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This easy chocolate bark recipe is so adaptable and perfect for the holiday season! Use dried fruit like dried cranberries, dried cherries, or apricots. Add nuts like walnuts, peanuts, or almonds. Or use crushed candy canes, toffee bits, or sea salt.
Every Christmas, my husband and I make our neighbors and friends holiday goodie boxes. They’ve evolved over the years. Before we had kids they were more extravagant. Now, they’re more humble, but still packed with plenty of quick and easy cookie and candy recipes!
The most popular candies I make? Chocolate fudge and homemade chocolate bark!
You can make chocolate bark with as few as 3 ingredients! And you can choose whether you want to make milk chocolate bark, white chocolate bark, or dark chocolate bark. But my personally favorite is a bittersweet chocolate bark loaded with crunchy nuts, dried fruit, and flaky sea salt.
My Favorite Chocolate Bark Recipe
- Chocolate: For this recipe, I use half 72% cocoa dark chocolate and half semi-sweet chocolate. Feel free to use all dark chocolate or half dark chocolate and half milk chocolate. I wouldn’t use all milk chocolate or all melting white chocolate because it would create extremely sweet bark. But you can swirl dark chocolate and white chocolate together for a peppermint bark style candy.
- Cinnamon: A small amount of ground cinnamon adds a cozy spiced flavor to the chocolate. You can leave this out, as it’s an optional ingredient. But I encourage you to give it a try!
- Nuts: I love using almonds, but walnuts or peanuts also work great. If you’re allergic to nuts or don’t like them, toffee bits make a nice mix-in. Or go for a peppermint twist and use crushed candy canes. I’d skip the cinnamon and nuts if you do this.
- Dried Fruit: I love using dried cherries but dried cranberries or dried apricots also work great.
- Flaky Sea Salt: While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle the top with a little flaky sea salt. This is optional but goes great with the dried cherries and nuts.
Best Chocolate for Chocolate Bark
- I prefer using high-quality chocolate bars, such as Guittard, Valrhona, or Ghiradelli. Trader Joe’s pound plus also work well for this recipe.
- You can technically use chocolate chips, I don’t suggest it. Chocolate chips contain stabilizers which help them stay in a cute little teardrop shape even after baking. The downside is this makes it harder to melt them completely smooth. So using chocolate chips could yield grainy bark.
- No matter what chocolate variety you use, make sure you heat it gently. Burnt chocolate can also become grainy.
Dark Chocolate Bark in 5 Easy Steps
Making this homemade candy recipe is so easy! If you can melt chocolate, you can make this!
- Prepare a Pan: You’ll need a 9×9-inch pan and parchment paper for this recipe.
- Melt the Chocolate: Make a double boiler and melt the chocolate and cinnamon until completely melted. You can also make this in the microwave. Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring between each, on low heat, until melted. And use a microwave safe bowl.
- Assemble: Pour the melted chocolate onto the prepared baking pan or baking sheet. Sprinkle with almonds, dried cherries, and sea salt.
- Chill: Set the baking sheet aside and let the chocolate bark set. This usually takes about 3 hours, but can vary depending on the temperature in your home. You can place the baking sheet in the fridge to help it firm up faster.
- Cut: Use a large knife to carefully chop the bark into pieces. Serve at once or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Jump to the recipe below for the full ingredient list and recipe! This post may contain affiliate links!
If you love Christmas candy as much as I do, give this easy chocolate bark recipe a try! And check out some of my other popular Christmas candies:
- peppermint patties
- espresso chocolate truffles
- roasted almond toffee bark
- peppermint chocolate truffles
- peppermint bark fudge
Easiest Chocolate Bark Recipe Ever
Ingredients
- 9 ounces 72% cocoa dark chocolate finely chopped
- 9 ounces semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
- 1/3 cup roasted almonds
- 1/3 cup dried cherries
Candy Cane Variation:
- 18 ounces dark chocolate
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1/2 cup crushed candy canes
Cranberry Pistachio Version:
- 18 ounces dark chocolate
- 1/3 cup unsalted shelled pistachios
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup toffee bits
Instructions
- Line a 9×9-inch pan with 2 layers of parchment paper, so that it overlaps on both sides. You’ll use this as handles to remove the bark from the pan later.
- Fill a saucepan ⅓ of the way full with water. Bring to a simmer over moderate heat.
- Place a heatproof bowl over the pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl fits snugly on top of the pan and that the simmering water isn't touching the bottom of the bowl.
- Place the chopped chocolate and cinnamon into the bowl and cook, mixing occasionally with a silicone spatula, until completely melted. (If making the candy cane version, add the peppermint extract at this step instead of the cinnamon).
- Carefully remove the bowl from the pan, making sure no water comes in contact with the chocolate.
- Pour the melted chocolate into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the wet chocolate with the almonds, dried cherries, and sea salt (or whatever toppings you're using).
- Set aside for 3 hours, or until very firm. Using a large, sharp knife, cut the bark in 3-inch pieces and serve at room temperature.
I used this recipe to make gift bags for a fall bridal shower! This Chocolate bark was the star of the show. Very easy to make and triple!