This homemade chocolate bark is beautiful, and is such a decadent treat during the holiday season, but it’s also a great item to make as a gift for the holidays and customize it to the taste of your recipient. Dark chocolate–what I use here–is high in antioxidants and I find that even a small piece of good quality, dark chocolate usually satisfies my sweet tooth right away.

To “decorate” my chocolate, I use hazelnuts, walnuts, and the dried rose petals (available here and in most Japanese grocery stores or tea stores), although you can use whatever toppings you like once you get the method down!  Here are a few of my other favorite pairings:

1. Dried apricot, coconut chips, and cranberries
2. Milk chocolate with hazelnuts and orange zest
3. Dark chocolate with roasted almonds, raspberry powder, and sea salt

Homemade Chocolate Bark

 

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Ingredients

• 10 oz good quality dark chocolate (for more depth of flavor, you can mix bittersweet and semisweet chocolate here)
• 1 handful pistachios, roughly chopped
• 1 handful walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1 handful dried rose petal leaves
• 1 pinch of flaked sea salt

Instructions

1. Finely chop chocolate bars and place in double broiler with heat on medium, and add coconut oil. Gently stir until chocolate is liquified. Remove from heat. Stir until smooth and glossy.
2. Pour the melted chocolate onto a parchment paper sheet on top of a cookie sheet. Sprinkle the top evenly with toppings, and refrigerate for an hour until solid. Cut into pieces and serve.

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Midterms are in full force, which means more baking than usual because it’s the perfect excuse for a study break! This week I made one of my favorite recipes, carmelitas. If you haven’t heard of them before, they’re the most delicious cookie bars with a chewy, chocolate and caramel center and an oatmeal brown sugar crust. They’re quick and easy to make but are always a crowd pleaser–and make great study fuel. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

If you read the blog regularly, you know that I absolutely love the Fourth of July! I’ve been on a big baking kick recently (as my friends and co-workers are probably starting to realize), and this week I wanted to share a few of my favorite healthy dessert recipes for the 4th.  While my favorite is always a classic, all-American berry pie,  my mom makes these every summer and they’re the perfect light summer treat. Best of all, you don’t need to cook anything and they’re super easy to assemble.

1. To start, peel bananas and cut into into bite size pieces (just under one inch).
2. Roll in (light) sour cream or Greek yogurt, spreading thinly.
3. Roll in shredded, sweetened coconut. You can also add other toppings for added texture, like sliced almonds or mini chocolate chips.

Want to try some other ideas? Check out last year’s post, my favorite tasting menu, or try one of these delicious options:

Blueberry Crisp

Paleo Cookie Dough Truffles

Lemon Yogurt Cake

Mango Lassi Frozen Yogurt (Courtesy of Cookie and Kate)

Individual Avocado Chocolate Mousse Cups

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One of the biggest challenges to being a food blogger is that we’re trying to constantly sell our dishes and convince readers that the recipes we’re sharing really are as amazing as we say they are on paper! This recipe–developed by Monique over at Ambitious Kitchen— is one of those. In fact,  I would go so far to say that after this week it might just be my favorite dessert of all time.

These truffles are gooey, chocolatey, melt-in-your mouth good, yet the best part is that they require zero baking AND contain healthy, all-natural ingredients. The result? An amazing dessert that totally satisfies your sweet tooth (take it from a fellow chocolate lover) but doesn’t make your blood sugar spike or give you crazy sugar cravings like most desserts do. Oh, and they only require about 10 minutes of prep work.

First, let’s talk about the chocolate covered strawberries. In theory, they’re super simple, but if you’re like me they always get so messy so quickly! The tricky part here is getting the right consistency on your chocolate, and adding enough oil to it to give it a glossy candy sheen. Here, I used 1 teaspoon of coconut oil for every 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. Dip them in the chocolate, stem first, and set on parchment paper. Then, set them aside until the chocolate sets, about 30 minutes.

Now for the truffles! Oh, the truffles. At the risk of sounding too pretentious they’re actually paleo “cookie dough truffles,” but before you freak out about them being paleo, hear me out–they taste nothing like health food. The full recipe from Ambitious Kitchen is here, but I recommend adding 2 tablespoons of almond butter to each batch to give them a nuttier, chewier texture and flavor. They also have coconut flour, flaxseed meal, and almond flour, which you can’t actually taste but pack in lots of nutrients for an added health boost. It almost balances out all the chocolate, right? 😉 I hope you enjoy these as much as we did! They truly are heavenly!