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Scenario: It’s Autumn. You’ve been invited to dinner. Hmm … what can you take for the host? Look no further – this easy toffee apple chocolate bark is perfect.
A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Scrummy and I had a rather-more-exciting-than-usual Thursday evening.
Our neighbour who lives in the flat directly opposite us had told us that he was going to be appearing on a popular cooking show called Come Dine With Me. If you’re from the UK you’ll know all about this show, but if not here’s the general idea: 5 strangers (always characters!) go for dinner at each others’ homes over the course of a week. The cooking, eating and banter are filmed and then each host gets given marks out of ten for their efforts.
So ‘on the night’ we watched the film crew and larger-than-life guests arrive and then proceeded to peer through the peepy-hole in our front door to watch the filming begin. Just like the nosy neighbours who stand at their window with the curtains twitching. Except we weren’t quite as well behaved as your average Neighbourhood Watch, as we pushed and shoved each other out of the way to get a better slice of the action.
It was great fun, but the biggest treat was being invited over to our neighbour’s this past Saturday night to get all the gossip. He also cooked the meal he made for the show again … just for us!
As the show hasn’t aired yet, I can’t share with you any of the recipes for the delicious dishes we had, but what I can share is the little gift I made to give to my host.
I love making chocolate bark (so simple, impressive and customisable!) and as it’s Autumn I decided to have a go at a toffee-apple combo – a classic Autumn British flavour combo. At first I couldn’t quite think how to do it, but quickly decided on drying some apple slices in the oven and using crumbled Crunchie candy bars as the ‘toffee’ element.
Now I know that Crunchie bars are a British thing, but I’m told that you can find them in some stores in the USA. If you can’t, any kind of honeycomb will work. In Australia, a Violet Crumble bar is very similar to a Crunchie. If you can’t find any kind of honeycomb bar to crumble, don’t despair – in a pinch you can melt wrapped caramels and drizzle that over instead.
What I really love about this recipe is that it’s taught me how to ‘make’ dried apples. Dry a few extra slices and snack on them for the rest of the week! 🙂
Oh, and if you love chocolate bark as much as I do, here’s another recipe for you: mango and pistachio chocolate bark.
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Serves: enough for 2 gifts
- 2 small apples (or 1 large one)
- 200 grams/7 ounces milk chocolate
- 100 grams/3.5 ounces white chocolate (optional – you can use 300 grams milk choc if you prefer)
- 1 Cadbury’s Crunchie bar or similar, crushed (see note below)
- Pre-heat the oven to 90C/190F, and line two baking trays with baking paper.
- After washing the apple(s) and twisting off the stalk(s), slice them as thinly as you can (so the slices are ideally about 2 or 3mm thick) and lay them on the baking trays in one layer.
- Bake the apples for an hour, then turn and bake for another hour. Remove from the baking trays and set aside to cool.
- Melt the milk chocolate in a medium bowl in the microwave in 30-second bursts (3 times was about right in my microwave).
- Pour the chocolate onto one of the baking trays, spreading out a bit with a knife if necessary.
- Now melt the white chocolate in the same way (if using) and drizzle all over the milk chocolate. Drag a knife through it a few times to create a swirl/ripple effect.
- Now scatter the dried apple (either whole or torn into smaller pieces – your choice) and the crushed honeycomb over the chocolate, pressing it in lightly.
- Let set in the fridge for at least half an hour (or until properly set), then break into pieces (see note below).
If you don’t have a microwave, melt the chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water).
You won’t need all of the apple for your chocolate bark. Store the remainder in a plastic container and eat as a snack or scattered over oatmeal later. It will keep in the fridge for at least a week and for at least a few days out of the fridge.
I like to pack the chocolate bark into a cellophane bag and tie with a nice ribbon before presenting as a gift. It looks great and people always think I’ve bought it!
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How exciting! And how lovely of the neighbour to cook the same meal again and share all the excitement of the night! 😀 This is a great Christmas present idea!
I know – we definitely felt very honoured! 🙂
Whoa Helen that is just so awesome! Getting all the reality TV gossip not to mention the delicious meals must have been brilliant! I absolutely LOVE this chocolate bark recipe. The honeycomb addition is so cool! I need this in my life!
You really do need this in your life, Samina!! Quick, grab some Crunchies and make some!
I love watching Come Dine With Me – it’s a great programme! 😀 This bark is delicious – love the idea of adding crunchies! This would definitely make a great gift too!
Thanks, Jess! Bark really does make a great gift – it looks great all broken up in a cellophane bag!
This looks incredible! The perfect Autumn treat 🙂
I think these would be really nice to make as gifts for Christmas. I would love to get this as a present.
