Hot Chocolate Bark

A few years back I fell in love with a recipe the Pioneer Woman shared during the Halloween season. Honestly, all of my favorite comfort food recipes come from Ree Drummund. A lot of real butter goes a long way :). The fall recipe that she shared was for Halloween Bark. Ever since I discovered it, I have been recreating this easy recipe and making simple substitutions that make it personalized.

This year, I decided to make this easy recipe more Christmas-y. Although not exactly a Christmas cookie, I think it will get a lot of thumbs up at your cookie exchange! This is another recipe that is great for having kids help in the kitchen. It is messy and fun!

First, you will need to gather many or just a few different toppings for your bark. All of the items in this picture would be great on this, but you can include only what you like. This recipe is great because it can be tailored to any taste. For the adults, you could top the treat with pretzels, cashews, cranberries and almonds. For the kids you can make a traditional Christmas bark or the Hot Chocolate Bark recipe that is included below. Add anything you have on hand!

Many of these topping choices can be found at your local grocery store. They are also super easy to order on Target.com! Did you know that they ship Christmas Cereal and mini marshmallows??! Well, now you do!  As a busy as we are this holiday season, it is so easy to have them delivered!

To get started, Open the graham crackers and lay them flat onto a cookie sheet or into a casserole pan. You want them to be as close together as possible. Try to cover the whole base of the pan that you are using.

Warm up the white chocolate as the package recommends. The chocolate I used was Ghirardelli white chocolate, but almond bark, Wilton wafers, and dark chocolate are all great options. The white chocolate went well with the ‘hot chocolate’ theme. If you have any extra flavors in your baking cupboard, you can also add a bit of vanilla or almond or other extract to the melted chocolate to make it a little extra special!

Spread the chocolate all over the grahams. Do this quickly! It will begin to harden immediately. All of your goodies will adhere better if it is still melty. You can have the chocolate layer as thick or as thin as you would like. If it is very thick, you can squish more toppings into it!

Once that is all spread, take the toppings and evenly distribute them over the surface of the chocolate. It is best to crumble, smash or chop the ingredients ahead of time so that they are ready for sprinkling by little hands.

The hot chocolate bark is great with a nice cup of cocoa or coffee! The toppings used are white chocolate melts, mini marshmallow bits, Lucky Charms Chocolately Winter Cereal, mini chocolate chips, and blue and white sprinkles. Once everything is scattered on the treats, gently push down on the top using a spatula or your hands.

It is nice to save a little chocolate and drizzle it over the top to make it pretty, but to also help some more of the topping ‘stick’ when you cut and serve.

Let this cool completely, and then cut or break it into individual pieces. Such a treat…everyone will gobble it up!

Go ahead and make a couple different kinds! Here are topping ideas for red and green Christmas bark. Holiday M&M’s, pretzels, holiday Oreos and cashews. Yum!