Will It Ever Stop Snowing Dark Chocolate Bark

Melt 8 ounces of the best bittersweet chocolate you can find, plus a pinch or two of cayenne, in a microwave safe bowl, at 30 second intervals, stirring after each zap.  
Careful not to burn the chocolate.  
Pour the chocolate onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Sprinkle with whatever is in the cupboard--I found dried papaya, dried cranberries, roasted cashews, some sort of granola and chia seeds.  Just chop it all up, mix and drop onto the warm chocolate.  I used about 1 Cup of whatever.

Sprinkle with course sea salt as well.  Next time I'll also try pepper.

Let stand at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours, then freeze for ten minutes.  If it's cold enough outdoors, and we all know it is, just leave it out on the potting bench for awhile.
Bring it back into the kitchen and break into pieces.
Refrigerate.


Adapted from Real Simple Magazine, 1-2014


The beauty of this recipe is that once you've eaten enough of the bark, there is great motivation to get outdoors to chop icy sidewalks, re-fill the bird feeders, marvel at the Snow Drops beginning to emerge in the faux-summer beneath the garden lights, visit a friend or simply walk beneath a grey and heavy sky, so dense, so lovely, so fleeting.
While the temperature indicates otherwise, and many layers of snow have stacked up, the call of the grey, grey Morning Dove searching for a mate reminds us that nature has Spring in mind.
It will stop snowing, eventually.