Chocolate bark
- Cook: 2h
- Total: 2h 10 mins
- Including 2hrs in the fridge to set
- Serves: 2
I couldn’t talk about antioxidants without a recipe using good quality dark chocolate. Try it in this chocolate bark; it’s an excellent source of flavonoids, including catechins, epicatechins, and procyanidins, which can help reduce inflammation, improve blood flow, lower blood pressure, and enhance the function of blood vessels. The higher percentage of cocoa solids the better.
Ingredients
- 200g dark chocolate with at least 80% cocoa solids
- 50g white chocolate
- 2 tbsps dried coconut flakes
- 2-3 dried figs,
- 1 tbsp dried cranberries
- 1 tbsp hazelnuts,
Methods
-
Step 1
First break up the dark chocolate and place in a heat-proof bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, ensuring that the bowl rests on top of the rim of the saucepan and the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir every now and then until melted. Using a clean bowl, repeat with the white chocolate.
-
Step 2
Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and pour in the dark chocolate. Now careful drizzle the white chocolate on top. Using a fork, gently move the white chocolate around to make swirls.
-
Step 3
Scatter over the coconut flakes, the figs, cranberries and roasted hazelnuts.
-
Step 4
Place in the refrigerator and chill for 2hrs or until solid. Break into bitesize pieces.
Mix it up!
More zing…
…and more vitamins; swap the figs for freeze-dried raspberries.
Spice it up
Add 1/4 tsp hot chilli powder to the chocolate; again, great for muscle recovery.
Replace lost salts
Add some broken up salted pretzel sticks to the melted chocolate; perfect to replace electrolytes post exercise.
Kate Percy
Sports nutrition cook and author 
