Despite the fact that our household will be teeming with candy this time next week, we wanted to make a special Halloween treat together. I am not a baker but the girls do love to make muffins, cookies and of course the occasional sweet treat. I saw a few photos of the Halloween Bark on Pinterest and with Dad away for the day it seemed like a fun activity to do with a Diva and get us into the spirit of Halloween. With only a few ingredients and a big imagination this was gooey, messy, tasty and fun!
Ingredients:
3-4 cups chocolate chips
Assorted candy
There is no limit on the variety of candy you can use in your bark. We hit the Bulk Barn and a few double
digits ($) later we came home with our loot. We chose semi sweet chocolate chips and we did a second batch using milk chocolate chips.I saw the candy eyes on a few recipes and these were a must have for our bark. The giggles of putting these into the melted chocolate were priceless and we have leftovers for the day I brave cupcakes! You can use broken candy bars, pretzels or anything that appeals to your sweet tooth. We chose Candy Corn, Chocolate Peanut Butter Minis, Jelly Beans and sprinkles for the Duncan Bark
The youngest Diva who was the star meatball maker in my last blog had a soccer game and homework today. That meant an opportunity for me to have some one on one with my eldest, otherwise known as Diva Senior. Her Nana bought her this apron last year for Christmas and she loves to put it on the help out in the kitchen.
All you need to make the bark is a cookie sheet and parchment paper which you can buy in individual sheets as shown above or in rolls. It really is a life saver when baking or cooking and means a lot less work when cleaning your baking trays after.
The first step is to melt the chocolate. You can use a double boiler or the microwave. I have yet to perfect melting chocolate in the microwave even though our model has a specific setting for softening chocolate and butter. I have wasted many a good chocolate trying to use this method and need to treat my chocolate in a more humane way. We use our pot and steamer insert and place a glass bowl over top of simmering water.
You can adjust the temperature as needed to melt the chocolate but you want to do it slowly so it does not harden. Continuous stirring is key and be prepared for some sticky fingers while stirring the pot. Once the chips are melted you will see a nice shine to the chocolate and it's time to pour!
Be careful when lifting the bowl from the steamer basket if you are using this method since the bowl may be hot and water can collect on the bottom of the bowl and spill onto the baking sheet. Using a sturdy spatula pour the melted chocolate onto the parchment paper.
Using a spatula spread the chocolate to an even thickness. A helper is a big bonus for this step as trying to hold the parchment down and spread the chocolate could challenge an octopus.
Now the FUN part!! Decorating! There did need to be a few mild suggestions to NOT shovel all the candy into the mouth but to instead put it in the chocolate. This was a lot of fun to do and you can let the imagination go wild.
Once you have finished decorating your masterpiece place the cookie sheet into the fridge and allow to set until hardened, about half an hour. Once the bark has set use a heavy knife and a bit of elbow grease to cut the bark into pieces.
When we cook we share. Bulk Barn had these amazing containers we are using to give some gifts in. Wonder who will find one in their mailbox??
The finished product. After I assured the Divas that we were keeping SOME of the bark ourselves, the rest has made its way into gift boxes to share with neighbours and friends. We have a lot of people to thank that have helped us over the year while I have been recovering from two knee surgeries! Hopefully this sweet thank you will be a hit!
This bark is also a good way to use up candy that is received for Halloween. Last year we melted our Jersey Milk and Aero bars and made chocolate dipped strawberries for a party.
I hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween and if you find some time on a rainy Sunday get out the chocolate and get in the kitchen and make some of this Bootiful Bark!
Happy Halloween!
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