Fruity Chocolate Bark

I've been wanting to make my own chocolate bark for a while but I wasn't sure what to do. I've also been wanting to make something with freeze dried fruit, but didn't know what to do with that either. The other day I saw wold630's Pop Rocks Chocolate Bark and decided to combine the two ingredients!

You can change these up as much as you want to suit your tastes.

Ingredients:

• 12oz Chocolate
• ~ 1 1/2 chunks Almond Bark or white chocolate
• Orange Extract
• Freeze Dried Fruit* - I used about 1/4 cup of each (~1 cup total) but I would actually suggest maybe even using more. It didn't seem like as much when I cut it up, so more might be better. I used the following, but use whatever you want.
  • Raspberries
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Mango - I only used this for color, I would probably leave it out if I did this again

Supplies:

• Parchment Paper / or / Wax Paper / or / Nonstick Baking Sheet
• Pan - it's just handy to have something to put your parchment paper on so you don't mess up the bark if you have to move it around
• Microwave safe containers
• Spatula of sorts

*Using just strawberries or strawberries and raspberries would be good for Valentine's Day Chocolate Bark.

I decided to add raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and mangos. While some of these were kind of small, I decided they weren't small enough (especially the mango which were in big strips). Cut down your fruit into smaller pieces so they sit nicer on your chocolate.

Since the fruit is freeze dried, it is going to be a little crumbly. Just be careful when you cut but you can always throw the crumbles on the chocolate too.

Get your wax paper out and ready before you start so you are ready when the chocolate is melted.

You need to melt the chocolate to make the bark. Put it in a microwave-safe container, and microwave in 30-second increments. Make sure you stir between putting in the microwave as it will be melted and not always look like it.

I started with my base chocolate and then threw in my almond bark after.

Spread the chocolate on your wax paper so it is fairly even. Don't make it too thin or it will be too weak.

Once my almond bark was melted, I mixed in some orange extract. Since this is going on top of your base chocolate, you can be generous with the flavor as it won't be your main flavor. I'd say I must have put in a teaspoon or two. Adding the extract changed the consistency of my almond bark, so I couldn't drizzle it like I wanted, instead I smeared it carefully on my base chocolate with the back of my spoon.

Once all the chocolate is on, drizzle on your fruit. You want to do this before the chocolate hardens. Gently push it down after you put it on so it stays in the chocolate. Feel free to put on more fruit than I have. I felt like once it was broken up into pieces, it didn't seem like as much.

You need to let the bark harden before you can break or cut it up. I gave it about, eh, five hours and it still wasn't totally hard, but you could touch it at this point. If you can, give it more time.

I started by breaking it, but didn't like how it broke, so I cut mine into pieces

I took a lot of pictures, so you have to look at them!