2 simple recipes for Christmas chocolate bark

If you’re looking for a quick and easy but utterly yummy treat to make this Christmas then you can stop your search right now.

Chocolate bark is one of my favourite things to make to either give as a present or keep to enjoy at home.

I’ve got 2 different bark recipes to share that are both perfect for Christmas.  There’s a simple festive chocolate bark and a ginger and fudge chocolate bark.

The first recipe is for a really easy festive chocolate bark.

This is a simple bark with milk and white chocolate and Christmas-coloured toppings.

You need:

• 200g milk chocolate
• 100g white chocolate
• Christmas sprinkles
• Red and green smarties or m&ms
• A baking tray
• Greaseproof/baking paper

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Line the baking tray with greaseproof paper

2. Melt the milk chocolate.  You can do this in a bain-marie on the hob, but I normally just do it in the microwave.  Pop it in for 20/30 seconds at a time and stir it each time you check on it.

3. Pour the melted chocolate onto the greaseproof paper and then gently spread it out with a spatula or a knife.  I like to keep it relatively thick so don’t spread it out too far, but you can spread it out more and have thinner bark if you prefer.

4. Next melt the white chocolate, the same way you did the milk chocolate.

5. Pour the white chocolate on top of the milk chocolate and swirl the two together to get a marbled effect.

6. While the chocolate is still all melty tip on a load of festive sprinkles and then add the red and green smarties.  Press the smarties in gently so they’ll stay in place as the bark sets.

7. Put the tray in the fridge to set for about an hour.

8. When it’s completely set cut it up into pieces ready to give as gifts or enjoy yourself.  I tend to cut mine up quite haphazardly with a knife, but you can just snap pieces off in your hands if you’d rather.

And if you think that looks good, then wait until you see the other bark recipe.

This one is a milk and dark chocolate bark with ginger biscuit pieces and chunks of fudge.

You’ll need:

• 200g milk chocolate
• 100g dark chocolate
• 2 ginger nut biscuits (or a gingerbread man, or any kind of ginger biscuit)
• Mini fudge chunks
• A baking tray
• Greaseproof/baking paper

The method is pretty much the same as the simple Christmas bark, but in case you’re just reading this recipe here are all the steps you need to follow:

1. Line the baking tray with greaseproof paper

2. Melt the milk chocolate.  You can do this in a bain-marie on the hob, but I normally just do it in the microwave.  Pop it in for 20/30 seconds at a time and stir it each time you check on it.

3. Pour the melted chocolate onto the greaseproof paper and then gently spread it out with a spatula or a knife.  I like to keep it relatively thick so don’t spread it out too far, but you can spread it out more and have thinner bark if you prefer.

4. Put the tray in the fridge or freezer for ten minutes for this layer of milk chocolate to set.

5. While you’re waiting, break the ginger biscuits into little pieces/crumbs.

6. Next melt the dark chocolate, the same way you did the milk chocolate.

7. Pour the dark chocolate on top of the set milk chocolate and quickly spread it out, almost to the edges.

8. While the chocolate is still melty sprinkle on the ginger biscuit pieces and crumbs and the fudge chunks.  Press them gently into the chocolate to make sure they stay in place.

9. Put the tray in the fridge to set for about an hour.

10. When it’s completely set cut it up into pieces ready to give as gifts or enjoy yourself.  I tend to cut mine up quite haphazardly with a knife, but you can just snap pieces off in your hands if you’d rather.

The thing I absolutely love about chocolate bark is that pretty much anything goes.

With the simple Christmas bark you can use 200g of white chocolate, and then top it with dark or milk chocolate.  If you wanted a different flavour you could add some peppermint extract to the chocolate and top it with crushed candy canes.

And for the ginger and fudge bark you can use any kind of ginger biscuits, or even chopped up pieces of crystallised stem ginger.  If you can’t find little chunks of fudge in the shops then you can just buy bigger pieces and chop them up, and you can try it with different flavours of fudge too.

I’m planning on making another batch of these to give to the teachers and TAs at our school as a little Christmas present.

Chocolate bark is so easy to make, so the children can make it with me which makes it that bit more special I think.  I know if I was a teacher I’d love to know that the children had taken the time to make something especially for me as a little end of term present.

We’ve made chocolate truffles for the teachers before and my chocolate ginger bites always go down well with people lucky enough to be allowed to share them with me each year!  Chocolate bark is so easy though, and so adaptable it makes a great gift for anyone who might be on your list.

Have you made bark before?  Which of these will you try out this Christmas?

This post has been shared with a moment with Franca and KCACOLS