Dessert Party Recipes: French Chocolate Bark

French Chocolate Bark

My mom and I were watching and episode of Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network and saw Ina prepare this recipe. Conveniently, we had some whole cashews and craisens already so we decided to add it to the line up. It's super easy to prepare and it turned out quite nicely. Although, the chocolate was a little to dark for me. I'm more of a milk chocolate girl, but whatevs.

FRENCH CHOCOLATE BARK

9 1/2 oz. very good semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
8 oz. very good bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole roasted, sald cashews
1 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Procedure:

Melt the two chocolates in a double boiler (or in a glass bowl over simmer water if you don't have a double boiler)
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper; using a ruler and pencil, draw a 9 x 10 rectangle and turnover (so pencil marks are on the bottom)
Pour the melted chocolate onto the parchment paper and spreadto form a rectangle, using the outline
Sprinkle cashews, apricot, and cranberries over chocolate
Set aside for 2 hours to firm
Cut into 1 x 3-inch and serve at room temperature

I think this would be a fun recipe to play with and create different types of bark with various types of chocolate, nuts and fruit.