This homemade chocolate bark recipe features dark chocolate topped with cranberries, pistachios, and coconut for a sweet and salty treat. Here’s how to temper chocolate for the perfect snappy texture and glossy shine.
As a major chocoholic, so one of my top treats to make is Chocolate Bark! It’s so simple to make, and I love topping it with a sweet and salty confetti. It’s the best healthy dessert that’s also fun to make as a gift or for a Christmas cookie platter.
I like using cranberries, pistachios, coconut and sea salt for the toppings, but it’s totally up to you! Here’s how to make the perfect chocolate bark: with a smooth sheen on the chocolate and just the right crisp snap when you bite into it.
Why Tempering Makes All the Difference
Some people don’t temper chocolate for their chocolate bark, but I’ve found it makes a difference. Tempered chocolate has a glossy sheen, stays firm at room temperature, and snaps cleanly when you break it. Without tempering, you can end up with chocolate with a dull color, and it can develop white streaks after storage (called chocolate bloom: which has happened to me more than once!).
The process involves heating chocolate to a specific temperature, cooling it down, then warming it slightly again. It’s not my favorite thing to do (it’s a little finicky), but the texture is all worth it.
Choosing Ingredients for Chocolate Bark
Here’s what you’ll need for this chocolate bark recipe:
- High quality semi sweet or 60% dark chocolate: I’ve found that 60% dark chocolate has the best flavor. Even though I’m a huge dark chocolate fan, 70% is a little too bittersweet. The higher quality the chocolate, the better the flavor!
- Dried cranberries: Bring tart sweetness that cuts through the richness of dark chocolate. I also love the bright color.
- Pistachios: Add a buttery crunch and gorgeous green color.
- Large coconut flakes: Add an intruiging flavor and a confetti look.
- Sea salt or smoked sea salt: I’m a huge fan of salty and sweet. If you use smoked salt, it’s the secret ingredient that makes everyone ask for the recipe.
How to temper chocolate
Chocolate is temperamental: period! As I mentioned above, tempering is a special process that heats and cools the chocolate to stabilize it for making candies. It makes the most stable texture, shiny exterior, and avoids the white “bloom” that can appear on chocolate during storage. Here are a few notes on tempering chocolate:
- You’ll need a food thermometer and a small saucepan of barely simmering water. The key rule: never let a single drop of water touch your chocolate, or it will seize into a grainy mess.
- Melt two-thirds of your chopped chocolate by holding a bowl over the simmering water until it reaches 108-115°F. Remove it from heat and stir in the remaining unmelted chocolate pieces: these are called “seed” pieces, and they help the melted chocolate crystallize properly as it cools to 85-86°F. Then, warm it back up until it reaches 90-91°F. Then you’re ready to make chocolate bark!
If you don’t have a food thermometer or want to skip this step, you can still make good chocolate bark. It just won’t have that nice sheen and snap.
Chocolate Bark Mix In Ideas
Once you’ve made it through the chocolate stage, making chocolate bark is a breeze! For this bark I used cranberries, pistachios, coconut and smoked salt. To me, the combination of sweet, salty, crunchy, tropical and smoky is perfection!
The smoked salt is not required, but if you can find it, it adds a unique element (if not, use sea salt). Of course, you can use any type of mix-ins you like. Here are a few more ideas when it comes to chocolate bark toppings:
- Nuts like pistachios, walnuts, cashews, pecans, hazelnuts
- Seeds like pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds
- Dried fruit like dried cranberries, dried cherries, apricots, dried blueberries, freeze dried strawberries (perfect for a Valentine’s Day version)
- Crystalized ginger
- Pretzels broken into pieces
- Peppermint candies, crushed
- Chopped candies of any kind
- Crushed potato chips
- Sprinkles
Serving and Gifting Ideas
Once your chocolate bark is set and broken into irregular pieces, it’s a great addition to holiday cookie platters. You can also add pieces to plastic bags and tie them with ribbons for fun gifts.
