Even as a kid, I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day. I know, it’s a Hallmark holiday and sucks when you’re single, but I’ve always associated it with candy. If you’re a sugar fiend like me, your Halloween candy has long since run out, and it’s time to restock!
To me, the only thing better than candy is homemade candy. I’m a big fan of chocolate bark. In fact, you may remember this recipe that I posted a few weeks ago, and I wanted to do something similar for Valentine’s Day. In the past, I’ve made festive pink and red chocolate bark with candy melts. While they were cute, they tasted kind of like sugary wax.
This year, I wanted to make a Valentine’s Day bark that used real chocolate and real fruit. I thought about using strawberries, but I learned the hard way that moisture and chocolate do NOT mix, unless you want to eat a gluey pile of mush. When I saw a bag of freeze dried strawberries on my last trip to Trader Joe’s, I knew that they would be the perfect solution. I stuck them in the food processor until they became powdery and mixed them into some white chocolate.
I layered the strawberry mixture in between a layer of dark chocolate and white chocolate, since I love all desserts that are Neapolitan in nature. And of course, this bark was just dying to be sprinkled.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 12 ounces white chocolate, chopped
- 2/3 cup freeze dried strawberries, powdered
- 8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper
- In a double boiler, melt the bittersweet chocolate until smooth. Slowly pour the bittersweet chocolate onto the parchment paper, smooth it out in an even layer with an offset spatula, and put it in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- While the bittersweet chocolate is cooling, melt the white chocolate for the strawberry layer in a double boiler. When the chocolate has melted, stir in the strawberry powder. Let the mixture cool slightly, remove the cooled dark chocolate layer, and immediately pour the strawberry mixture over it. Working quickly, spread the strawberry layer out evenly.
- Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler. Let the mixture cool slightly, remove the baking sheet with frozen chocolate from the freezer, and immediately pour the white chocolate over it. Working quickly, spread the white chocolate out in an even layer. Top with sprinkles (I used a combination of pearlized white jimmies and edible glitter stars).
- Freeze for an additional 20 minutes and break into chunks.
What a pretty treat, Natasha! I simply LOVE neapolitan anything. I used to eat neapolitan ice cream all the time as a kiddie, but haven’t had it in years. You know what’s funny? I ground up some freeze dried strawberries last weekend and mixed it with white chocolate for a new recipe coming up. It’s genius, I tell ya! We are on the same wavelength. 😉
PS: love the sprinkles on top!
Thanks, Sally! Great minds think alike. I can’t wait to see your freeze dried strawberry creation!
Wow! Freeze-dried strawberries are such an ingenious solution to natural pink coloring (not to mention awesome flavor!) You and Sally are so smart 🙂
Also: I totally love Valentine’s Day too! I totally agree with you about associating it with candy (um, romance definitely takes a backseat for me)! Last last year, I bought one of those giant heart-shaped boxes of chocolate the day after Valentine’s Day when it was half-price or something ridiculous and it was A-Mazing. I missed last year, but I plan to make it a tradition 🙂 Omg and the year before, my friends and I bought a huge, $60 chocolate cake from a fancy bakery, split it 10 ways, and went. to. town. Obviously we know what’s up for V-day.
Anyway, lovely photos as usual! That is some seriously photogenic bark! 🙂 You will have to tell me what kind of candy you got/ate for V-day!
I love the idea of getting/making a huge cake and going to town! Sounds like my kind of V-Day!
OMG you’re a genius! This is so pretty! Love the orange version, too.
Thanks, Aruna!
I see this post has been around for a while! 😄 There’s a video on Facebook right now of someone who made Neapolitan candy with milk chocolate, white chocolate and pink “chocolate” next to each other. I googled to check out any other variations, found yours and I LOVE the freezer dried strawberry add in! Thanks for the idea!
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