Chocolate bark

If you are the kind of cook who pores over Pastry & Baking magazine before setting aside the 48 hours preceding Valentine's Day to make a cake of dacquoise layers filled with nougatine cream and sprayed with liquid chocolate, this bark may not be your bite.

If, however, your kitchen skills are limited to punching the buttons on your microwave and you have about 10 minutes to spend on candy-making before Feb. 14, you're gonna love this. I'm going to share with you a chocolate recipe that has a greater ease-to-impressiveness ratio than almost any other in my repertoire.

Chocolate bark appeals to all tastes.

Does your down-to-earth sweetheart adore pretzels and peanuts? Secure her affections with a batch of milk chocolate bark studded with her favorite snack foods. Attracted to a fitness enthusiast obsessed with antioxidants? Dark chocolate bark with goji berries and chopped walnuts will get his attention.

If your beloved prefers chocolates from Richart or La Maison du Chocolat, remind her that chocolate bark has a pedigree. It is the American version of the French mendiant, a chocolate disk studded with various nuts and dried fruits representing the robes of the Dominican (raisin), Augustinian (hazelnut), Franciscan (fig) and Carmelite (almond) orders. There's nothing to it. Just melt a half-pound of chocolate, spread it across the bottom of a baking pan lined with foil, sprinkle on your toppings and let the bark set before breaking it into rustic pieces.

But don't get cocky. If overheated, the cocoa butter in chocolate will separate from the cocoa solids, and the two will never recombine smoothly. So it's best to avoid melting chocolate over direct heat. Chocolate will seize up if it comes into contact with a single drop of water, so melting in the top of a double boiler, with so much steam in proximity, is also asking for trouble.

It's safest to melt chocolate in a microwave oven, treating it gently and heating it slowly. First, chop your chocolate, but chop it coarsely. Set your microwave to medium, not high, and check on your chocolate every 30 seconds, stirring to see how much has melted so far. Most important, don't let your chocolate melt completely. When about two-thirds of it is liquid, remove the bowl from the microwave oven and stir, allowing residual heat to melt the rest. Gently heated chocolate should set up within an hour on the countertop of a cool kitchen.

Once you've broken it into pieces, wrap up your handmade candy in a pretty package. In the past, I've packed my bark in Mason jars tied with red ribbons or in heart-shaped boxes decorated with adhesive jewels and lined with colored waxed paper. 

PRETTY CHOCOLATE-PEANUT BARK 

Seasonal peanut M&M's, coarsely chopped, make such pretty dark chocolate bark. Save this recipe, and you can reuse it with pastel candies for Easter and red and green candies for Christmas.

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 cup Cupid's Mix peanut M&M's, coarsely chopped

1. Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch-square baking pan with aluminum foil.

2. Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on medium, removing every 30 seconds and stirring with a rubber spatula, until about 2/3 of the chocolate is melted, 2 to 3 minutes, depending on the power of your microwave. Remove chocolate from microwave and continue to stir until remaining pieces are melted.

3. Use small metal spatula to spread chocolate in an even layer across bottom of pan. Sprinkle with M&M's pieces. Let stand until solid, about 45 minutes. Break into pieces before packing in an airtight container. Makes about 1 pound candy. 

Variations 

White chocolate bark with macadamia nuts and pineapple Sprinkle 1/2 cup chopped, salted macadamia nuts and 1/2 cup finely chopped dried pineapple over 8 ounces melted white chocolate.

Milk chocolate bark with smoked almonds and toffee bits Sprinkle 1/2 cup Smokehouse almonds and 1/2 cup toffee baking bits over 8 ounces melted milk chocolate.

Crispy milk chocolate bark with marshmallows Stir 1/2 cup puffed rice cereal into 12 ounces melted bittersweet chocolate, spread across bottom of prepared pan, and sprinkle with 1/2 cup mini marshmallows, pressing lightly on marshmallows so they adhere to chocolate.