You know that saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away"? Well, for me it's more like, "Dark chocolate each day... is absolutely essential." I know it doesn't rhyme, but it still sounds better, doesn't it? It makes sense too! We all know there's tons of research out there to show that dark chocolate has its health benefits... there's all those antioxidants of course, and healthy fatty acids (the list goes on...). Plus, the stuff is good! So really, there's no reason not to eat dark chocolate every day, unless of course you don't like it, in which case, I think you're off your rocker;)
The thing about dark chocolate is, once you add it to cookies or brownies or whatever else (guilty!), you probably don't have as good of an excuse to call it healthy. Of course, I still tell myself that it's healthier than using milk chocolate, but you get the point. A dessert with dark chocolate that doesn't have all of the other, unhealthy ingredients, is something to reckon with though! And, as it just so happens to be, this is just the dessert: Pistachio and Cranberry Dark Chocolate Bark. You get your dark chocolate, plus the health benefits of pistachios and dried cranberries, you get to swoon over the luscious combination of GLUTEN-FREE ingredients, and you get to feel pretty good about eating dessert!
It'll probably take you longer to say the name of this recipe than it'll take you to make it, and even less time to eat it, because it's that good. Just try not to get carried away... it's a healthy dessert, but maybe not if you eat it all in one sitting!
| Pistachio and Cranberry Dark Chocolate Bark |
- 1 ⅓ cups dark chocolate chips
- ¼ cup chopped pistachios
- ¼ cup chopped dried cranberries
- Prepare a 9-inch square baking pan by spraying with non-stick spray and lining with parchment paper.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate on high for 1 minute. Stir and microwave for additional 30-second increments, stirring in between, until chocolate is completely melted.
- Pour the melted chocolate into the prepared pan and shake the pan back and forth to spread the chocolate out evenly. Sprinkle on chopped pistachios and dried cranberries.
- Place in fridge to harden for about 30 minutes. Remove from fridge, peel bark off of parchment paper, and break into pieces.
- Voila...Easiest, healthiest dessert ever!
Recipe slightly adapted from: With Style & Grace
This recipe uses:
Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Chips
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ec says
this looks stunning....
Mary@FitandFed says
I thought when I saw the picture that this recipe would be pretty healthy, clicked through and saw that you had the same idea! This would be a perfect gift for the holidays when they come around again. I recently started paying attention to trying to avoid chocolate produced with slave labor. This link provides some choices of suppliers, including some choices for chocolate chips: http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/main.html
brighteyedbaker says
Particularly for a dessert recipe, the chocolate bark is pretty healthy, and not a drop of taste is sacrificed. It really would be good as a holiday gift, or just if you feel like treating yourself to dessert without the guilt :) Thanks for bringing the issue of slave trade chocolate up; I didn't know much about it before and was glad to find after some research that Ghirardelli is strongly against using slave labor in the production of their chocolate.
Mary@FitandFed says
Hi Alexandra, thanks for checking that issue out. Ghirardelli isn't on the earlier OK lists, but it looks like they have addressed the problem due to the new California law: http://www.ghirardelli.com/about/compliance.aspx. Good deal!
brighteyedbaker says
That's what I understood from my reading as well. If laws can fix problems like that, it sounds good to me :)
Valerie says
Hello there! I found this recipe while browsing tumblr and it looked so delicious that I simply had to try it. I did, and I couldn't believe how simple and tasty these healthy treats were. Thank you very much for the recipe!
brighteyedbaker says
Thanks so much for letting me know. I love it when someone tries out a recipe from the blog and enjoys it! This recipe in particular is so simple to make yet quite sophisticated in appearance and tastes... it really is great!
Valerie says
Exactly! It will definitely become one of my go-to recipes when I crave a dessert! :)