Chocolate cookie bark is the easiest candy, and it's so delicious! Simply melt chocolates and mix them with cookies and nuts. A candy bar in no time. Perfect for gift-giving during the holiday season and to make with kids.
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Super simple and extremely versatile
This is a melt, chop and mix candy recipe.
Few ingredients, extremely versatile when it comes to mixing and matching (follow your palate), some refrigeration time, and you get yourself a customized chocolate bar and a sensationally easy holiday gift. Either, or.
It's so easy and delicious that we adapt it according to the holiday, such as Halloween bark, Valentine's Day bark and Easter bark.
And such a crowd-pleaser you wouldn't believe it. Or maybe you would; it's chocolate and walnuts and cookies, after all.
I've been making this version a lot in the last months after receiving a huge amount of plain chocolate cookies. They are not very sweet, so this time, I'm being unfaithful to dark chocolate and using milk and white chocolate to counter it.
The results have been fantastic.
This is very much a choose-your-own chocolate adventure kind of recipe.
What is chocolate bark?
It's melted chocolate that is mixed or topped with nuts, candies, candied fruit and other similar holiday ingredients. The chocolate is then spread in a thin layer and refrigerated or left to cool until it hardens again.
It is extremely easy to make.
We're making a double chocolate bark today, marbling white and milk chocolate to create a wonderful mixture of flavors that complement each other.
White chocolate
I like the contrast of white chocolate, which is sweet and vanilla flavored, mixed with crushed dark chocolate wafers (image above). They balance each other perfectly.
I used super dark cocoa wafers to counteract the white chocolate, which is always super sweet. The flavor is sweet but not too cloying.
Milk or semisweet chocolate
The second part of this double chocolate bark consists of milk or semisweet chocolate and walnuts.
I like to use lightly toasted nuts as this is a no-bake recipe. They have a deeper flavor that adds a lot to the finished product.
Types of chocolate
There is a lot of talk about tempering chocolate, using chocolate chips for making bark and all that jazz.
My best tip is to use candy chocolate, the kind you buy for homemade candy that is easy to use. The finishing product is shiny without effort.
But, since this recipe uses white and milk chocolate (which have a higher sugar content), there is a lot more room for using any chocolate, even chips, as the results will be more consistent; dark chocolate suffers the most when not tempered.
Tempering chocolate is laborious when done right and not something really worth it when it comes to homemade chocolate bark in my opinion. But commercial tempered chocolate gives you a better finish, not as opaque as untempered chocolate. I learned that with my triple chocolate peanut clusters, trust me, the images speak for themselves.
How to marble white and dark chocolate
After you melt and mix each chocolate with its add-ons, you need to marble them.
Alternate little mounds on a piece of wax paper, swirl both mixtures lightly but not too much, as that will not give you the marbled effect you want. Refrigerate for about half an hour, and you've got yourself double chocolate cookie bark. How's that for easy?
I'm quite a fan of this customized chocolate bar; it's so maddeningly delicious.
Variations
You can mix and match any combination of chocolate and cookies. There is no right or wrong; your palate is the only limit.
- Chocolate: use white, milk or dark chocolate. Or melt two or three together and use it as one chocolate (my favorite combination is the one I use in the peanut clusters).
- Add-ins: use any nut, candied fruits, dried fruits, chopped or ground cookies or chopped candy bars. I can go on and on. But you get the idea.
This was such a huge hit at the office. They went crazy about it.
And as it happens with people who don't bake, they thought it was amazing I made a chocolate bar at home. If only they knew how easy it is!
Related recipes you might like:
Chocolate Cookie Bark
Ingredients
- 6 ounces milk chocolate, chopped or chips
- 6 ounces white chocolate, chopped or white chocolate chips
- 3 ½ ounces chocolate cookies , or plain chocolate wafers, crushed
- 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped and toasted (optional)
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with wax paper that will fit in your refrigerator.
- Melt 6 ounces milk chocolate and 6 ounces white chocolate separately in different bowls. I use the microwave (10-second spurts, mixing well between each) or use a double boiler.
- Mix 3 ½ ounces chocolate cookies with the white chocolate.
- Mix 1 cup walnuts with the melted milk chocolate.
- Place small mounds of each chocolate on the prepared sheet, making a rough rectangle.
- With the tip of a knife marble both mixtures a bit, not much, you don't want all flavors completely mixed.
- Refrigerate for about 20 minutes, until completely hardened.
- Separate the cold chocolate carefully from the paper. Break into pieces by hand and keep in tins with a tight lid.
Ann says
So glad you addressed the tempering question!! I work with chocolate a lot but I struggle with knowing when to temper and when it's not necessary. It is a pain for sure! Clearly when something is as chockful of good stuff as this bark and MARBLED on top of it, nobody's going to care if it's tempered or not! Definitely on my holiday edible gift list 🙂
Paula Montenegro says
I'm 100% with you! Tempering is not for this type of recipe. Thanks for your comment!
Loreto and Nicoletta says
Love the beautiful marbleization in this double chocolate bark! It looks easy to make and absolutely delicious! Perfect edible gift!
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
Your bark really does make a nice Christmas of hostess gift. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.
Paula Montenegro says
It is a great gift. Happy holidays to you and your family Karen!