Homemade Chocolates & Chocolate Tea Bark

Hi there!

I got the latest BHG magazine in the other day and found the recipe they had for Chocolate Tea Bark and I really wanted to try it for my family to have at my birthday. =)

I adjusted the recipe a little and tried two different approaches, but they are both good! (Sorry for the weird lighting, I need to work on that)

Here are the finished Chocolates-

Here's the finished bark. Yum!-

It was really simple and a really quick recipe to make.

 Here's what I used:

1 bag Ghiradelli Bitter-Sweet Choc, 1 bag Semi-Sweet Choc, Chopped Almonds, Kosher Salt, Mandarin Orange Green Tea

Here's what I did:
1. Melt the chocolate chips using directions on bag. I poured both bags together in this bowl and it worked find still.
I used two different methods because I wasn't sure which would work best, but they both worked great so it depends what you're going for. With the recipe above I was able to make both 24 chocolates and half a pan of bark.
For Chocolates:
2. Spray mini muffin pan with cooking spray.
3. Sprinkle a little bit of chopped almonds, salt, and loose tea into each mini muffin section.
4. Pour melted chocolate into each section on top of the toppings, only fill about 1/3 full for small chocolates.
5. Chill for 2 hours (I left it on the counter for a while then popped it in the freezer for about 20min)
6. Flip pan over and pop out your chocolates.
For Bark:
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Pour chocolate into baking sheet.
3. Sprinkle with loose tea and salt, and almonds if wanted. (I didn't use almonds for my bark because I was experimenting with which I would like best).
4. Chill for 2 hours (again I left it on the counter then put it in the freezer to finish setting)
5. Break into pieces and enjoy.

Once they were set I put them in treat bags to hand out with my picnic lunches for my birthday =)

The ending chocolate was a little too intense for my taste (I'm definitely not a chocolate person) but I still wanted to try this recipe and the toppings were really good! I think next time I might try milk and semisweet with some mint tea or just straight mint leaves from my Aunt's garden. Now that I know it's this easy to make your own little chocolates I will be making WAYYY more for every occasion. I don't even like chocolate that much but I may have found a new hobby experimenting with toppings and chocolate types. Warning: friends and family, if you're reading this, get your taste buds ready!

Seriously though, try this recipe! Dare I say gourmet?

xo JC