Ghostly Candy Apple Concoction Bark #SundayFunday

Thanks to Stacy of Food Lust People Love, Sue of Palatable Pastime, Rebekah of Making Miracles, and Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for coordinating this low-stress group, Sunday Funday. This week, Sue is hosting and she has us sharing Halloween party ideas. Here's the line-up...

• Ghostly Candy Apple Concoction Bark by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Jack O Lantern Cheese Bites by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Halloween Ghost Hardboiled Eggs by Sneha's Recipes
• Spider Web Pretzels by Amy’s Cooking Adventures

Halloween might just be my favorite holiday. And I have six Halloween themed teas packaged in spooky metal tins, including this one - Candy Apple Concoction.

After smelling, brewing, and brainstorming, we came up with some festive ways to use the teas for my favorite holiday. Candy Apple Concoction is made up of black tea, dried apple pieces, cinnamon bark, and has wickedly witchy red sugar crystals in it. Because of those crystals, I wanted to make something white that would let those little crystals shine. I came up with a white chocolate bark.

Ghostly Candy Apple Concoction Bark

This is really less of a recipe and more of a flexible process. So you can replicate this with whatever chocolate and whatever tea you have. I love it! You don't even really need to measure. But I urge you to use a high quality chocolate; it does make a difference.

Ingredients makes approximately 1/2 pound

• 1/2 pound chocolate (I used some white chocolate)
• 2 to 3 teaspoons tea (I used this one from Adagio Tea), divided in half
• Also needed: double boiler or heatproof bowl that fits over a pan, baking sheet, parchment paper

Procedure

You can melt your chocolate in one of two ways: in the microwave, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. I use the stovetop method because I don't own a microwave. Besides, on the stovetop, I can actually see what's going on.

In case you've never tempered chocolate, here's how...

Place half of your chocolate in a double-boiler and, over low heat, warm until melted. Remove from heat and stir in the other half of the chocolate. Set aside until the chocolate begins to lose its shine; it's beginning to crystallize. Then, return the chocolate to the double-boiler and warm, over very low heat, until smooth and glossy.

Temper the chocolate and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Add half of your tea to the melted chocolate and stir to combine. Spread the warm chocolate mixture over the parchment paper somewhere between 1/4" and 1/3" thick. You can do it thinner, too, if you like. While it's warm, sprinkle the remaining tea over the top.

Place that tray into the freezer or refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes to harden. Once the chocolate is hard to the touch, it's ready.

While the bark is still cold, break it into organically-shaped pieces. Or, if you prefer, you can slice them into more even, uniform shapes and sizes. 

That's a wrap for my Halloween party offering for #SundayFunday. We will be back next week with treats to celebrate Diwali. Stay tuned!