I’m not the biggest fan of all barks, especially if there’s brittle involved. They’re a little too sticky for me, a little too candy-like (I’m not a big candy person, either, although I will never say no to Chupa Chups…). But throw some chocolate in and I’m there (I love chocolate-peppermint bark)! And that’s why I adore this recipe! It takes the idea of brittle and adds some of my favorite things: chocolate, granola, salty and sweet, nuts and berries. It’s crispy, crunchy, and I love the contrast between the nut-based granola and sweet, but not too sweet, chocolate. It also makes a perfect, and uncommon, homemade holiday food gift!
The trick to getting the trail mix-granola mix to stick together is to use an egg white acting as a binder. It also doesn’t take very long to bake, so with cooling time and melting chocolate time, this wonderful recipe can be done in under an hour! Plus, it’s gluten-free, dairy-free (if you use dairy-free chocolate) and actually full of some good stuff with the nuts. And there’s not a ton of sugar, either.
As far as holiday sweets go, this is one of the better ones!
There are two ways to make the granola—you can either break the nuts up in a food processor or in a bag with a meat mallet, or you can leave the nuts whole. I don’t have a preference and there isn’t much of a difference except that you may have to bite through a big nut, which not everyone likes.
Also, you may notice there is a lot of chocolate on top of this granola bark. I had made a batch of chocolate, had a lot of it, and just made the decision to dump it all on top. Because I love chocolate. You are under absolutely no obligation to use as much as I did.
Unless you love chocolate like do.
This recipe uses a double boiler again, like the last recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookie Dough Truffles, and I have a tutorial for making a double boiler on the blog.
- 2 cups mixed nut mix with pumpkin seeds. Roasted and salted is fine, but there shouldn’t be any other extras
- 1 cup uncooked gluten-free oats
- 2 tsp. pumpkin spice
- 1 egg white
- 1 Tbsp. melted coconut oil
- 2 Tbsp. honey
- 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- ½ to a pound of high-quality semi-sweet chocolate
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- In a bowl, combine the trail mix, oats, pumpkin spice, egg white, melted coconut oil, honey, maple syrup, and vanilla until thoroughly mixed.
- Line a small sheet pan with foil, baking paper, or Silpat and spill the trail mix mixture out. Shape it into a tightly-fitting rectangle shape (it doesn’t have to be perfect).
- Place in the oven for fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the granola is hard and baked together. Check the granola often because it can burn quickly.
- Take the granola out of the oven and let cool for fifteen minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a double boiler.
- Gently turn the brick of granola over, then pour the chocolate over the entire thing.
- Place in the fridge to allow the chocolate to fully harden, then break into pieces!
This pumpkin spice granola bark makes a wonderful gift to others—or, of course, a wonderful gift to yourself!
Keep checking back—there are more homemade holiday food gifts to come!
‘Till next time!