Thanks, Dannii! I feel very complimented! This would make great Christmas gifts. In fact I made a whole load of chocolate bark last Christmas – all different sorts. It works really well!
Sounds like a great show, Helen! You can spill the deets to me… I won’t tell anyone, I swear! 😉 Just kidding. But what a fun experience, for your friend and you too! While it’s true we don’t really have the honeycomb stuff around much in the US, it’s a favorite candy to make at home for the holidays. Growing up we always called it “Fairy Food.” So, I guess I’ll just have to make some so I can make your fabulous toffee apple bark!!!
I must admit I’ve seen a few recipes around for it – but then of course it makes a super easy gift into something a little more complicated. I’ve never heard that description before – fairy food – but it fits really well!
Haha – It must have been so much fun to get a peephole look at everything! And so nice of your friend/neighbor to recreate all the dishes that he made for the show – and so so nice of you to have taken over this park! I love the apple slices in this bark!
Thank you for calling me nice, Shashi! I got into the habit of never arriving at a dinner party without a gift – a throwback from my time in Greece! And chocolate bark is so easy to make.
This bark is so striking and as I got closer to my screen I wondered, is that Crunchie? I quickly scrolled down to the recipe to confirm (hoping it was ). I’m done, this is all I need, this is sweet heaven. Great recipe.
Thanks, Janette! Sorry to tease you so with the Crunchies – can you get them where you are?
Hi Helen, how exciting to have a film crew right out your doorway………
Love how you dried the apples, I bet this bark is amazing.
Thanks, Cheri. I really enjoyed drying the apples and can think of so many ways to use them. 🙂
I feel like I’ve seen that show before, but I’m not sure where. Perhaps it was on our trip to Ireland last Spring or maybe it was on BBC. Either way, it was certainly entertaining and the people were cracking us up!
This is such a wonderful bark recipe! I never would have thought to use apple – what a great idea! And I love how easy this is to make!
I bet you did see it on your trip to Ireland. It’s on every day – they even have a ‘couples’ version now and I think they’re planning some other incarnation of it. It’s a bit of light tea-time entertainment – I particularly like the funny voice overs!
Glad you like the bark. I loved learning how to dry apples!
Yum! You know how I feel about the crunches 🙂
Yes, I remember that you like them! You must give this a go, then!
I soooooo love come dine with me. It is always full of some real characters who make me laugh so hard.
Yeah, it’s a good laugh! It was fun watching it ‘through the keyhole’!
What a great story, love that your neighbor is going to be on that show!And this bark has the perfect flavors for autumn! Pinned!
Thanks, Mira … that’s what I thought – that this makes a great Autumn gift. Thanks so much for pinning (as always!)
Je crois que il y en avait la même émission en France, pendant des années était une émission très populaire et regardé mais l’année dernière c’était fini! c’est génial que votre voisin vous a cuisiné le même plat! Ton cadeaux c’est adorable! Rien de mieux que recevoir des jolies choses fait maison! Tes bars au chocolat sont parfaits ! bon weekend !
Merci beaucoup, Eva! J’adore donner ces petits cadeaux … et ils sont si facile! 🙂
Living next to movie star!!! How fun and can’t wait to read more about it. However, in the meantime, would love to munch on a little delicious bark. Just pinned!
I’m sure my neighbour would love to hear himself described as a movie star! Thanks for pinning, Bam!
These flavors sound incredible, Helen — I would never have thought to pair them together but I’m suddenly craving them as I type! haha Pinning to try!
Thanks, Marcie! Let me know what you think 🙂
I love this Helen! It’s such a complex combination of flavors and textures – really the perfect treat for fall!
Thanks, Marissa! 🙂
Oh my goodness, this looks fantastic!
In Australia we had a show called My Kitchen Rules and our neighbours two doors down were contestants. There were huge movie type lights in the streets and a bazillion people from 6am til well after 2am filming on the day. We live at the end of a cul-de-sac so all the people on the end sat outside with drinks and nibblies and watched all the outdoor action When they moved to the jetty out back, we all went outside and watched from the water. Talk about nosy!
What I didn’t have was any chocolate bark like this!
Thank you, Maureen! I know My Kitchen Rules – Iove it. Sounds like your ‘filming experience’ was much more fun than mine, actually. The idea of watching from the water sure sounds more glamorous than watching through our peepy hole!
I want this for myself! I will assume that I have been invited to a friends place and make this and eat all by myself! Looks so good Helen!
Ha … brilliant idea, Ami!
I love the idea of adding the Cadbury bar! Looks so heavenly….
Thanks, Whitni! 🙂
Wow, this looks incredibly awesome. I could definitely do with it right now. I cn grab it right from the screen and gobble it up. lovely.
Happy you like it, Fareeha. Go on, grab it through the screen!