Festive food - chocolate bark recipe

(Image courtesy of Unsplash)

by Estelle Curiel

One of my festive favourites is chocolate bark. It is a fun and tasty way to make easy and delicious chocolate that also make great last minute gifts. They are a brilliant activity if you find yourself looking after children during the holidays. This is a combination of a BBC Good Foods and a Good Housekeeping recipe.

You'll need:

· 200g of chopped chocolate, either dark of a mixture of dark and milk

· Red smarties or M&Ms (chocolate or crispy)

· Small pretzels, broken in half

· White chocolate buttons or mini marshmallows

· Black icing pen

Optional

· Crushed candy cane

· Gold sprinkles and stars

· Whatever else your creative heart desires

Method:

1. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2. If using both milk and dark chocolate, heat them in separate bowls. You can either melt the chocolate in a bain-marie or in the microwave. If using the microwave do it in 30 second intervals to make sure you don’t burn the chocolate.

3. Pour the chocolate in the baking tray. Start with the dark then add the milk and swivel it through. Make sure the chocolate is a thick enough layer to make a good slab of chocolate. Allow to stand for a few minutes until beginning to set before decorating.

For the reindeers

4. Start with the reindeer noses with the red smarties / M&Ms.

5. Add 2 white chocolate buttons/ mini marshmallows above the nose to make the eyes. Use the black icing to make the pupils.

6. Use a halved pretzel to make the antlers.

For the snowmen

7. Line up 3 white chocolate buttons or marshmallows for the snowman’s body.

8. Use the black icing to make the face and buttons.

9. Use little pieces of pretzels for the arms

Optional

10. Sprinkle the crushed candy cane and sprinkles around your creations.

11. Once the chocolate is hard, use a knife to break the bark around the decorations.

You can also make it using white chocolate, or swivelling white chocolate into the dark instead of the milk. You can make separate Rudolph and snowmen barks or use the same sheet of chocolate. The fun of this recipe is that it is just inspiration – get as creative as you want!

To make them into gifts, put the shards into cellophane bags and tie them with a ribbon.

Merry Christmas!