Peeling Away the Layers of Bark Basics in Visual Studio .NET

Encoder QR-Code in Visual Studio .NET Peeling Away the Layers of Bark Basics

I ve always assumed that the name chocolate bark was derived from the product s appearance because it is so similar to the bark of a tree If you picture tree bark in your mind and look at a cut piece or even a broken piece of

chocolate bark, you don t need much imagination to see the similarities So I m going to let that description suffice, and now you may always think about chocolate every time you look at a tree

In my stores, I make most of the candy in small batches larger than you d make at home, but still small batches I make the bark in sheets of 3 to 4 pounds, so those batches aren t much larger than the ones here But, although my batches are fairly small, I set up to make a lot of batches back to back, so my overall production is good

An alternate theory of how bark got its name is attributed to a young candy maker named Richard Swilligen, who was an apprentice in a little chocolate factory in New England in 1923 The story goes that young Richard worked for a gentleman by the name of Alan Hampton, who was a little tight with the bucks Hampton supposedly knew where every penny he had ever made went; he didn t suffer fools lightly, and he didn t have any patience for waste One morning, the young apprentice was tempering some chocolate for use that day He was carrying a small bucket of almonds from the nutroasting area to the area where the nuts were bagged for sale and, as luck would have it, he slipped on a wet spot on the floor and spilled the nuts into the tempered chocolate He hurriedly tried to separate the nuts from the chocolate, but he quickly realized that it was a losing proposition So he did the next-best thing: He mixed the nuts with the chocolate, spread it out, let it cool, and cut the whole thing into candy-bar size pieces Just as he was cutting his creation, Hampton walked past and saw what he was doing What the heck is that he boomed (At least, this is how I imagine the story would have gone) This is my new creation I call it chocolate almond chocolate almond, uh he stammered What is chocolate almond uh the old man wanted to know As luck would have it, a dog was scratching at the back door at that exact moment, crying and barking for a bone It s chocolate almond bark, Richard said proudly Apparently, Hampton didn t fire the apprentice for his mistake, and the rest is history At least, that s one legend I don t know whether the tale is true or not, but it sure does make an entertaining story

When making batches of candy like the ones in this chapter, making small repeatable, controllable batches is a good idea because you don t want to try to do more than you can handle at once The chocolate especially white chocolate can set before you re ready I have a pattern (see Figure 16-1 for details on the full process) that I use when I make bark, and it works well for me Just follow these steps: 1 Line a cookie sheet with wax paper for use later and temper your chocolate using one of the methods I outline in 14 I usually include 30 to 40 minutes for tempering chocolate as part of the preparation for the recipes in this chapter that include milk or dark chocolate This time frame is only a reference; you may temper your chocolate much faster than that time 2 With your chocolate in temper, add the nuts and stir them in, mixing well and spreading the nuts throughout the bowl Don t forget that the added nuts start cooling the chocolate, so stir quickly to blend and be ready to pour the bark 3 Pour your chocolate in a mound on the center of the wax paper A 2pound batch of bark makes a sheet approximately 18 inches x 10 inches, depending on how thick you spread the chocolate 4 Make the mound about 14 to 18 inches long, using a hard rubber spatula to spread the chocolate from the center into a sheet about 1 4 to 1 3 inch thick Be sure to include the nuts with the chocolate as you spread the bark If nuts stand on end or clump together, quickly move them with the tip of the spatula because the clumps are cooler than the chocolate, and they set faster 5 Wait about 10 to 15 minutes for the bark to set and become firm enough to cut or break To determine the stage that the bark is in, touch the bark with a fingertip If the surface feels sticky or gooey, don t cut or break it yet because your pieces will be messy By the same token, don t wait until the bark is completely set, because it ll break when you attempt to cut it 6 Cut or break the bark with your hands into smaller pieces You don t want to store the sheets uncut or unbroken because the bark will harden, making cutting it very difficult To break the bark with your hands, simply grasp the sides of the sheet of thin bark and snap it into pieces But cutting your bark makes packaging easier and makes it look neat If you want to cut your bark into neat squares, use a large knife to cut it as soon as the bark becomes firm, not hard I like using a doublehandled large knife because the knife is wider than the bark, which facilitates cutting You can cut the pieces to any size you want I like cutting the bark into pieces that are approximately 3 x 4 inches, but you can cut yours larger or smaller I don t recommend cutting them too small, though, because you ll make clusters to satisfy small, bite-size needs When you cut the bark, think in terms of small candy bars with nuts