Power-pack your snack time by making this quick and easy dark chocolate bark at home. Dark chocolate is little celebration of sweetness and full of flavor and antioxidants. The recipe below calls for nutritious, crunchy sunflower seeds, pepitas, black sesame seeds and hemp seeds — all lightly toasted and sprinkled with sea salt. But once you nail down the recipe, you can completely customize your dark chocolate bark with candied ginger, toasted nuts or even dried fruit — it’s all up to you and your imagination. Don’t forget to share your chocolate bark, enjoy and remember, as with any dessert, a little bit goes a long way!
Seedy Dark Chocolate Bark Makes 8 servings Ingredients Directions Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Heat a dry skillet over medium-heat and add the pumpkin seeds. Toast, gently shaking the skillet constantly, until the seeds start to pop and become slightly fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer the pepitas to a small bowl. Repeat the toasting process with the sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and hemp seeds. It’s important to toast all of the seeds separately because the varied sizes toast in different amounts of time. The delicate sesame and hemp seeds will require your full attention and not much time, just about 45 seconds, so cook gently. Add all the toasted seeds to the same bowl, then mix to incorporate. Add the salt, and set aside. Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between each interval, until the chocolate is just melted. Stirring distributes the heat in the bowl, which will help the chocolate melt. The chocolate will be slightly warmer than body temperature and runny when it’s ready to use. Pour the chocolate into the prepared pan, shaking and tapping the pan to spread it evenly. Sprinkle the seed mixture over the chocolate, then allow to stand at room temperature for up to two hours to set. Before serving, break the chocolate into 8 pieces and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Note: When buying dark chocolate for melting, look for chocolate with at least a 70% cacao content. Melting chocolate sounds easy enough, but getting a good crisp chocolate bark requires a bit of attention. For best results, chop your chocolate evenly and finely with a sharp knife. When it’s time to start melting the chocolate, be sure to do so very slowly — if you warm it too quickly or too much, the chocolate won’t become solid or crisp again. Melt the chocolate in short bursts, stirring well with a plastic spatula between bursts, distributing the heat evenly through the chocolate. Warm it just enough to melt the chocolate with a few little chunks of unmelted chocolate remaining. Stir the chocolate to melt these last bits. You want the chocolate to be runny before you pour it into the prepared pan, but not too runny. It should flow freely off of the spatula without clumping. Nutrition Information Per serving: Calories: 210; Total Fat: 16g; Saturated Fat: 7g; Monounsaturated Fat: 1g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Sodium: 74mg; Carbohydrate: 16g; Dietary Fiber: 4g; Sugar: 8g; Protein: 6g Nutrition Bonus: Potassium: 0mg; Iron: 18%; Vitamin A: 0%; Vitamin C: 0%; Calcium: 5% 
