If you’re looking for the perfect homemade gift for the holiday season, this easy chocolate bark recipe should top your list. This treat is quick to make and relatively healthy, so it’s a welcome departure from the overly sweet, sugar-laden desserts this time of year. You could make this dark chocolate bark any time of year, but we love gifting this to (or making it with!) your nearest and dearest.
Why You’ll Love This Chocolate Bark Recipe
You’ll love this chocolate bark recipe even if (especially if!) you don’t consider yourself a baker because it’s super easy to make. You can change the choice of toppings to your favorites but try it at least once because it’s a total crowd-pleaser. It’s just worthy of being a holiday gift as it is a healthy (but decadent) afternoon snack. And did we mention it is one super easy dessert to make?!?
Recipe Ingredients
Here are the main ingredients you’ll need to make this chocolate bark recipe:
- Shelled pistachios (optional):Â Turn to nuts or seeds for some crunch. If pistachios aren’t your thing, use roasted cashews, almonds, hemp seeds, or pumpkin seeds.
- Honey (optional):Â If you want to make a vegan version of this chocolate bark, use maple syrup instead.
- Ground cinnamon (optional): Add as much of this spice as you like, or, instead, use ground cardamom, cloves, or nutmeg.
- Coconut oil (optional):Â You only need to use the coconut oil if you want your chocolate to set up and for the nut butter to be extra pourable. FYI, you can substitute vegetable oil for coconut oil.Â
- Flaky sea salt:Â As with nearly all our sweets recipes, some salt balances the sweetness and brings out even more flavor.Â
- Semisweet chocolate, chocolate chips, or baking wafers: We like this bark best with semisweet or dark chocolate, but it also works with milk chocolate — make sure to get good-quality chocolate like Guittard, Valrhona, Callebaut, or Madecasse.
- Runny nut butter: We turn to a runny almond butter (like the natural one from MaraNatha), but you can use your favorite smooth nut butter instead. If the nut butter you use is not runny enough (it should be the texture of honey), add 1 to 2 teaspoons of coconut or vegetable oil. If it is too runny, add a handful of peanut butter or white chocolate chips to help it set up.Â
- Pitted prunes: Adding some chopped pitted California prunes helps make this chocolate bark healthy (and gives it a bit of a decadent natural sweetness). Other dried fruit you could use would be chopped-up sweet cherries or dates.Â
How To Make This Recipe
Here are the five steps to make this easy recipe:
- Make The Honeyed Nuts: While the honeyed nuts are not essential, we encourage you to make them at least once. By briefly roasting the nuts with honey, they have a brittle-like texture to add another dimension to the bark.Â
- Melt The Chocolate: If you want this chocolate bark to snap and not melt at room temperature, you’ll need to temper the chocolate. We add coconut oil to the chocolate to help stabilize the chocolate and store it in the freezer to keep it from melting. But your best bet is to take the time to temper it.Â
- Spread And Scatter: Use a pastry knife or offset spatula to spread the chocolate thinly. Then swirl in the nut butter and scatter the small pieces of prunes and the honeyed nuts over the top.Â
- Let It Set: If you have tempered the chocolate, you do not need to freeze it as it will set up in a cool (say less than 65°F0 room.Â
- Break It! Now for the fun part! Break the healthy chocolate bark into pieces of various sizes and serve.Â
California Prunes For The Win
We created this homemade chocolate bark in partnership with our friends at California Prunes. It’s an easy-to-make, quick dessert made all the better thanks to the critical ingredient: prunes! We like using dried fruit like prunes for desserts because they’re a great way to bring natural sweetness and help to make your sweets a little healthier.
While they don’t have any fat or cholesterol, prunes have vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants. A serving of just four prunes has 11% of your recommended daily fiber, 6% potassium, and 20% vitamin K, so they’re a great addition to a healthy diet. We like to use the D’Noir Prunes in recipes because they’re preservative-free, and they tend to be plump and flavorful.
More Of Our Favorite Flavor Combinations
A few other of our favorite toppings to take this simple recipe to the next level are:Â
- Candy cane pieces and coconut flakes
- Peanut butter cups and cacao nibs
- Potato chips and cayenne salt
Other Easy Chocolate Recipes
Here are a few more of our easiest chocolate recipes:
Homemade Chocolate Bark Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For The Honey Roasted Nuts:
- 1/2 cup shelled pistachios
- 1 tablespoon honey
- pinch ground cinnamon
- pinch Maldon sea salt or other flaky sea salt
For The Chocolate Bark:
- 12 ounces dark chocolate (about 60%), or semisweet or milk chocolate (baking wafers or chopped chocolate works best)
- 1/4 cup creamy almond butter (runny not dry) or your favorite nut butter
- 4 teaspoons extra virgin coconut oil or vegetable oil, divided
- 10 pitted prunes finely chopped
Instructions
For The Honey Roasted Nuts:
- Heat the oven to 400°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Meanwhile, line a small rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the honey in a microwave-safe bowl and warm it for a few seconds or until it is easily pourable. Stir the nuts in the honey to coat them, then spread them out in an even layer on the baking sheet and sprinkle, as desired, with cinnamon and flaky sea salt. Roast the nuts for 10 minutes or until they're golden. Remove from oven and let cool at least 5 minutes. Once cool, break the nuts apart into clumps. (The honey roasted nuts can be made up to 2 days in advance. Store between parchment paper in an airtight container until ready to use.)
For The Chocolate Bark:
- Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Place the chocolate and the runny nut butter into two separate microwave-safe bowls. Add 2 teaspoons coconut oil to the chocolate and (if the nut butter is not runny enough) to the nut butter. Microwave them both at 15 second intervals, stirring regularly, until they're smooth and pourable.
- Pour the melted chocolate on the lined baking sheet and spread it into a thin, even rectangle using a knife or offset spatula. Next, drizzle three parallel lines of the nut butter down the chocolate (you may not use all the nut butter, FYI). Using a butter knife, drag across the peanut butter and swirl until the bark has bits of nut butter and chocolate throughout. Scatter the chopped prunes and honeyed nuts over the top and add additional flaky sea salt and cinnamon, as desired. Place the bark in the freezer to set, about 30 minutes. Once solid, remove from the refrigerator and use a sharp knife or your hands to break into uneven pieces.Â
