Oh Shine On

Didn’t anybody hear?

(Anna, Sarah, and Emily)

Christmas is being celebrated on December 11 this year. I celebrated it with housemates and hot chocolate and presents and hugs and snuggle sessions. They’re the ones who love me, but probably mostly hate me, for having an unlimited supply of food – mostly sweet – in the kitchen. We live in a teeny tiny little house called Little Grey. Stop by anytime, kick off your shoes, and we’ll put on a pot of tea.

Now let me tell you something… Any time you have to pry food out of your friends’ greedy little hands probably means it’s pretty good. Like, really, pretty good.

PS. That totally refers to chocolate bark.

So I made batches of that stuff for my friends for Christmas. Katie – 1. Bad decisions – 0.

For Emily: white chocolate base with hazelnuts and topped with chocolate chips… because hazelnuts are the pitfall of her existence and she’s super sweet and cute. I can never have enough Emily time… just like you can never have too much chocolate.

For Sarah: dark chocolate base with crushed gingersnap cookies and chocolate chips with a light dark chocolate drizzle. The combination is perfectly “her”. Spot on, really. Because, well… I really shouldn’t say, but she knows why. Dark and spicy, baby. Dark and spicy.

To prepare all:

(makes 12 large pieces)

Place wax paper on a large sheet pan and set aside on counter top. Bring a pot filled about halfway to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and place a glass bowl on top. Place which type of chocolate you’re using as a base and place it in the bowl to melt. Stir chocolate occasionally until the mixture becomes very smooth. Set aside to cool.

While the chocolate melts, place whatever topping you are using (gingersnap cookies, pretzel bits, hazelnuts) in a food processor or ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin or by hand until broken into tiny pieces. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Once chocolate is melted, remove from heat and pour onto the prepared wax paper. Spread evenly with a spatula.

If making the peanut butter version, let chocolate base cool in the refirgerator. While it cools, melt the peanut butter over stove top. Once melted, remove from heat to cool a bit. Remove chocolate base from the refrigerator and pour peanut butter over the hardened white chocolate, spreading evenly.

Sprinkle crushed topping bits on top of the melted chocolate (or peanut butter) and press gently so they stick. Fold in chocolate chips, if using. Heat whatever chocolate remains in microwave and drizzle over the top. Place the sheet in the fridge to harden 20 minutes. Break apart and serve.

* Make sure to refrigerate this batch for a long time in order to let the peanut butter set. Or you can just stick this in the freezer.