Pistachio Cranberry White Chocolate Bark

When making things for others, I have two major criteria. One, the recipe should be fool-proof. It’s highly likely that I’m a flustered mess while cooking. This problem always gets exponentially worse when I’m cooking for people and the pressure’s on — I’ve had to get out of the kitchen because I literally can’t handle the heat on occasion. (No seriously, I overheat.)

The second and possibly more important criteria is that the end result be pretty. We all eat with our eyes first, and I’m all about the oohs and ahhs that accompany a pretty piece of chocolate or a nice-looking cookie.*

This pistachio cranberry white chocolate bark knocks it out of the park on both accounts. Even with my added pain-in-the-buttness of toasting the pistachios before adding them to the bark, there’s only about 10 minutes of work involved, plus freezer time. Plus, the combo of red + green + white was too good to pass up, which may or may not be why I made another white chocolate-focused recipe.

We already know how I feel about the stuff, but to summarize briefly: chocolate is better brown. (Also, there’s that whole lack of cocoa solids thing … don’t get me started.)

But the white makes such a beautiful backdrop for the garnet berries and emerald nuts. And I will admit, the bark is not bad. The tartness of the cranberries cuts some of the white chocolate’s sweetness, and the pistachios add a meaty, nutty crunch. If you’re less averse to white chocolate, you may even think it’s delicious — my roommate had no complaints, and neither did my co-workers, for whom I made the bark in the first place.

But let’s be real, we all know I made this just to hear the assorted ooh look they’re so pretty!‘s, and you’ll be glad to know there were plenty of those as well.

*One major caveat here: not so into the weirdly perfect frosted sugar cookies that one finds at Starbucks around this time of year. Sure they may look pretty, but I’m convinced that anything that looks that neat and perfect probably tastes meh. (I prefer my sugar cookies with haphazardly scattered colored sprinkles, obvi.)

Pistachio Cranberry White Chocolate Bark
Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

– 1 pound white chocolate, chopped into uniformly small pieces

– 1/2 cup shelled unsalted pistachios

– 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped roughly

1) Toast the pistachios in a dry skillet for 5-7 minutes, tossing occasionally, until they have browned lightly. Let cool, then chop roughly.

2) Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper and set aside. In a double boiler, melt the white chocolate slowly. Stir in the cranberries and pistachios, then spread the chocolate mixture onto the prepared pan in an even layer (you may not need the entire pan).

3) Freeze for at least 20 minutes, until the bark is set. Break into pieces and enjoy!