Christmas Chocolate Bark

5 from 1 vote

Christmas Chocolate Bark is the easiest way to create custom colorful candy all dressed up for the holiday. Use your favorite festive sweet or savory snacks to decorate this delicious dessert.

Prep Time15

Cook Time3

Chill Time1 15

Total Time1 33

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 408kcal

Author: Jennifer Fishkind

Ingredients

12 ounces package milk chocolate chips
80-90 mini pretzel twists
24 ounces (2 12-ounce) bags white chocolate chips
½ cup red and green M&Ms
½ cup roughly crushed red and green candy canes 6 large candy canes
½ cup salted peanuts chopped
Festive sprinkles optional garnish

Instructions

Line a half sheet baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
Microwave the milk chocolate chips in a medium sized microwave safe bowl in increments of 15 seconds until completely melted and pourable. Be sure to stir the chocolate in between intervals. This will generally take about 5-6 heating and stirring cycles.
Pour the chocolate onto the sheet pan. Spread it evenly over the sheet pan using a spatula.
Gently press the mini pretzel twists, flat side down, into the top of the melted chocolate, placing the pretzels as close together as possible without touching. You can use pretzel pieces to fill in gaps. Do not press the pretzels in too far--the chocolate shouldn’t cover the pretzel completely.
Place the sheet pan into the freezer to chill for about 15 minutes or until the chocolate has set.
When there are about 5 minutes left of chill time for the chocolate, melt the white chocolate chips in another microwaveable bowl. Use the same method as the milk chocolate chips: microwave the white chocolate in increments of 15 seconds, stirring in between intervals. This will take about 5 or 6 cycles, or until the chocolate is shiny, melted, and pourable.
Carefully pour and spread the white chocolate over the chilled milk chocolate and pretzel layer. This may require some extra care since you will have nooks and crannies from the pretzels to fill.
Quickly top your white chocolate layer with red and green M&Ms, crushed red and green candy canes, salted peanuts, and festive sprinkles, optional.
Place sheet pan in the refrigerator for an hour or until chocolate has firmly set. Once ready, break the bark into pieces and happily hand it out to your loved ones.

Notes

Storage:

To Store: Store your bark in an airtight container. It will stay fresh at room temperature for 9-10 days or in the refrigerator for about 3 weeks.
To Freeze: Candy bark can be stored in the freezer for 6-7 months in a freezer-safe container.

Tips:

Make sure you have everything ready ahead of time. The chocolate needs to be melted and used at the right time, so all the other ingredients need to be ready to go, otherwise the chocolate will set before you can add anything. This is especially true with the white chocolate. Because you are putting the white chocolate over an already cold chocolate and pretzel layer, it will cool and set pretty quickly. Your M&Ms, peanuts, and candy canes need to go on right away.
If you don’t get your candy or pretzels onto your melted chocolate soon enough, it’s not the end of the world! Simply put your sheet pan of chocolate into a heated oven (try around 300 degrees Fahrenheit) for 2-3 minutes. Your chocolate should melt just enough for your candy decorations to stick.
You may also need help from someone else when you are spreading your chocolate over the parchment paper. As you try to evenly spread your chocolate, your parchment paper may move back and forth, ruining all of your efforts. To avoid this, have someone else hold down the edges of the parchment paper as you spread your chocolate. Or, weigh down the edges of parchment paper with something heavy.
Melting chocolate can be really tricky, especially in the microwave. However, I have found that melting it in increments of 15 seconds is a pretty fool-proof method of not overheating it. Make sure you stir it every time, otherwise the chocolate will heat unevenly. And if your chocolate is nearly perfect, but it needs just a tiny bit more time, try 5 or 10 seconds instead of the full 15.

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