Christmas Bark

I have seen a few recipes for 'bark' on the Internet so I thought I would have a go at making my own version.  This recipe is for those that have a super sweet tooth!

Ingredients
White chocolate (about 200g)
Dried sweetened cranberries (Ocean Spray are good)
Freshly chopped mint

Method
Break the chocolate pieces into a heatproof bowl and melt over a saucepan of water.  Put a piece of greaseproof paper onto a baking sheet and when the chocolate has melted pour onto the sheet.  Move the paper about so that the chocolate is of an even thickness.

Sprinkle the cranberries and mint evenly over the chocolate and leave to set, then refrigerate.  After a couple of hours remove from the fridge and cut the chocolate into thin shards or into fancy shapes if you prefer.

Conclusion
The mint really helps prevent the white chocolate from being too cloying.  The cranberries add a pleasant tartness and texture.  I think it goes down well with a nice cup of coffee!

Edited:  I was going to do a whole series of Bark recipes but poor light has not done justice to my photographs so I have listed some tried and tested variations below instead.  They all follow the above method unless stated otherwise.

• White chocolate, cranberries, lime zest (my favourite!)
• Milk chocolate, rice crispies (stirred into the melted chocolate), chopped dried ready to eat apricots
• Milk chocolate, chopped glace cherries, dessicated coconut

There are so many more variations you could try including swirling different types of  chocolate together (white and dark), topping with mini marshmallows, mini fudge pieces, dried blueberries etc etc.  Go on! Give it a go!