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The Best Chocolate Bark

Chocolate Bark makes a great gift or holiday party treat. Best of all, you can change things up depending on what you’re in the mood for or have on hand. Top it with whatever ingredients you like – nuts, dried fruit, candies, pretzels – get creative with it or keep it low-key.

Looking for an easy treat to make for a holiday party or give as a gift? Homemade chocolate bark is great because you can easily make a few batches with different toppings so there’s something for everyone.

Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.

three different stacks of pieces of chocolate barks (topped with M & Ms and pretzels, topped with chocolate sprinkles, almond pieces and dried cranberries and topped with mixed nuts) sitting on a piece of parchment paper on a wood cutting board; a glass bowl of chocolate chips is sitting at one end of the board next to   a stack of pretzel sticks; board is surrounded by flowy, light yellow fabric.

What’s The Best Way To Melt Chocolate?

The best method to melt chocolate chips when you make Chocolate Bark is to use the double boiler method. This gives you better control over how quickly the chocolate melts so you don’t let it go too long and have it seize up.

Just pour about 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups of water into a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, lower the heat to low. Pour chocolate chips into a large glass bowl and place on top of the pot. Stir constantly with a spatula until the chocolate completely melts. Remove from heat.

Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in microwave. This goes quicker so make sure you check it and give it a stir every 30 seconds. But be careful, don’t burn your chocolate! It happens even to the best cooks, especially with white chocolate.

Then, prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and pour the melted chocolate over it. Spread very thinly with a spatula or knife. Don’t skip using parchment paper or your chocolate will stick to the pan.

What’s The Best Chocolate For Making Chocolate Bark?

You should use good quality semi-sweet chocolate or dark chocolate. It’s a matter of preference but dark chocolate will give your chocolate bark a richer flavor whereas milk chocolate will be sweeter. You can use baking chocolate bars or high-quality chocolate chips. 

If you’d like to use white chocolate, you’ll want to keep your chocolate bark refrigerated as the white chocolate may melt at room temperature if it’s kept out too long. 

What About Peppermint Bark?

For peppermint bark, I like to use both dark and white chocolate and add peppermint extract to the white chocolate. 

To do this, melt the dark chocolate and spread a thin layer and let it set. Then, you melt the white chocolate with a bit of extract. (A little goes a long way! 3/4 teaspoon is plenty for 8 ounces of chocolate.) Spread that on top of the hardened dark chocolate and sprinkle with crushed peppermint candies. Put in the fridge to set and then you can break it into pieces. 

Pieces of white chocolate and peppermint bark in a white bowl.

Chocolate Bark Toppings

What else can you top your homemade chocolate bark with? There’s so many good options! I’ve included a few favorite combinations in the recipe card below, but you can get creative. If you have more suggestions, please add them to the comments below. 

Nuts are good toppings for chocolate bark.

Seeds are an allergy-friendly option.

Dried fruits add sweetness, especially tasty when used in combination with dark chocolate.

Freeze dried fruits also make great toppings.

Here are some other fun toppings people love.

Make sure you remember to add toppings immediately before the chocolate starts to harden. This will help ingredients to stick to the chocolate better.

Finally, set the bark aside and leave at room temperature for at least 4 hours. Alternatively, you can speed up the process of hardening by placing the chocolate in the fridge. However, leaving it on the counter for a few hours works best as it can sweat after being chilled, leaving it less appealing looking. Slow and steady is the best solution to making delicious chocolate bark. Once the bark is hardened break it into pieces by hand or cut it with a sharp knife.

More Tasty Treat Recipes

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The Best Chocolate Bark Recipe

Contributor: Ilona Orzechowska

Chocolate Bark makes a great gift or holiday party treat. Best of all, you can change things up depending on what you’re in the mood for or have on hand. Top it with whatever ingredients you like – nuts, dried fruit, candies, pretzels – get creative with it or keep it low-key.

  • Author: Ilona Orzechowska
  • Prep Time: 10 Minutes
  • Rest Time: 4 hours
  • Cook Time: 10 min
  • Total Time: 4 hours 20 minutes
  • Yield: 15 Pieces 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Units Scale

Pretzel & M&M’s Chocolate Bark

  • 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup pretzels
  • 2 Tbsp. mini M&M’s
  • 1 Tbsp. glitter sprinkles (yellow, white etc.)

Dried Fruit and Nuts Chocolate Bark

  • 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup dried pineapple
  • 2 Tbsp. chopped pistachios
  • 2 Tbsp. chopped walnuts
  • 2 Tbsp. mini white chocolate chips

Cranberry and Almond Chocolate Bark

  • 3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 3/4 cup white chocolate wafers or chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup cranberries
  • 1/4 cup slivered almonds
  • 2 Tbsp. chocolate sprinkles

Instructions

  1. Melt chocolate chips using double boiler method or microwave.
  2. To melt chocolate in the microwave, put chocolate chips in a glass bowl. Set microwave for 30 seconds. After that time, stir the chocolate and melt for another 30 seconds. Repeat again until the chocolate is melted.
  3. To melt chocolate chips using the double boiler method pour 1 and ½ – 2 cups of water into a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Pour melted chocolate into a large glass bowl and place on the pot. Stir constantly until the chocolate melts. Remove from heat.
  4. Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour chocolate over it and smooth nicely with spatula. Make a thin layer of chocolate about 7″ x 7″.

For Pretzel & M&M’s chocolate bark

  1. Follow directions for chocolate above then top with pretzels, mini M&M’s and glitter sprinkles.
  2. Let rest on the counter for 4 hours to harden.

For Dried Fruit and Nuts Chocolate Bark

  1. Follow directions for chocolate above then top with dried pineapple, walnuts, pistachios and white chocolate chips.
  2. Let rest on the counter for 4 hours to harden.

Cranberry and Almond Chocolate Bark

  1. Melt semi sweet chocolate chips in microwave or using double boiler method.
  2. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour melted chocolate over top. Spread thinly with spatula into about an 8″ x 8″ square. Set aside.
  3. Put white chocolate wafers or chocolate chips into a separate large bowl and melt in microwave or using double boiler method.
  4. Spread white chocolate on top of semi sweet chocolate. Using toothpick swirl the chocolate so the dark chocolate combines well with the white chocolate.
  5. Top with cranberries, slivered almonds and chocolate sprinkles.
  6. Let rest on the counter for 4 hours to harden.

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Notes

Nutrition will depend on what toppings you use. Nutrition listed below is for the chocolate base alone.

This post originally appeared in December 2019 and was revised and republished in October 2023.