It was Mother's Day morning and I had just realized that I hadn't bought my mom a gift. It was too late to order anything online and I couldn't think of anything to buy her at the stores near my house. It came down to having to make her something at home. Then it hit me. Chocolate. My mom loves chocolate (who doesn't?). I looked into my pantry and found that the only chocolate in there was unsweetened baking chocolate. In too much of a time crunch to go to the store, I started to investigate how to turn the baking chocolate into dark chocolate. After many different tries, I was able to, just by adding sugar, make the inedible unsweetened baking chocolate into a yummy dark chocolate for my mom.
Dark Chocolate Bark
- Prep Time:15 mins
- Cook Time:4 hrs
- Total Time:4 hrs 15 mins
- Servings:8
- Easy
- 1 unsweetened bakers chocolate bar
- 4 tbsp sugar
Ingredients
-
Step 1
Chop unsweetened bakers chocolate bar into tiny pieces or cubes
Rachael Stockel -
Step 2
Bring a pot of water to a boil
Rachael Stockel -
Step 3
Once water is at a boil, place a glass bowl in the pot to make a double-boiler
Rachael Stockel -
Step 4
Add chocolate into the bowl and start stirring until almost completely melted
Rachael Stockel -
Step 5
Slowly add sugar into the bowl with the chocolate and stir until texture is not grainy
Rachael Stockel -
Step 6
Pour the sweetened chocolate into a glass pan lined with foil
Rachael Stockel -
Step 7
Add desired toppings
Rachael Stockel -
Step 8
Refrigerate for 2-4 hours until chocolate has hardened. Continue to store in the fridge. When you are ready to eat, break the bark into pieces of whatever size you desire.
Rachael Stockel
Add-ins
There are also many add-ins to mix in with the chocolate to add more variety and flavor.
My personal favorite add-in is toasted coconut. In order to add toasted coconut, just lay out sweetened coconut on a piece of foil and toast it for 3 minutes in an oven or toaster oven before mixing it into the chocolate. Another option is peanut butter. All you have to do is melt it in the microwave for 20 seconds and then stir the liquid peanut butter into the chocolate. For both cashews or almonds, chop the whole nuts into small pieces and sprinkle or mix into the chocolate. Lastly, pretzels are a great topping for chocolate, as they add some saltiness to the sweetness. Chop the pretzels up and then scatter the bits onto the chocolate.
Benefits of Chocolate
Dark chocolate is not only delicious, but also comes with many health benefits. The health benefits of dark chocolate also apply to baking chocolate because both baking chocolate and dark chocolate come from cocoa, despite their different sugar contents. One benefit of cocoa is that it lowers blood pressure and increases blood flow. Cocoa is also an antioxidant, which means it helps to fight cancer, heart disease, and aging. Cocoa also contains important minerals such as potassium, magnesium, and calcium.
Conclusion
This recipe is a super easy way to turn unsweetened baking chocolate into a delicious snack. Also, there are so many different mix-ins to add that it can be whatever you want it to be. Another fun idea would be to dip strawberries or bananas into the dark chocolate while it's still melted. This homemade dark chocolate is also a great gift for family or friends!