I’ve made Chocolate Barks each at Christmas for several years, always to give away to the children of neighbours and friends. Basically, barks are melted chocolate poured into a suitable lined dish then decorated. Simple, easy, tasty and an ideal last minute present.

Last year I made this version only a couple of days before the 25th:

Credit: The original inspiration came from the BBC Good Food website. I can take no credit for the creation of the snowmen or reindeers shown below. Here’s the web page; it’s worth a visit: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/reindeer-snowman-bark

Ingredients and other items required for my latest version

About 200g/7oz white chocolate, broken into pieces
About 150g/5.5oz dark chocolate, broken into pieces
Red/pink and green smarties
Christmas sprinkles
Green and red/pink food dyes (not water based)
Cocktail sticks, spoons, bowls, spatulas etc.
Paper towels
A casserole dish or similar (9” x 6” /240mm x 150mm)

Here’s how:

1. Set out all you need to use. Be prepared to work quickly.

2. Melt the chocolates in separate bain maries. (You can melt chocolate in a microwave, but bain maries offer more flexibility as you can pop the bowl back on the pan to keep any unused chocolate melted for later use.)

3. Pour the dark chocolate into the dish and tip left and right to level the chocolate. Leave for a few minutes then pour over about two thirds of the white chocolate. Swirl around with a cocktail stick or spoon.

4. Pour half the remaining white chocolate into a small bowl then colour with one of the food dyes. Flick this over the main chocolate mixture. Colour the remaining white chocolate with the other food dye and repeat the flicking.

5. Gently mix and marble the colours using another cocktail stick or spoon. Be careful not to go too far otherwise the colours blend together too much.

6. Drop on the smarties and sprinkles. (Originally I’d planned to colour some more white chocolate a darker green then pipe on some trees, but changed my mind as the surface seemed full enough already. But you could give that a try too.)

7. You might have left over chocolate. Call it the cook’s perks.

8. While you enjoy your perk, put the bark in the fridge or a cool place to harden then cut into pieces. I think a metal dough scraper is the best implement for this.

Other Barks from this year and previous years:

I made this in a 20cm/8″ square tin and used about 250g/9oz of dark chocolate and about 200g/7oz of milk chocolate. It came out quite thick, but nobody complained. The eyes are halves of mini marshmallows + black food colouring dotted on with a cocktail stick.

I made this a couple of years ago. The snowmen’s noses were made from a carrot, which seemed quite appropriate. The arms were cut pieces from mini-pretzels.

More reindeers, this time from a previous year. Mini-pretzels again proving useful.

I hope this has given you some inspiration. Remember, barks – like dogs – are not just for Christmas, you can make them throughout the year. Easter offers a good opportunity.