Orange, Chocolate and Nut Christmas Bark. I've made this recipe twice this Christmas season so far. The first batch ended up in these little celpohane bags (photo below) and in the back of my car but it was perfect because everywhere I went I had a little offering to hand out. I gave a few to the moms at the school playground, I handed one to my son's teacher, I decided to go to a little holiday party last minute and had something to give the hostess. Seriously, I felt like the most together person I know!
I tweaked it a little the second time I made it by leaving the orange zest out, adding in dried cherries and using half unsweetened chocolate (half of the total chocolate in the recipe) which gave it a decidedly more adult flavor (literally and figuratively). This batch was brought to my family christmas day dinner gathering and it was well received.
I will definately be making this next year. It is almost embarassing how easy it is to make. People will be impressed and may start to regard you with jealousy or suspicious as if you have kept a entire secret life of a chocolateier from them....
Enjoy
Here are the ingredients:
2 - 1lb blocks of milk chocolate (I got mine at Trader Joes)
1 and a half cups pistacios
1 and a half cups roasted almonds
zest of one orange ( I used two cuties)
finishing salt (I used Pyramid Salt, also available at Trader Joes)
Get your double boiler going and melt the chocolate, after it starts to melt, add the orange zest
stir in 1 cup of almonds and one cup of pistacios
pour the entire chocolate mixture onto a baking sheet covered with foil
sprinkle the remaining half cup of pistacios on top
Then sprinkle the remaining half cup of almonds and the flake salt or pyramid salt
Now it just needs to come back to room temp to harden which can take 3-5 hours. If you are taking the bark to a party, you can just cover the tray and break it up there. Maybe ask the hostess for a bowl or cutting board to put out with other desserts or serve with some fruit and cheese after dinner.
OR!
....put them in little gift size containers to hand out as you make your way through the holidays.
Here is what I did:
(Labels and ribbon came from IKEA and cost about $5 total. I had these bags around from a previous school project but any craft store carries them)
After you break the chocolate into nice big pieces (about the size of a deck of cards, but I like a non-uniform look), just place the pieces into your bags
Tie the little parcels up with your ribbon and attach your little description card...
Enjoy and Happy Holidays to all!
R
