Christmas Chocolate Bark
A Sweet Surprise
This past weekend, I received a surprise package! If you watched my Instagram stories, you would have seen the unboxing of an amazing delivery of goodies from Lily’s Sweets. Lily’s makes incredible chocolates that are sweetened with stevia instead of regular sugar. I love eating their chocolate, not only because of the reduced calories, but also because it tastes good while also being healthier for you.For the kick off of my Happy, Healthy, Holidays this December, I’m sharing a recipe using some of the chocolate chips that Lily’s Sweets sent me. Yay for chocolate!
Holiday Desserts
Around the holidays, we often see a lot of decadent, indulgent sweets. From pies, to cake, to cookies, it can be difficult to stay on track with your healthy eating lifestyle, when there are so many distractions and enticements around you. Often times, people go way off the bandwagon, and eat everything in sight because they have deprived themselves of eating sweets until the holidays. Instead of gorging yourself on unhealthy desserts, I thought it would be great to make some of my favorite desserts healthier so that we could still eat something sweet without breaking the proverbial bank. 
Christmas Chocolate Bark
Chocolate Bark is a confection that we usually see around special occasions, like the holidays. Putting a Christmas spin on the traditional Chocolate Bark, as well as making it healthier, makes this sweet treat something that you can feel good about eating! This Chocolate Bark is a great festive treat to share as a homemade holiday food gift too! The Christmas Chocolate Bark recipe only uses five ingredients and comes together in a few short minutes. Plus you can easily increase the amount of each ingredient to make a bigger batch, so you’ll definitely have enough to share (as well as keep!)What I love about this Christmas Chocolate Bark are the healthy swaps to help you still feel like you are eating a delicious dessert, but not sacrificing flavor in any way. And even more so, that it’s a healthier sweet treat you can feel good about eating, without having to sacrifice your healthy eating goals. 
Festive and Fun
To put a festive spin on this Chocolate Bark, I used dried, red cranberries and brilliant green, chopped pistachios. I also used some shavings of coconut butter that I had sitting in my fridge. If you don’t have coconut butter, you could definitely use some coconut shavings or flakes.The only ingredient in this recipe that has sugar in it, is the dried cranberries. You could definitely try to find some dried cranberries that do not contain any sugar, or even swap it out for a no sugar red colored topping like, freeze dried strawberries or raspberries. The key to this Chocolate Bark is the contrast of textures and flavors. You have the crisp, crunchy pistachios, the chewy, sweet cranberries, the delicate creaminess of the coconut butter and the underlying richness of the chocolate. The ruby red cranberries and the beautiful green pistachio pieces really pop against the dark chocolate base. Yum!
A Dessert for Sharing
This Christmas Chocolate Bark is a great dessert if people come over to your house this time of year. You can easily make the Bark ahead of time, keep it in the fridge or freezer, and pull it out a couple of minutes before serving your guests. And no one will even realize it’s healthy! You could serve it with some hot coffee, or tea, to cap off an evening with friends and family. If you’re giving the Chocolate Bark away as a homemade holiday food gift, make sure to break it into pieces, place in a cellophane bag and seal tightly with a string or ribbon. Let your gift recipient know to also store it in the fridge or freezer till they’re ready to eat.I hope you give this Christmas Chocolate Bark a try! It is so easy to make and such a delicious and festive treat for the holidays. Let me know if you try it by and tagging me at @nourish_with_renata as well as using the hashtag #nourishwithrenata. A huge thank you to Lily's Sweets for sending me this awesome box of chocolate goodies! You can pick up some of their chocolate chips at this affiliate link. If you purchase from this link, I may receive a small compensation.This is not a sponsored post or ad for the company. I just really love their products!
Christmas Chocolate Bark
A Happy, Healthy, Holiday spin on a classic! Chocolate Bark gets an update with stevia-sweetened chocolate and festive fruit and nuts.
Ingredients:
- ½ cup Lily’s Sweets stevia-sweetened chocolate chips
- ½ teaspoon of coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon dried cranberries (roughly chopped)
- 1 tablespoon pistachios (roughly chopped)
- 1 tablespoon coconut butter (carved with a spoon used to create shavings)
Instructions:
- Add chocolate chips and coconut oil to a medium sized bowl. Melt in the microwave with in 15 to 30 second increments, stirring very well between heating periods.
- Spread chocolate on a parchment lined cookie sheet to a thickness of 1/4-1/3”. Aim for a rectangular shape.
- Sprinkle the chopped pistachios, dried cranberries and coconut butter shavings on top of the chocolate sheet in a random pattern.
- Gently push on the toppings to ensure they are pressed into the chocolate layer.
- Place the cookie sheet in the fridge or freezer till set, approximately 15 to 30 minutes.
- Break into pieces and package into cellophane bags for gifts, or store in the fridge or freezer as sweet treats for you!
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