Is it too early to establish a new “Chronicles” series here? It’s just that these barks are sooo darned easy to make, thanks to that fabulous, simplified and foolproof tempering technique, that we just can’t stop ourselves. This White Chocolate Pistachio and Cranberry Bark is a little more “Christmas” themed, and with its white, green and red color palette it serves as the perfect illustration of how perfect these are to make this time of year. They make fantastic gifts for family and friends, and if you show up to a holiday celebration with bags or tins of this bark, you’ll be everybody’s favorite invitee. Another thing that we just love about these sweet treats is that you don’t have to fire up the oven. The one “cooking” step is done on the stovetop, and the rest is just mixing, pouring and chilling. As we mentioned in the last post, between chocolate varieties and the wide array of dried fruits, nuts, seeds and spices available out there, the flavor combinations are practically endless. You could actually pull of a “12 Barks of Christmas.”
Just like with the Milk Chocolate Sesame Bark, you melt about 3/4 of the chocolate in a heat-safe bowl over simmering water, stir in the remaining chocolate off of the heat and once it is thoroughly melted and blended, pour it into a parchment-lined baking dish.
You can smooth it with an offset spatula before adding the other ingredients. Just be sure to press the nuts and craisins into the chocolate so that the bark sets around them, because otherwise they’ll just roll off onto the floor and there will be much sadness and weeping, defeating the purpose of these added ingredients.
White chocolate can be almost cloyingly sweet on its own, so the cranberries add a much needed pop of tartness, and the pistachios provide a nice nutty crunch. Perhaps the most unorthodox ingredient here is the hot madras curry powder, which owes its inspiration to the recent trip to the Finger Lakes.
While at Ravines Wine Cellars, Kyle noticed that they sold a White Chocolate bark made with curry and coconut–also from Hedonist Chocolates–but got distracted by the sesame bark and wine pairing, so he never actually got around to trying the other flavor. (He’s still kicking himself.) The white chocolate and curry combination stayed with him, though, and he figured that this would be the perfect opportunity to test it.
Given that you only add a 1/4 teaspoon to the entire batch, there isn’t a distinguishable “curry” flavor to the finished bark, but the added spice and heat do wonders for the overall taste of the chocolate, providing yet another foil for the overt sweetness. If the thought of adding curry intimidates you, you can leave it out, but you really should give it a try at least once. If you want to work up to it, start by adding plain cayenne pepper. You’ll get the benefit of the heat without the more complex flavors of the curry.
Once you feel properly emboldened, go for the curry and never look back. Enjoy, and brace yourselves for more bark varieties, because there are four whole seasons to represent. Oh, the possibilities…
- 12 ounces white chocolate chips
- ¼ teaspoon hot madras curry powder (optional)
- ¼ cup pistachios, shelled and roughly chopped
- ½ cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
- Line a 9 x 13-inch pan with parchment paper.
- Melt about ¾ of the white chocolate chips (it doesn’t have to be exact) in a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
- Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in reserved chocolate chips and curry powder until mixture is melted and smooth.
- Spread the chocolate evenly into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the pistachios and dried cranberries, pressing them slightly into the chocolate to ensure they stick.
- Refrigerate until the bark has set, about 2 to 3 hours, then break into pieces. Bark is best stored in the fridge.
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