This is a post for my young friend (the lovely Ms.M) who shares my love of this horrifically addictive treat. I promise I’ll get to some healthy posts later – next week. Where did I get such a ridiculous name as ‘Chocolate Crack? If The Milk Bar in NYC can sell ‘Crack Pie’ (for $44!) that people just can’t stay away from, then we can all have our favorite crack-like foodie fixations. But honestly it comes from reading the blog from King Arthur Flour, one of my favorite companies in general – great products, great recipes and funny posts on the Flourish blog, and they’re a ‘B Corporation'(good to the planet and their employees). They posted an ‘Everything Bark’ and it’s so similar to another packaged treat from a certain store I have an affinity for.

Oh so good - we may have to conceal it's identity !
Oh so good – we may have to conceal it’s identity !

I don’t want to upset them, but I’ll show you the bag and, well, if you’ve had it, then you’ll understand. If you don’t have one of these stores (T.J’s) nearby then … I’m sorry. (we just got one this year – yes, I’m a junkie)

The Flourish Blog post had a comment section where one of the contributors described the aforementioned ‘yellow bagged product’ as “that crack in a bag of which you speak”. I nearly laughed myself out of my chair. And I’ll bet you thought yarn store employees were boring ! These ladies were funny as they exchanged descriptions of how much they loved this stuff.

It's a party !
It’s a party !

 I can’t thank them enough for the recipe. I mean, it’s really pretty simple – but this means I didn’t have to waste time and ingredients working it all out. Speaking of ingredients, I laid them all out and went, OMG – it’s a party in the making!

With that said, I did make some changes. The post recipe only used almonds, but the bag lists peanuts too. So I added them to mine. The post mentioned the option of smoked almonds, not on the bag, but Ooooo that could be gooood ! And it was! That’s why I named it Campfire, because the smoky surprise works so well with the chocolate. You just wouldn’t believe it. So, go raid the ‘kids section’ of your pantry and come along – we’re gonna make us some chocolate crack !

(Cowboy) Campfire Bark:

1 – 1/2 Cups Chocolate chips (I used 1 cups 60%Bittersweet Ghiradelli, and 1/2 cup Semi-Sweet)

1/4 Cup Toffee Bits (or just a Heath bar crunched up)

1/2 Cups Nuts (apprx 1/8 cup peanuts, 1/8 cup almonds, 1/8 cup smoked almonds), chopped

4 Creme-Filled Chocolate Sandwich cookies, broken up

2/3 Cup Salted Pretzels, broken up

Mix the nuts as you like
Step 1: Mix the nuts as you like

Step 1:

Mix the nuts as you like – more peanuts, less peanuts and more smoked almonds – whatever 

Step 2
Step 2

Step 2:

Melt that chocolate. You can do this in the microwave (in a GLASS bowl) on 30 sec intervals, or on the stove with a double-boiler. I happen to have a super low burner for delicate things – like chocolate. Speaking of chocolate, I mixed these two because semi-sweets have a bit too much sugar in them, but the bittersweet is too, well, bitter. I don’t have time to order ‘Peters Burgundy Chunks‘ chocolate from KAF – which is fabulous. Today, I’m going with what’s available local.

Step 3
Step 3

Step 3:

Gather up all the crushed and crunchy bits.

Step 4
Step 4

Step 4:

Add 1/2 of the toffee bits and 1/2 nuts to the melted chocolate. Next time I might add in some of the pretzel pieces too.

Step 5
Step 5

Step 5:

You can spread it out on most any parchment cookie sheet you have – it won’t go far. About 8″square will do – or use a cake pan. Now sprinkle on the rest of the goodies.

Step 6
Step 6

Step 6:

Top it off with an optional sprinkle of sea salt flakes – so good. OK, now set it aside, or if you live in Florida, park it in the chill chest for a bit.

Break up that party
Break up that party

Once it’s solid, you can take it out, break it up and enjoy! The smoky almonds are awesome in this. Something that’s unexpected – delightfully so.

Which one's mine?
Which one’s mine? (the fresh looking ones)

That’s it – go and refill that bag so you can hide it in the back of the fridge or pantry for later consumption.

(Cowboy) Campfire Bark
Yields 14
It's chocolate crack - what else can I say!
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Ingredients
  1. 1 - 1/2 Cups Chocolate chips (I used 1 cups 60%Bittersweet Ghiradelli, and 1/2 cup Semi-Sweet)
  2. 1/4 Cup Toffee Bits (or just a Heath bar crunched up)
  3. 1/2 Cups Nuts (apprx 1/8 cup peanuts, 1/8 cup almonds, 1/8 cup smoked almonds), chopped
  4. 4 Creme-Filled Chocolate Sandwich cookies, broken up
  5. 2/3 Cup Salted Pretzels, broken up
Instructions
  1. Crunch up the ingredients and set aside.
  2. Melt the chocolate.
  3. Add 1/2 the nuts and toffee bits to the chocolate.
  4. Spread onto a parchment sheet or pan.
  5. Top with remaining bits and allow to cool.
  6. Break up and consume!
Notes
  1. This makes about 14oz. and that's more than the 9 oz that came in the bag - so if you're refilling a 'bag' you'll have some leftover for sampling. (note, I did not say 'sharing')
Adapted from King Arthur Flour blog
Adapted from King Arthur Flour blog
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