Dark Chocolate Nut & Fruit Bark

This is the ultimate make-it-your-own recipe. Have a look at what’s in your cupboards, pull out your favourite nuts, seeds and dried fruit, then get cracking. The key is to get as much going on as you can and to have some fun with it. As well as my favourite nuts, I went for dried cranberries to give it a wonderful tang and sesame seeds for their toasty flavours - it’s all about giving your mouth a good time so I’d advise toasting some of the nuts and seeds beforehand to bring out the best in them - the scrunch of salt at the end makes all the difference, too.

ingredients

Serves 10

• 300g 70% cocoa chocolate, broken into small bits

• 20g dried cranberries

• 5g toasted sesame seeds

• 20g toasted flaked almonds

• 20g pistachios, chopped

• 20g toasted hazelnuts, chopped

• A pinch of salt
  

instructions

Toast some of the nuts and seeds in a low oven or in a dry frying pan over a medium heat, moving them around constantly. Chop any larger nuts.

Place a pan of simmering water over a low heat and sit a large glass bowl on top. Make sure that the water does not touch the base of the bowl. Add the chocolate bits and very slowly melt over the simmering heat, stirring often to make sure it’s melting evenly. As soon as you can see that it’s about three-quarters melted, take the bowl off the pan and give it a good stir until it’s all melted in.

Take it off the heat, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes. If you have a jam thermometer, you want it to register 30C. 

Pour over the greaseproof and spread it evenly with a spatula. Immediately sprinkle over the nuts, seeds and fruit and the salt, then put to one side to cool and harden (pop in the fridge if it’s a hot day or you’re in a rush).

Break into bits and eat!