Patriotic Candy Bark

Let me just be real for a second when I say I do NOT know how to work with meltable chocolate of any kind. Almond bark, candy wafers, chocolate chips (unless they are in cookies), you name it -- I don't know how to use it. So it came as no surprise that I didn't know how to work with the white almond bark I picked up to use in my Patriotic Candy Bark.

Luckily, with the help of some coconut oil, I got it figured out and my 12 year-old cousin and I successfully made a batch of the yummy deliciousness that is candy bark.

Inspired by this recipe, I set out to recreate my own.

We were out of Joe Joe's (Trader Joe's version of Oreo's) and I have to admit I wasn't sure how I liked the idea of them in the bark, so we left those out and added peanuts. I also left out sprinkles because I'm not a fan (and to be honest we don't own any!). The result was AH-mazing.

The Recipe: Patriotic Candy Bark

What you need:
1 pkg of white almond bark (or white chocolate wafers)
1.5 cups Red, White and Blue M&M's
3 cups pretzel sticks
1/2 c peanuts (halved)

Crunch pretzel sticks by hand and sprinkle on a cookie sheet along with the peanuts and 1 cup of M&M's.

Heat chocolate according to directions.

*If for some reason you happen to heat the chocolate bark longer than necessary, you'll get chocolate that is unpourable and think "Hmm, what did I do wrong?" Then you'll try to figure out how to thin it because it'd end up clumpy otherwise. You'll have an aha! moment when you realize coconut oil will do the trick and run to find it. Add 1 tbsp. and stir, stir, stir. Success!

I did this with the first 1/2 of the bark, but we had a better outcome with the 2nd half by heating it for less time.

Pour chocolate evenly on top of peanuts, pretzels and M&M's. Sprinkle remaining M&M's on top.

Place in the freezer until hardened. Break into pieces and store in a freezer safe container in the freezer until ready to eat. (Or eat it right away!)

The perfect snack or dessert for a Patriotic Party!


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