Chocolate Bark for Halloween

Brrrrrr.  I'm sitting here with a blanket wrapped around me.  My heat is on.  I'm wearing a sweater.  *sigh.*  I can't deny it any longer, summer is over.

Today I am going to give you what is possibly the quickest, easiest recipe ever. 

 I've said it before, but is there anything better than a snack that is sweet and salty?  And it's so easy.......gather your ingredients, line a pan with parchment, and five minutes later the bark will be in your freezer to harden.

You can switch up the ingredients to suit your own preferences......use dark or milk chocolate instead of white, raisins instead of cranberries, add nuts.  Make it your own!

Today's Playlist

• "Bad Luck"......Social Distortion
• "Mr. Jones"......Counting Crows
• "On My Way".......Billy Boy On Poison
• "Icky Thump"......The White Stripes

Halloween Chocolate Bark

• 1 12-oz bag of white chocolate chips
• 1 cup miniature pretzels
• 1/2 cup candy corn
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries

Gather your ingredients.  I forgot to take a picture.  If I had taken the picture, you would see that the bag of pretzels and the candy corn had already been opened.  As soon as I turned my back, my son (candy corn) and my husband (pretzels) were on them.  Good thing they left enough for me to make the chocolate bark.

Line a baking pan with parchment.  You need to use at least a 9 x 9 inch pan, but I like to use a larger pan because it's easier to fit the parchment without cutting it.  Just be sure to let the parchment hang over the edges a bit so it's easy to lift the bark out when it's ready. 

Place your white chocolate chips in a bowl and microwave on HIGH for 1 minute.  Remove and stir.  The remaining chips should melt as you stir.  If you still have tiny little chips left that haven't quite melted all the way, don't sweat it.  When it hardens again, do you think anyone will be able to tell that there are tiny unmelted pieces of chocolate within the chocolate in the bark?  Nope.

The one tip I can give you here is to PLEASE use a good brand of chocolate.  Do NOT use store brands, no matter how much you love that store.  A good-quality chocolate will melt nicely, a poor (okay, I'll say it, CHEAP) brand of chocolate will be a stiff mess.  Ghirardelli, Hersheys, Nestles.........they're all fine. 

Pour the melted chocolate onto the parchment paper. 

Spread it around.

You will notice that the chocolate in my pan does not quite fill it.  That's because I used a larger pan than necessary.  The chocolate stays where you spread it, so it doesn't matter.  Use whatever size pan you like, even a cookie sheet will work.

 

Sprinkle the pretzels and candy corn on top of the chocolate.  Sprinkle in a single layer, they need to be in contact with the chocolate to adhere to it. 

 Same with the cranberries, sprinkle in a single layer.  Lightly press the tops of the pretzels, candy and cranberries so that they're stuck in the chocolate.

Place the pan in your freezer and chill until firm (about 15 minutes).

Remove from the freezer, lift the parchment paper out of the pan, break the chocolate bark into pieces.

Enjoy!