For dinner parties, chocolate bark is great served with espresso martinis or as part of a dessert board with chocolate mousse and fresh berries.
Storage Tips
Tempered chocolate is stable at room temperature, but I find chocolate bark stays freshest when stored in the refrigerator or freezer. Keep the bark in an airtight container with parchment paper in between layers to prevent sticking. It will last up to 3 weeks refrigerated or 3 months frozen.
Dietary Notes
This chocolate bark recipe is vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.
Easy Chocolate Bark Recipe
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Print RecipeThis homemade chocolate bark recipe features dark chocolate topped with cranberries, pistachios, and coconut for a sweet and salty treat. Here’s how to temper chocolate for the perfect snappy texture and glossy shine.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: About 32 pieces
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Tempering
- Cuisine: Dessert
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 12 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate (50% to 60%)
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- ⅓ cup chopped pistachios
- ⅓ cup large coconut flakes
- ½ teaspoon chunky sea salt (or smoked sea salt)*
Instructions
Note: If you don’t have a food thermometer, simply melt the chocolate over a double boiler per the instructions below, then proceed to Step 5.
- Prep: Start a small saucepan of barely simmering water. Chop the chocolate into 1/2-inch chunks. In a heat-proof bowl that is completely dry that will fit over the pan of simmering water, add about 2/3 of the chocolate chunks. We used a small metal bowl; you can also use a double boiler if you have one. Make sure not to get any water into the chocolate, since it will cause the chocolate to seize up! (There are fixes for seized chocolate but it’s not pretty.)
- Melt the chocolate to a temperature of 108 to 115°F: Hold the bowl with the chocolate above the other saucepan with boiling water to create a double boiler (or use your double boiler). Place a towel on counter next to the stove so that you can transfer the bowl to the counter as necessary and avoid any water getting into the bowl. Hold the bowl of chocolate over the simmering water for a few seconds, until the chocolate starts to melt. Remove from the bowl to the towel and stir and stir to continue melting. Check the temperature with a food thermometer, and continue going back and forth from the water for a few seconds to the towel until fully melted. The target temperature is 108 to 115°F, but do not allow the chocolate to go higher than 115°F.
- Add the unmelted chocolate and reduce to 85 to 86°F: Once the chocolate is fully melted and at 108 to 115°F, add the remaining third of the unmelted chocolate (called seed chocolate) and stir constantly until it melts and the chocolate temperature falls to 85 to 86°F. This will take up to 10 minutes, but it is worth the wait! Stir regularly for the entire time to ensure an even temperature. (While it melts, you can chop the pistachios.)
- Heat back to 90 to 91°F: When the chocolate is 85°F, return the bowl of chocolate to above the pan of simmering water for a couple seconds at a time until climbs back to 90 to 91°F. Now the chocolate is tempered!
- Add mix-ins and spread in a thin layer: Add half the cranberries, chopped pistachios and coconut flakes to the melted chocolate and stir until fully combined. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a spatula, spread the chocolate mixture over the parchment paper in an even layer to a size of about 8″ by 11″. Sprinkle the remaining toppings over the top, crushing the coconut and chunky sea salt with your fingers to make smaller pieces.
- Refrigerate: Refrigerate at 30 minutes until hardened. When hard, cut into irregular 2 to 3 inch pieces with a butter knife. Store in an airtight container at refrigerated for up to 3 weeks or frozen for 3 months.
Notes
Storage notes: Tempered chocolate is stable at room temperature, but I find chocolate bark stays freshest when stored in the refrigerator or freezer. Keep the bark in an airtight container with parchment paper in between layers to prevent sticking. It will last up to 3 weeks refrigerated or 3 months frozen.
Mix-in ideas: See the “Mix-in Ideas” section above for more. I love this bark with almonds and freeze dried strawberries.
More Chocolate Recipes
Are you a choco-holic like we are? Here are our top to make when we’re craving a treat:
- 21 Chocolate Desserts
- Chocolate Covered Bananas
- Ultimate Chocolate Mug Cake
- No Bake Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
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