Recipe: Loaded Chocolate Bark

Chocolate bark with nuts, seeds, and orange chips… delicious

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Chocolate bark is a lovely edible gift for friends, neighbors, and coworkers, so go ahead and make several batches. Be sure to store your bark in a controlled environment to avoid a sticky situation.

Yield: About 10 3” pieces

Ingredients

• 1 thin-skinned orange
• ¾ cup shelled pistachios, toasted, cooled, and roughly chopped
• ¼ cup hazelnuts, toasted, cooled, skinned, and roughly chopped
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds, toasted and cooled
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1 cardamom pod, ground finely and sifted
• 12 ounces dark tempered chocolate (65% cacao content)
• 2 teaspoons flaky sea salt

Special equipment:
Candy thermometer

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Thinly slice orange widthwise and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 2-3 hours until dry, but slightly sticky. Remove from oven and let cool.
3. When cool enough to handle, break orange slices into shards; set aside.
4. In a large bowl, toss together nuts, seeds, and orange zest to thoroughly combine. Place in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Set aside.
5. Melt chocolate in a double boiler until it reaches 88-90°F and pour over nut mixture to coat completely.
6. When chocolate is semi-cool but still tacky, sprinkle surface with sea salt and orange shards.
7. Place in a cool area of your kitchen or refrigerate until bark cools completely, and break up into bite-size pieces.

Plan ahead

Orange chips can be made up to several days in advance and stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

This recipe by Chef Celine Beitchman was originally published in Natural Gourmet Institute’s “Healthier Holiday Desserts” e-cookbook.

NaturalGourmetInstitute.com

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