It began as these things sometimes do. A little google search. A compelling picture. Five or so grocery store stops. Why can one store never have all the things? Compiling of all the necessary equipment. Exhaustion. Waning interest. And implementation of Plan B the super easy fall back. Just as tasty, twice as easy, or even more so in this case.
So another day, you will get to read about fondant fillings for chocolates and enrobing that was inspired by this lovely picture posted by Jocelyn at Inside Bru Crew Life. You can click on the picture to see her recipe and instructions.
Today you get to read about bark. I don’t know what’s better; that it is so easy to make and adjustable to whatever you have on hand in the pantry i.e. all shelf stable ingredients, or that it is so tasty.
If you want to do this the fancy way for gifts or something special, it goes like this:
- Temper your chosen high quality chocolate
- Spread approximately 1/8″ to 1/4” thick onto a parchment lined baking sheet
- Sprinkle with complimentary goodies. Think chopped toasted almonds and candied orange peel or pretzel and caramel or freeze dried strawberries, citron and dried mint.
- Chill until set and break into serving size pieces.
When it’s for a spur of the moment treat or quick kid project just melt chocolate, almond bark or candy melts in microwave at 50% power in one minute increments, stirring each one until almost completely melted. Remove and stir until completely melted. You don’t want to overheat the chocolate by using 100% power or heating for too long or it will scorch or seize and be grainy. Spread onto parchment or aluminum foil. You don‘t want to use wax paper because it will melt a little, leaving a residue on your chocolate. Sprinkle with your chosen goodies and chill until set.
If you want to use white chocolate a good quality choice that’s available in regular grocery stores is Ghiradelli White Chocolate bars or look for any bar with cocoa butter as the main ingredient.
A lot of products like Nestle Premier White Morsels have no cocao butter. Notice that white chocolate is nowhere in the name. The ingredients are:
Sugar, Palm Kernel Oil, Lactose, Whey, Milkfat, Non-Fat Milk, Sodium Caseinate, Buttermilk Solids, Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Soy Lecithin, Natural And Artificial Flavors.”
Finally, there are blocks of “bark” and candy wafers that are basically candle wax and imitation vanilla. The bad thing about these is that they taste a artificial. On the plus side they do melt really well, never need to be tempered, are cheap, and readily available. Candy melts come in a vast array of colors if you are wanting that. You can color real white chocolate, but you have to use an oil based food color, not water based like food coloring and gel colors. The water in regular food coloring will make even artificial chocolate seize up and become weirdly chunky.
So choose your chocolate of choice and sprinkle away!
Leave a Reply