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Looking for a quick and easy way to make something special this festive season? Try making some chocolate bark — it’s fast, straightforward, and sure to impress your loved ones. And with our luxury Christmas chocolate bark recipe, you can give this simple dessert a merry makeover.
What is chocolate bark?
The festive season is a great time of year, but it can sometimes feel like the pressure’s on when it comes to cooking. Thinking about making inventive sweet treats is often an extra hassle for many when the Christmas dinner needs preparing.
But there’s no need to stress about making extravagant bakes when you can make chocolate bark. This delicious treat is surprisingly simple to make. It’s essentially a layer of chocolate laden with a variety of tasty toppings and designed to look like tree bark.
All you need are some basic ingredients, a few tools, and a bit of creativity.
Chocolate bark basic recipe
The basic ingredients, and the method for making chocolate bark, are simple: melted chocolate and toppings of your choice. You'll also need baking parchment, baking trays, a spatula or spoon, and bowls for melting.
For a quality Christmas chocolate bark recipe, we recommend Love Cocoa’s Gingerbread Dark Chocolate Bar. Infused with an array of wintery spices and adorned with crunchy biscuit pearls, this Colombian blend is sure to go down as the perfect festive treat. However, you could also try our English Mint variety for a refreshing take.
You could even combine milk and white chocolate together to create an eye-catching marble swirl effect.
Melt the chocolate
Once you have all of your ingredients ready and assembled in one area, begin by melting the chocolate in either a double boiler or microwave.
If you’re using a double boiler method (a heatproof bowl placed over a pan of water), melt the chocolate slowly over low heat until it reaches a smooth consistency.
Alternatively, to melt your chocolate in the microwave, heat it in 30-second intervals until smooth. Stir often to prevent the chocolate from burning or seizing.
Get creative and add to your bark
Once you’ve melted your chocolate, spread it evenly onto a tray lined with baking parchment using either a spatula or spoon.
From here, you can add a range of Christmas-themed toppings — from pieces of candy cane and mini marshmallows to red and green sprinkles or sugar snowmen. If you want to get even more artistic, you can also pipe shapes with melted white chocolates. How about stars or snowflakes?
Whether you create a festive woodland scene with fondant holly leaves or keep it simple with chopped nuts and dried fruit, don’t be afraid to load your Christmas chocolate bark up!
Serving your Christmas chocolate bark
Once you’re happy with the design of your chocolate bark, allow the mixture to cool, then break it into pieces. You might like to use a sharp knife to create even slices or simply snap into irregular shards for a more rustic aesthetic.
From there, you can display it how you like — either stacked into a star shape, laid out in its tray, or wrapped in bundles for presents.
