Chocolate Bark with Granola and Sea Salt

Whooo boy.   Not sure I've got much more to say than that.  I mean, you mix luscious dark chocolate with yummy granola and a little flaky sea salt and what’s not to love, you know?  So instead of mucking up this lovely moment of reverie with a bunch of words, maybe I should just show you how to make some incredibly scrumptious chocolate bark…

First you must start with some excellent chocolate.  Some dark, some light, whatever, it just must be of excellent quality…    

Then you're going to want some very excellent granola...

...and some nice flaky sea salt (or any favorite finishing salt will do)...

Then you will be melting your excellent chocolate over a pan of simmering water...

Until it becomes silky smooth and totally gorgeous...

Then you will stir in some of that yummy granola...

And spread it all out on some parchment paper...

Then sprinkle it with your flaky sea salt and a little more granola...

and then stick it in the fridge for an hour...

When it comes out, use a sharp knife to break the bark into shards that you can then share with someone you love or...

someone you like a lot.  Or no one.  Your call.  Here’s the recipe…

CHOCOLATE BARK WITH GRANOLA AND SEA SALT

Click here for a printable recipe

Recipe adapted from the Tasting Table Test Kitchen

I made a few changes to the original recipe, which I would definitely and highly recommend.  Firstly, I increased the amount of granola from 3/4 cup to 1 cup. You could even add more if you wanted.  I used my recipe for homemade granola, which was awesome in here.  The cranberries and raisins were SO good with the chocolate.

Secondly, the original recipe had you adding the salt in with the melting chocolate, which, to my mind, completely defeated the purpose of using a flaky finishing salt.  So I recommend sprinkling the salt over the finished bark before topping it with the granola.  I omitted the crystallized ginger and cocoa nubs, as I didn't think it really needed them.   Other than that, use whatever combination of dark/light chocolates you want, just make sure it's high quality stuff.  Enjoy!

Yield: One 9-by-13-inch sheet

Cook Time: 7 minutes (plus 1 hour to chill)

Ingredients:

Nonstick pan spray

¾ pound semisweet chocolate (62%), chopped

¼ pound bittersweet chocolate (82%), chopped

½ teaspoon flaky sea salt (or to taste)

1 cup granola (here’s my recipe), divided

2 tablespoons cacao nibs, optional

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped crystallized ginger, optional

DIRECTIONS

1. Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet with nonstick pan spray. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper, allowing the ends of the paper to hang loosely over the short edges of the baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl, add the semisweet and the bittersweet chocolates.  Fill a medium saucepan with 1 inch of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and place the bowl on top of the saucepan (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Stir the chocolate often until it is completely melted and smooth, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the bowl with the chocolate from the saucepan.

3. To the melted chocolate, add ¾ cup of the granola and stir to combine. Pour the chocolate-granola mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and use a spatula to spread the mixture in an even, ¼-inch-thick layer. Immediately sprinkle the chocolate with the sea salt and remaining ¼ cup of the granola, the cacao nibs and the crystallized ginger, if using, and refrigerate until hard, about 1 hour.

4. Remove the bark from the refrigerator and use the parchment overhang to lift it out of the baking sheet and set it on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to break the chocolate into pieces, then serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.  (I'm sure it will last longer than that in the fridge if you keep it in an airtight container.)

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