Easy Homemade Dark Chocolate Nut Bark

This dark chocolate nut bark recipe is easy to make (3 ingredients - chocolate, nuts, salt), versatile, and fits the bill when the average chocolate bar just won't give you the amount of nuts or salt that you really want.

This chocolate nut bark recipe can be made with dark or milk chocolate.

Serve chocolate nut bark with Mixed Berry Gazpacho and Fresh Whipped Cream or Ice Cream.  

Variations on Chocolate Nut Bark

There are endless variations for this chocolate nut bark recipe.  Add whatever else you love to the mix. Try:

• lemon, lime, grapefruit or orange zest
• coconut flakes
• dried ginger bits
• dried fruit like apricots, cranberries, bananas
• seeds like pumpkin or sesame...
• nuts like walnut, almond, marcona almond, pistachio, pecan, pine nuts, cashews...
• spice it up with ground cayenne pepper or chili flakes.

Melting Chocolate For Nut Bark

This recipe for dark chocolate nut bark tells you how to melt chocolate on the stovetop with a double boiler like method.

But, chocolate can also be melted in a microwave by using a 50% power level or 1-3 minutes, watching and stirring every 30 seconds until just melted.

Tips For Melting Chocolate - DIY Double Boiler Method

This method for melting chocolate will take 2-3 minutes.

• Fill a small pot with 2" of water and bring to a simmer.
• Place a steel bowl on top.
• Add uniformly chopped pieces of chocolate or chocolate chips to the pot and stir with rubber spatula at low heat (barely simmerling).
• You are trying to melt the chocolate and not burn it.  You don't want the boiling water to touch the second pot that's sitting on top of it or the chocolate will curdle.  Keep stirring at a low heat until it's melted ~ 2 minutes.
• Melt slowly over low heat while stirring gently. If the heat is too high it will become lumpy.
• Don't let any water get in contact with the chocolate or it will become unworkable. This include wiping off the bottom of the top bowl of any condensation before pouring the chocolate on to the sheet pan.
• Pour chocolate into lined sheet pan or baking dish and lightly shake the pan (or use a spatula) to make the chocolate an even thickness.  
• Add nuts and sprinkle salt over the top. I like Kosher salt. It has larger crystals that are easy to spread and is also less dense than regular salt so it's unlikely to over salt.
• Let cool at room temperature or place in refrigerator for 1 hour before breaking.

Let Chocolate Nut Bark Cool at Room Temperature

Let the chocolate nut bark cool at room temperature before breaking into pieces.

This can be done by allowing to sit at room temperature for a couple hours or by placing in the refrigerator.

Place in the refrigerator to cool faster, but water my form on the top of the chocolate because of condensation during the cool down. In that case, it's still edible but could have a slight white or grey film on the top that is either sugar or fat separating.

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