Lori Curie's Chocolate Almond Bark with Sea Salt Recipe

We are sharing a Chocolate Almond Bark with Sea Salt Recipe from Lori Curie. She has a blog with some delicious craft and recipe ideas. Make sure to check out her tips and recipes on: Lori's Favorite Things - A Food and Recipes Blog

The week before the winter holidays my office was literally overflowing with sweets. Chocolate was no exception. We received truffles, chocolate covered cherries, See's Candies, and much more. But, the prize came when Lori Curie, my boss Jeff's wife, sent in this Chocolate Almond Bark with Sea Salt. She is truly the Martha Stewart of Orange County. I proceeded to eat more than a handful of these Lori's treats and went as far as to poach a sack full of them to bring home to my husband. I like to call him "a chocolate enthusiast."

Thankfully Lori posted her recipe online and agreed to let me share it here with you. She adapted it from a similar recipe but gives some personalized tips that edged it out from other versions you may have tasted. And her secret weapon? Trader Joe's. Now, for the recipe for Chocolate Almond Bark with Sea Salt read on...

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Recipe Instructions:

Make sure to read the tips at the bottom of the page before preparing this recipe or purchasing ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1-1/2 cups roasted Marcona Almonds (not in oil)
• 1 lb dark chocolate 62-70% cacao; finely chopped
• Coarse sea salt

Preparation:

• Line baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or foil.
• Combine sugar with 2 tablespoons water in a small saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until caramel is dark amber, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Immediately add butter, whisk until melted. 
• Add almonds; stir until well coated. Quickly transfer almonds to baking sheet, spreading out to separate nuts.  Let cool. 
• Break up any large clumps of nuts. Set aside 1/4 of nuts.
• Stir chocolate in a medium bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until melted. Remove from heat, add nuts from baking sheet and stir quickly to combine.
• Add in the remaining 1 cup of water gradually until you get a slightly tacky textured dough.
• Cover mixture and let is rise in a warm place for approximately 1 hour until it doubles in bulk.
• Spread chocolate and nut mixture on same baking sheet, keeping nuts in a single layer.
• Top with reserved nuts.
• Sprinkle with salt.
• Chill until chocolate is set, about 3 hours
• Break bark into pieces and store between layers of parchment or waxed paper.
• Do Ahead:  Can be made up to one week ahead.  Keep chilled.

Serving:

Lori served these in a nice holiday tin.

Tips from Lori:

• Use Trader Joe’s Salted Skin-On Marcona Almonds. You need 1-1/2 bags (6 oz. bags each)

• Use Valrhona Le Noir Amer 71% Cacao bars (from Trader Joe's).

• In preparation for making caramel, Lori suggests filling a one-cup measuring glass half-full with water and placing a pastry brush in a glass, setting it next to the stove, ready to brush down the sides of the pan.

• While the recipe calls to cool the chocolate and almonds mixture for three (3) hours, Lori suggests it's easier to cut into pieces after 1-1/2 to 2 hours of cooling.

• Ensure you use very coarse sea salt. Lori finds the chocolate looks better with small, coarse chunks of salt.