Friday 12 April 2013

Salted Chocolate Caramel Bark

RIGHT?

As soon as I saw this recipe on Pinterest I knew I had to give it a try. I love Salted Caramel, I love chocolate and my dog barks! A match made in heaven ;) PLUS, I'm a huge fan of treats that don't take a lot of commitment. I can have a piece (or two) to get my sweet fix over the span of the day (instead of a cupcake that I have to eat in one sitting...although I LOVE cupcakes).

**Disclaimer: I love to bake (as I mentioned in my first blog post) but I'm not a "Baker" by any means so I don't know the size of my pans, the right names for them (what is the difference between pot & saucepan?) and my methods can be a little half-hazard, but I promise, the result is HEAVENLY. **

Here is how I made it. It's actually a mash-up of two recipes. The one on Pinterest (which uses caramel chips) and the caramel part of THIS recipes from The Happy Baker (LOVE her PS). I felt adventurous and wanted to make my own caramel.

Caramel Ingredients:

1/2 cup Salted Butter
1/2 cup Brown Sugar Packed
1/2 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tbsp. Honey

Bark Ingredients:
1 Package of Milk Chocolate Chips
1 Package of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Coarse Sea Salt

Method:

Line a baking sheet (a regular sized one?) with wax paper (or in my case aluminum foil, but I say wax paper here because it sounds MUCH more professional).

In a heavy bottom pot (clearly I don't know ANY terminology at all), combine all of the Caramel ingredients. Over medium-low heat, bring caramel to a boil STIRRING CONSTANTLY. Seriously, DO NOT STOP STIRRING. Otherwise, the caramel will burn. Boil for 5 minutes and KEEP STIRRING.

Near the end of the 5 mins, put both packages chocolate chips into another heavy bottom pot (or a double boiler if you happened to be blessed with such a thing, which I'm not) on LOW heat.

Once the 5 mins are up, remove caramel from heat and beat for 2 mins (and take a quick break to stir chocolate as well). This was a little big of a juggling act of stir caramel, stir chocolate & repeat.

Once chocolate is melted, pour onto your baking sheet (you have to be quite quick about this) and evenly spread over the "wax paper." Next, using a spatula, put globs of the caramel on top of the chocolate and use a spoon to swirl the caramel and chocolate together.

Next, take your sea salt and sprinkle on top of the concoction. Don't be shy either. It may look like a lot, but it's not.

Next, place in the freezer for about 20 mins or so. When it has hardened, take it out and smash/break/tear into pieces. Store them in the freezer.

**UPDATE** If you want, you can make this into a 2 layer bark. Simply pour the caramel on a pan lined with aluminum foil, then sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Then, put in the oven @ 350 degrees for 1-2 mins to melt the chocolate. Take out and use a spatula to spread the chocolate evenly. Freeze for 2-3 hours and break into pieces afterwards.

OM NOM NOM.

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