Vegetarian Recipe: Chocolate Nut Bark

Every week on the Good Food Blog we celebrate Meatless Monday by sharing a vegetarian recipe from our archives.

Carole Bloom is the author of Truffles, Candies and Confections: Techniques and Recipes for Candymaking, published by Ten Speed Press. She first shared this recipe for Chocolate Nut Bark on January 8, 2005.

Keep reading for the full recipe…

Chocolate Nut Bark

10 to 14 pieces

• 8 ozs chocolate (bittersweet, milk or white) finely chopped

• 1 cup whole nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, macadamia, pecans or pistachios), toasted, at room temperature

Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. Melt and temper the chocolate (see following recipe). Stir the nuts into the chocolate, coating them completely. Turn the mixture out onto the baking sheet and spread it with an offset spatula to an appropriate thickness of 1/4 inch, depending on the size of the nuts. Refrigerate to set the chocolate (15 to 20 minutes) then let the bark sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Hold the bark with parchment or waxed paper and break it into pieces. This will prevent finger marks on the bark.

Between layers of parchment or waxed paper in a tightly covered container, the bark will keep for 1 week at room temperature; if the container is wrapped in several layers of aluminum foil, the bark will keep for 1 month in the frig. The bark is best served at room temperature.

Tempering:

Chocolate needs to be chopped into very small pieces so it can melt evenly. Place chocolate in the top of a double boiler over hot, not simmering, water. Make sure that the top of the doble boiler fits tightly over the bottom of the pan so that water cannot enter the top pan. The water in the bottom should be no more than an inch deep and should not touch the top pan or bowl. Keep the heat under the double boiler very low, and the water should not be heated more than lukewarm. Use a plastic or rubber spatula and stir frequently as it-s melting.

Quick tempering method:

Chop 1 pound of chocolate into very small pieces and set aside one-third of them. Melt the remaining two-thirds in the top of a double boiler over hot, not simmering, water, stirring frequently with a rubber spatula to ensure even melting. The chocolate should not exceed 120 degrees. Remove the double boiler from the heat, then remove the top pan of the double boiler and wipe it dry. Stir in the remaining chocolate in three batches, making sure that each batch is completely melted before adding the next. When all the chocolate has been added, test the chocolate by placing a dab of chocolate just below your lower lip. If this is comfortable – not too hot or too cold, the temp is correct. If the chocolate is too warm, add more finely chopped chocolate, if available, or continue to stir and test again until the temperature is right. If the temp is too cool, warm the chocolate over hot water just until it reaches the correct temp.