Tutorial Tuesdays- How to Make "Nom Nom" Bark and Use Chocolate Transfer Sheets

Calling all chocolate lovers!!

You must read this tutorial and try this recipe.

I will give fair warning, though, that you may make yourself sick on this stuff as it is impossible to have just a "little" bit of bark. I call it "Nom Nom" bark because when you eat all you can say is, "Nom nom nom nom...".

My husband cannot temper himself and gets sick on it every time- lol!

This bark recipe is basically a clever way to make chocolate toffee without making candy, requiring the use of a candy thermometer.  That is great for me as I really struggle with keeping a close eye on temperamental things with two kids running around the house.

I also will show you how to use a chocolate transfer sheet.  Chocolate transfer sheets are just colored cocoa butter in gorgeous patterns that adhere to melted chocolate.  Once you try using them, you will think of tons of things to do with them!

What you will need:

• A box of graham crackers
• A bag of your favorite chocolate chips- semi-sweet works really well.  You do not want the chips to be too sweet as the bark has a bunch of sugar in it. Hershey bars taste good, but chips are better.
• 1/4 cup of Brown Sugar- or  1 tbsp molasses if you do not have brown sugar
• A cup of White Sugar- Use 1 and 1/2 cups of white sugar if you are using molasses instead of the brown sugar
• Two sticks of butter
• Cinnamon- optional
• Chocolate Transfer Sheet- optional-  you can get these at many places online. 
• Medium Sauce Pan

1.  Line a 9x15 glass casserole dish with whole graham crackers.  Fill in the cracks with crushed graham cracker so there is a full layer covering the bottom.

2. Heat your oven to 350 degrees.

3.  Get out your sauce pan and put in the butter.  Melt the butter- do not burn it.  I have totally burned the butter before and there is NO saving that.   I did not think the burned butter would be that bad in one batch I made but it was so gross we laughed for a long time about the batch that went to the trash.  Ew!

4. When the butter is bubbly, stir in your white sugar and your brown sugar OR molasses.  I really like using molasses as I get more of a toffee taste and feel with it.  Dont over-do the molasses or you will have bark sticking to your teeth.  Yeah, I did that one time too, thinking the recipe was just plain silly and I could do it better.  Uh...no...

5. Bring the sugar and butter to a boil, always stirring!, and then reduce heat to a simmer.  Add in your cinnamon if you like cinnamon powder.   Let it bubble for about 5 minutes.

6.  Pour your butter and sugar onto the graham crackers as evenly as possible. Spread the mixture with a knife if you need to so that all the crackers are covered.

7.  Put the glass dish in the oven and bake until it is all bubbly again- about 10 minutes.

8.  Take it out of the oven and let it cool a bit so it is not bubbling.  Spread your chocolate chips all over the mixture and let them melt.  Once they are melted, use a knife to spread the chocolate all over the pan.  I used Hershey bars instead of chocolate chips in this batch and the bark did not harden like it normally does.  It tasted good but it was really soft...my husband was not pleased. lol...

9.  NOW is the fun part.  Take out your chocolate transfer sheet from the freezer and cut it to fit your pan of bark.  Peel off the backing.  Lay the pattern down on the warm chocolate.  You will need to smooth it out, gently applying pressure with your finger to make sure the pattern makes contact with ALL the chocolate.  You do not want pockets where the pattern does not touch the chocolate as it looks very messy when you remove the sheet.

10.  Put this all in the fridge to cool.  It needs a while to really harden, at least a few hours in my fridge.  Take it out when it is completely cool and peel off the transfer sheet. VOILA!  Gorgeous bark.

You can just cut it with a sharp knife like brownies and break it unevenly or use a very deep and sharp cookie cutter to cut this into shapes.  You can place the bark on top of ice cream or on top of whipped cream and a brownie or just eat it by itself.

I plan on making this for Christmas, but using white chocolate with peppermint candies and for Halloween using dark chocolate and Halloween themed transfer sheets!  You can top this with nuts, candies...the possibilities are endless.

Again, remember, I am warning you about the addictive qualities of this bark!  Use with caution...hahaha...

Happy Crafting,