Holiday Gift Idea: Coffee Chocolate Bark with Macadamia Nuts

This incredibly simple holiday gift idea uses only three ingredients and tastes amazing.  Made with bitter sweet chocolate chips, 100% Kona coffee (Hawaiian grown coffee) and studded with macadamia nuts this gift is sure to please.

I was inspired to make this after seeing a post from Grab a Plate .  I was shocked at how simple it was so I had to give it a try, with my own modifications of course.  To make it my own I added some instant coffee to flavor the chocolate.  I love coffee and chocolate together, almost as much as I love chocolate and peanut butter.  I actually have this favorite candy that I get sometimes, they are coffee flavored dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts.  It seems that all candy here in Hawaii contains macadamia nuts and it's no secret why, they are grown here, and they have a delicious buttery flavor. So with my ideas I made chocolate bark.

Ingredients:

1 bag of bitter sweet chocolate chips (60% cacao)
1-2 tsps Instant coffee
1/2 cup roasted Macadamia nuts, chopped

In a microwave safe bowl I melted the chocolate chips.  Then I added the instant coffee (I crushed the crystals in a mortar and pestle to make them finer) and half of the nuts.  I stirred this well, and then poured the mixture into a parchment lined 9 by 13 inch baking dish.  I allowed this to cool over night in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardened, then I lifted the chocolate and parchment paper out of the pan, and broke the chocolate into shards.  The chocolate once hardened does not stick to the parchment paper, you can also use aluminum foil.  I then put the bark into gift bags (I got about 4 bags with a little left over for myself).

This is so easy. I don't know if I can stress how simple this is to make.  There are so many variations you can make as well, it's all up to your own tastes and creativity.  I loved the coffee flavor in the chocolate.  The bitter sweet chocolate already had a bitterness to it of a good dark chocolate, and the unsweetened coffee added a little more bitterness.  It was perfect.  If you like your chocolate sweeter you can always choose a sweeter chocolate like semi sweet or milk chocolate.  As always be creative and enjoy.