It's day two of candy corn week and today I'm sharing something sweet and salty, candy corn bark. Sure bark is nothing new, and I've even seen lots of candy corn bark...but it still made my top five list for the following reasons:
1. I love of white chocolate (I was the weird kid asking for the white choclate bunny)
2. I love pretzels and chocolate (ranking second to peanut butter and chocolate of course)
3. It's incredibly easy and fast (the final step involves breaking...hello)
4. It allows me to use up random candy and things that I have left over (bonus points)
5. I really needed a reason to use my candy corn bowl (cuteness like that only comes from Target)
In no particular order...although reason 5 may have been the most influential. :)
Speaking of my candy corn bowl...did you notice a problem at all? No? Look again...see the colors orange, yellow, and white....the WRONG color pattern for a real candy corn. Yep, it's an imposture but I still really like it despite the fact that it drives me nuts. Last year I actually made my girls shirts all wrong because this bowl was sitting out and I looked at it. Since then I've noticed lots of things out that are in the wrong order. Obsessive compulsive I know...
I also loved how much the kiddos could help out on this one. Even our littles got in on this one. This stuff is so easy you probably don't even need a how to, so if you'd like you can skip to the cute chipmunk story at the end... but just in case here's what your going to need:
Almond Bark
Pretzels
Peanuts
Candy Corn
Sprinkles
Yellow and Orange candy melts
Sprinkles
Candy corn m&m's (oops they missed the shot)
This is simply what I used but feel free to add in or take out things as you would like. Wouldn't the candy corn Oreos make a great addition?
Step 1: Layer your salty items on a wax covered baking sheet. Make sure the wax is wide enough the come up the sides a bit for easy removal. (great kiddo step)
Step 2: Melt the entire almond bark in the microwave. I used a microwave bowl and started with 90 seconds at about 50%-60% power..then continued with 30 second spurts at 50%-60% until melted, stirring in between. (I feel like I've said that A LOT lately)
Step 3: Slowly pour over the salty layer...use your spatula to gently spread it out a bit.
Step 4: Toss on some candies.... (another great kiddo step)
...and maybe a few sprinkles.
Step 5: Drizzle on some yellow and orange candy melts...I did so by placing a few candy melts in a ziplock bag and melting in the microwave the simply cutting the tip. Once for each color. Let sit until firm, I waited about an hour but you could place it in the fridge to speed it up.
Step 6: Once it's nice and hard you should be able to lift the entire thing up..once giant piece of chocolate! Then just break it all up. (more kid fun)
But wait! Before you go I have one more thing to share.. I'm sure you've seen squirrels and acorns but what about chipmunks and candy corns? You see we have this friendly little neighborhood chipmunk. we often find him sneaking into our garages and hanging out while the kids are outside...he even made a home in our landscaping. So while I was outside photographing the bark I dropped a few m&ms on accident. Next thing I know this little guy was at my feet chewing on them. I mean seriously at my feet...I didn't use my zoom at all. He kept getting closer and closer (and I got a little more squeamish) and next thing I know I look down and this little guy is CHEWING on my pants. I kid you not, I can't make this stuff up! I. about. died. Not sure what to do I tossed down a few candy corns...and sure enough he ran to them. Feeling bad about possibly sending him into a sugar coma I left some bread and veggies out from dinner (several feet from where I was working :) ) He came and got the bread and left the veggies and then continues to wait around most likely wanting some more candy corn. Who knew chipmunks liked candy corn and perfer them over veggies!?
Maybe I'll leave some of the crumbs out once were all done...slim chance ;)
Happy crunching, melting, pouring, and breaking!