty and you’ll have chocolate on your hands. I know, what a burden, you might have to lick chocolate off of your hand. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
If you’re not into dark chocolate or the toppings I used, you can adapt the bark to your tasted. You could add dried fruits, pretzels, other nuts, cornflakes. Seriously, I think whatever you want to pair with chocolate you can throw into bark. The only “special” equipment you need is a heat-proof bowl that you can put over a saucepan. I used a glass bowl.
This recipe was inspired by Give Recipe.
Messy level: Just two spoons! You only have three ingredients. And the method is just heating, mixing, and cooling. So easy, neat, and easy to impressive. The messiest part is breaking the chocolate because some of the toppings fall out
- 240g/8oz dark chocolate (about 1.5 bars from the baking section)
- ½ cup pomegranate seeds
- ¼ cup almonds
- Line a packing sheet with parchment paper.
- Roughly chop the almonds, set aside.
- Roughly chop the chocolate. Don't get too worried about this. You just want the chocolate in small-ish pieces so they will melt quickly and evenly. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.
- Put about 1" of water in a small saucepan. Place the heatproof bowl over the saucepan. Is the bottom of the bowl touching the water? If so, remove some water. Set the bowl aside.
- Heat the water until simmering, then put the bowl back on top of the saucepan. The water as it simmers and boils will melt the chocolate!
- Stir the chocolate to help along the melting.
- Once it's completely melted, turn off the heat and remove the bowl from the saucepan.
- Let the chocolate come to room temperature. Then, once it's cooled to room temperature, mix in half of the pomegranate seeds.
- Pour the chocolate and pomegranates over the prepared baking sheet. Use a knife or spatula to spread the chocolate out to your desired thickness.
- Sprinkle the remaining pomegranates and chopped almonds over the top of the chocolate. Poke the toppings in at different angles to give a nice look.
- Put the baking sheet in the fridge and cool for 2 hours, or until hard enough to break into random sharp pieces.
