Barks are really easy candies to make and you can use either white or dark chocolate. Just melt the chocolate, pour it onto a wax paper lined baking sheet (one with sides) and then top with whatever flavorings you want. Things like, dried fruits, like dried apricots, coconut and candied orange zest, nuts, crumbled candies, crumbled pretzels and crumbled malted milk balls are just a few examples of things I’ve used. Use whatever your family likes.
You can melt the chocolate using a double boiler over a simmer and stir constantly (Be careful not to get water into the chocolate or the chocolate will seize and you’ll have to start over). The kid friendly way to work with chocolate is to employ the nuker. Microwave the chocolate on 50% power for 30 second intervals, stirring in between the intervals until the chocolate is melted.
The other caution I’ll give is to good quality chocolate bars versus chocolate chips when making candies, especially when it comes to white chocolate. White Chocolate chips rarely have any cocoa butter (thank you FDA and your lax food labeling policies) in them which is what you want for this.
Peppermint Bark
Probably one of the easiest home-made candies you can make.
1/2 cup of crushed candy canes or any hard peppermint candy
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
16 oz white chocolate (not chips) chopped
Line a sided baking sheet with wax paper and lay out 1/2 of the crushed candy. Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Make sure to stir constantly. Remove from heat and stir in peppermint extract.
Pour over candy on baking sheet. Then top with the remaining candy and spread so its a 1/4″ to 1/2″ layer. Let cool in the fridge for about an hour then break apart and store in an airtight container.